First HDR Landscapes - C&C Please

4thirds_dude

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These are my first attempts at a "real" HDR landscape shoot...done in Forest Hill, CA (near Auburn). I have a few concerns about them, but I'm curious to see what you all think! C&C please. Thanks! :D

1)
ForestHillHike_20090209_15_3_4copyw.jpg


2)
ForestHillHike_20090209_36_4_5copyw.jpg


3)
ForestHillHike_20090209_70_68_69cop.jpg


4)
ForestHillHike_20090209_77_8_9copy.jpg
 
I also like 3 the best, the other ones seem blow out in the clouds. Good work though.
 
Way too much contrast in that last one. Far too much. What program are you using?
 
not my cup o tea, not sure if your going after the wow factor, what your eyes see is HDR to me. i have never tried HDR.

Great scenery though!
 
Sorry but I don't like these at all... they look incredibly fake, especially the clouds

Maybe try backing off the effect or changing some settings around? I'm not a big fan of HDR's to begin with though so don't feel bad :)
 
Way too much contrast in that last one. Far too much. What program are you using?

Originally made from 3 RAW (each) in Photomatix... then, because it came out kinda flat still, took it into CS2 and applied a tonal contrast filter @ about 20%.

I agree, I think they all really had too much contrast and the cloud blow outs did bother me...good news is, I can re-process differently and see if I can make it all a bit more subtle.

I'm considering reducing the tonal contrast about 50% from current settings and cloning over some of the cloud hot spots.

The last one was intentionally too sharp and contrast-y because there was some blurring on the lower left hand corner; all the shots for these HDRs were handheld, but rather than toss the series I figured I'd try to salvage it.

I appreciate the feedback! Now I know what I can do differently going forward for a more visually pleasing result. :wink: :thumbup:
 
Sorry but I don't like these at all... they look incredibly fake, especially the clouds

Maybe try backing off the effect or changing some settings around? I'm not a big fan of HDR's to begin with though so don't feel bad :)

I tend to agree with your criticism of these... they are too fake. The point of HDR, as I interpret it, is to close the gap in dynamic range between your camera and your eye without making it look too fake. I don't think I've quite managed to do that here.

A couple of other HDR shots I've done have come out rather "fake" or "surreal" looking... anyone have the URL to a good tutorial to help me make these more believable?
 
Ok...so, while working my night shift, I sneaked away and did some thinking on how to resolve this issue of my shots looking fake. I re-processed one of the images from the TIFF out of Photomatix and this is what I came up with... I think it looks much more real, but still gets that nice HDR exposure.

Any feedback on the changes and/or more that need to be made? (And, yes, the sky is transplanted from a better exposed image, although the sun was coming from the same angle so I don't think it messes up the warm area in the valley)

(This is the new version of image 2 from above)
Thanks, everyone, for being patient with me while I fine tune my process/workflow. :mrgreen: :heart:

REDOForestHillHike_20090209_36_4_5C.jpg
 

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