HDR buildings and a tree

Compaq · Sep 3, 2011

Photomatix and photoshop.
Clearn sky by adding an exposure for the sky as a new layer in PS and masking in the sky.

#1

Tuntreet vol 2 by Bokehliciousness-ness, on Flickr

#2

Urbygningen 1 vol2 by Bokehliciousness-ness, on Flickr

Tivolibygningen vol2 by Bokehliciousness-ness, on Flickr

#3

NORAGRIC by Bokehliciousness-ness, on Flickr

Is this moving in the correct direction for HDR processing? The last image might be too overprocessed for some, and I just gave up with those flares.

pen · Sep 3, 2011

Cool stuff. Definitely a rim on the tree, did you use the tree it self to create the mask?

I actually like the last one the most. I think the first is also over processed.

Sent from my iPhone using PhotoForum

Compaq · Sep 3, 2011

Sun rays in #1 due to a small aperture. Just patiently waited to have in in the middle. Thank you

robertandrewphoto · Sep 3, 2011

They all are a bit to fake looking for my liking, but they aren't bad.

I feel like they would be better without such a cartoonish feel

OrionsByte · Sep 4, 2011

I like #2. It has that vaguely surreal feeling without going too far.

#4 is nice compositionally for me, but I think the HDR work did go a little but far for my taste, and the flares really kill it.

480sparky · Sep 4, 2011

I don't think they look cartoonish at all. They are, in my taste in HDR, pushed as far as I care to see HDR taken, however.

Although the tree is great in the first image, the building isn't level. I'd skew that image (not rotate!) to straighten up the building so it doesn't start sliding downhill.

I don't really care for the flare in the last one, but the sunburst is smashing!

Compaq · Sep 5, 2011

*plans to google skew*

Yup, I love the nine aperture blades the tokina 12-24mm II has! Easy to get addicted to that.

480sparky · Sep 5, 2011

Rotate will turn the entire image around the center of the image.

Skew, or Perspective, allows you to grab any corner and move it while the rest of the image adjusts. How much it moves depends on how far it is from the corner you move. Here, I moved the top left up quite a bit, and the bottom left just enough to level out the bottom of the building.

Notice the dashed yellow line, that's the outline of the original frame. If I chose to continue (clicked on "Transform"), what is outside that yellow line would be copped.

This allows me to either raise the left side of the image, lower the right (or a combination of the two), and leave the tree plumb as it appears in the original.

If I really wanted to get down to the nitty-gritty, I'd throw up a grid. That's basically showing vertical and horizontal lines on top of the image so I have a reference on what is perfectly horizontal and what is perfectly vertical. Then I could zoom in on the building's base and make sure it's truly level.

anon · Sep 5, 2011

the last pic is amazingly done

Compaq · Sep 5, 2011

Thanks, Sparky! That's the same as "free transform tool" in photoshop, I suppose. That's how I've straightened some of the vertical lines on the buildings, but I didn't know it was called "to skew"

Do you edit exclusively in Gimp (other than photomatix and such)? To do adjustments and touch ups and all that, I mean.

edit: how would you go about straightening the corned line in #2 whilst keeping the end lines of the buildings vertical? The fact that the corner is leaning is bugging me, but I wasn't able to straighten it AND the other lines. I ended on prioritising the other vertical lines.

480sparky · Sep 5, 2011

Compaq said:
Thanks, Sparky! That's the same as "free transform tool" in photoshop, I suppose. That's how I've straightened some of the vertical lines on the buildings, but I didn't know it was called "to skew" .

Do you edit exclusively in Gimp (other than photomatix and such)? To do adjustments and touch ups and all that, I mean.

No photoshop, no photomatix. Just NX2. I spend my allowance on gear.

Compaq said:
edit: how would you go about straightening the corned line in #2 whilst keeping the end lines of the buildings vertical? The fact that the corner is leaning is bugging me, but I wasn't able to straighten it AND the other lines. I ended on prioritising the other vertical lines.

I'm not seeing what you're referring to.

Compaq · Sep 5, 2011

I've tried to outline the vertical lines I'm talking about here:

How would I straighten the middle ones? Those on the end aren't hard, just doing what you showed earlier. Those in the middle are effectively affected by that, and start leaning. If I go into "lens correction", I can draw a line which should be vertical, but then the ones on the end are affected, and I'm back where I started. Sooo, how to have all vertical lines vertical?

480sparky · Sep 5, 2011

Rotate the image so the corner under the 'a' in vertical is plumb. Select the portion of the image that to the left of it, and adjust that portion for perspective. Repeat the process for the portion on the right.