A Desperate Use of the Auto HDR Setting

I attended a wedding yesterday, at the Gaither Chapel, on the campus of Montreat College.  I was not the official wedding photographer, but I took the Sony NEX-7 along. 
When I realized neither of the two official photographers were going to go up to the church balcony, I decided to sit up there and take a few shots during the ceremony.  The lighting conditions were absolutely horrible.  There was VERY strong sunlight, coming through the right side windows of the church and I was not getting any decent photos at all.  Either the highlights were being blown out or there was no detail in the shadow areas. 
In desperation, I decided to try the camera's "Auto HDR" setting.  The results were nothing short of amazing!  The attached photo is an example of just how good the in-camera HDR worked.  The shot was taken at ISO 1600 and the camera was hand-held.  I only had the Sony/Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 lens with me and this image was heavily cropped and made from less than 25% of the original file.  That 24mp sensor DOES come in handy!

I ran a part-time wedding photography business, using medium format cameras, for 24 years and it would have been s-o-o-o-o-o-o nice to have had that kind of capability in a small package,

back in the "good-old-days"!

--
Bill McClung (a.k.a. 'NC BILL')
Image galleries at www.pbase.com/nc_bill
NEVER BE AFRAID TO TRY SOMETHING NEW.
REMEMBER, AMATEURS BUILT THE ARK.
PROFESSIONALS BUILT THE TITANIC!