HDR images plus questions

[dmatsui]

1

2

3

4

Those 4 are HDR images that i've taken relatively recently. All within the space of the month. First i'd like to ask you what you think of them. Personally there is something about them i like but then something about them that just feels to unnatural, execpt for #1 and 2
Another thing i've noticed is the bluish halos that have occured in the last two photos... how do you avoid this? Mind you i dont fully understand how to use photo matix yet so any advice or tips with that would be fully appreciated. Also is there a reason not to use exposure blending? I havent yet used it but it sounds like it would do exactly what i'm trying to achieve with HDR. At any rate fire away. Be as harsh as you want as long as you give reasoning for it

 

[dmatsui]

hate to bump but i would appreciate a reply

 

[Jaszek]

Pretty good, If you want to minimize the halos you have to play around with the tone curve.

 

[Chris Stegner]

1 & 2 are closest to natural looking. I messed with HDR for a bit and go back to it every now and then when desperate, but in general I have been working on how I shoot and my RAW processing skills. A lot of the time you think you may need to use HDR, you can actually pull the shot off with RAW processing.

I know... I may upset some people, but... HDR in PhotoMatix has confused the hell out of me. I can get some stuff to look kind of ok, but normally they just look "unnatural". Can't for the life of me get it "dead on".