first HDR I've taken c&c

[Neocane]

After 20 years I've decided to get back into photography as a hobby and just picked up some gear and started shooting again yesterday. I walked around the local historical park and shot a LOT of pictures and liked a few of them, lol. Anyway, I didn't think much of it at the time, but I saw this old Texaco gas pump and took a few bracketed exposure shots with the intent of trying my hand at HDR. I've seen some amazing pictures posted here and thought it looked pretty nice when done right. This is my first attempt at HDR, I could use some c&c if you could spare the time. I tweaked the image in CS4 and LR2, still learning to use those as well.

(click for larger image)

 

[reznap]

What did you use to process the images? Photomatix? Also, what +/- EV did you shoot the brackets in?
Just wondering.

I like the Texaco pump a lot, I kinda wish you had used a darker exposure for the sky. All in all I think it's a good image though.

 

[Neocane]

What did you use to process the images? Photomatix? Also, what +/- EV did you shoot the brackets in?
Just wondering.

I like the Texaco pump a lot, I kinda wish you had used a darker exposure for the sky. All in all I think it's a good image though.

Thanks for the complement! I used CS4 to process the HDR if I understand you right. as for EV I went +/- 1.5 stops. The median image of the 3 was shot at f/5.6, 1/250 sec., ISO 100 with a focal length of 35mm.

I too would like the sky to be a bit darker, but if I'm still a noob and not sure how to do that without messing up the "aged photo" effect.