PsudoHDR

[LaserSailor]

Did a little playing today. Captured these on my D700 in RAW, used Photomatix to tonemap the image. They come from a single exposure and I find the results surprisingly pleasing. Oversaturated the color and overdid the "HDR" effect to test the limits of the program.

 

[Bynx]

All you need is more Highlight Smoothing to get rid of the halo around everything touched by the sky.

 

[LaserSailor]

Cool, I this is my first use of Photomatix, thanks for the tip.

 

[Dominantly]

Now that you got that out of your system, try and see how close to reality you can get it.

 

[LaserSailor]

Now that you got that out of your system, try and see how close to reality you can get it.

Is this supposed to come off as a snide remark? Because it does. I happen to like how these look, aside from the halos. Who's to say photography is about reality anyway?

 

[LaserSailor]

Closer to "reality"

Original file

 

[Dominantly]

Now that you got that out of your system, try and see how close to reality you can get it.

Is this supposed to come off as a snide remark? Because it does. I happen to like how these look, aside from the halos. Who's to say photography is about reality anyway?

Well, if it works for you then that's really all that matters. But remember when you post it online, you are looking to show it off, or get comments. If that wasn't the case, then you would have been happy with just viewing it on your PC.
It was just my first impression that the photos looked surreal, kinda cartoon-ish.

 

[LaserSailor]

It was just my first impression that the photos looked surreal, kinda cartoon-ish.

This is all you had to say. I don't disagree with that. If I presented this for a "real" critique at school, there's no doubt the prof and other students would say the same thing. I just had a problem with how you said it. Perhaps you didn't mean it the way I interpreted it. I by no means have gotten the surreal "out of my system" nor do I have any desire to.

Thanks for the feedback regardless. :hug::

 

[Bynx]

I see more detail in the skin on forehead and arms as well in the shadow cast by the wheel. I wonder if, in this case, using a polarizing filter would have given you the same results as HDR. At least the skin would be the same. I suppose the shadows would be darker. You might try Selective Color and reduce the Black in your Cyan. That should give you a cleaner blue sky.