HDR Butterfly

[Joel_W]

I was processing more Tropical Butterfly pictures today, and thought that some of them would make a perfect subject for Tonemapping. Here's my 1st attempt. All CC's, suggestions, etc. are more then welcome, as this is virgin land for me. Up till now, all my HDR images have been kept as realistic as possible.


Butterflies61812 285_tonemapped (1024 x 680) by joelwillstein, on Flickr

 

[480sparky]

The background colors are far too overwhelming.

 

[Joel_W]

Here's the original. I now see what you mean. I guess it back to the drawing board.



Butterflies61812 285 by joelwillstein, on Flickr

 

[robertandrewphoto]

I prefer the original. It's actually pretty cool as it is.

But if you must edit it, what I would suggest is to edit it in Lightroom (or photoshop if you shot in RAW) and bump up the fill light, blacks, and the shadows on the tonal curve. Doing that will give you somewhat of a fake HDR feel (which is what any HDR using a single photo is) but won't over power the photo.