Japanese Garden

LaFoto · Dec 7, 2008

The blue of the sky goes far beyond ANYTHING I could still consider "natural". All in all, saturation is at its absolute limit, if not beyond. Composition is nice, and that place looks so like it might be worth a visit, but if this is HDR experiment, I feel it did not work. How about a single exposure photo of the gardens? Wouldn't it work easily, too?

ranmyaku · Dec 7, 2008

This isn't an HDR. I agree the saturation is pushed to the limit, which was my intention. I agree too that I should probably tone down the sky a little. Thanks.

There is something weird going on with the sky that is hard to fix in post-processing...the something weird is that I was shooting using a wide angle lens with a circular polarizer. This also enhances the colors of the foliage.

why does everyone assume something saturated is HDR?

ChrisOquist · Dec 7, 2008

I think it's very close to too saturated but I tend to like vibrant and intense colors so I'm on board with this shot.

My first reaction was not that the sky's color is unnatural - some long exposures take that tint quite automatically. The only weird thing is that around your trees there are subtle halos of a lighter blue?

I very much enjoy the composition of this shot.

ranmyaku · Dec 7, 2008

ChrisOquist said:
I think it's very close to too saturated but I tend to like vibrant and intense colors so I'm on board with this shot.

My first reaction was not that the sky's color is unnatural - some long exposures take that tint quite automatically. The only weird thing is that around your trees there are subtle halos of a lighter blue?

I very much enjoy the composition of this shot.

Yeah that happens on a wide angle lens + circular polarizer. The intensity of blue varies across the sky. It's hard to fix in post processing too. At least it is for me.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/polarizers.shtml

It also didn't help that I was saturating the colors. So it makes the mistake more obvious.

Thanks for the comments. I'll be sure and take these into consideration when I re-do the editing in LR2/CS4. I will try and repost it to see what you think.

pugnacious33 · Dec 7, 2008

I like the composition but agree with the comments about oversaturation. Also, the lighting in general seems a bit harsh, but i'm not sure if it is from a slight overexposure or the hard sidelighting, maybe a combination of both. What time of day was this? The hard shadows in the foreground are somewhat distracting. I love what you're going for here though, punchy color and a good pleasing scene.

ranmyaku · Dec 7, 2008

pugnacious33 said:
I like the composition but agree with the comments about oversaturation. Also, the lighting in general seems a bit harsh, but i'm not sure if it is from a slight overexposure or the hard sidelighting, maybe a combination of both. What time of day was this? The hard shadows in the foreground are somewhat distracting. I love what you're going for here though, punchy color and a good pleasing scene.

Yeah you are right. I was not there during a great time of the day...probably 1 or 2 pm I can't remember exactly.

DadeCountyAnthony · Dec 7, 2008

I like this shot ranmyaku. I must agree with the other posters about the saturation on the hard side but I still like this exact result. The only thing that pushes me away are the heavy dark spots which takes away vital details from a great shot.

heybatr · Dec 8, 2008

Isn't that the Huntington Library?

rufus5150 · Dec 8, 2008

why does everyone assume something saturated is HDR?

It's a typical tell-tale indicator that something like photomatix was used. In said program, it's very easy to take one slider and take saturation from 'hey neat' to 'oh my dear lord'.