looking glass falls NC. one of my frist trys

[matthewo]

well very new to this whole hdr thing, just up in NC visiting family, and i tried to find a few places to take pictures near the blue ridge parkway. here is one that i ended up getting 5 shots of, i wish i had a better sunset up there, i was out at ceasers head, but didnt get many good shots, it was pretty hazy, so i couldnt get the mountains good, but the sky was ok, i will work on those a bit.

 

[matthewo]

oh just to add, i probably dont have the correct software to make it look great. i just used photoshop minibridge and hdr pro, then put it in lightroom to make a few tweaks

 

[matthewo]

here is one at sliding rock, got a different angle also, just having messed with it yet

 

[vipgraphx]

positive CC is I like the water in the second one a lot especially the bubbles on the lower left. I like the colors in the first one, lots of different vibrant colors.

negative CC - I think the rocks on the first one art a bit busy. They blend in to much with everything else. I know in landscape its all about high F to keep everything in focus but in my opinion sometimes it takes away depth in the image. I think in this case it took away the rock on the lower left almost looks like its part of the background especially with the leaves they blend in. The only reason I could really tell it was the foreground is because the water is behind it. Second picture the greens are also a bit busy and distracting.

 

[matthewo]

thank you. i made a different one of the first one where the water is less blue, as that looked a little unrealistic to me, but it is hdr, so...

also had another 5 shots of the 1st one, slightly different water, actually more of it, and more like silk, but the sky is very blown out. even though there isnt much sky...

i also wanted to get rid of the rock on the first one, it had just rained, and there was not much of a place to put the tripod execpt directly in the water if i wanted a better shot without the forground rock, haha, i just im just not that hard core...

 

[Bynx]

HDR doesnt mean that its an excuse to create something less than good. If you want something unrealistic thats fine, but dont use HDR as the excuse for causing it. The idea of HDR is to get a very clear, sharp almost 3D image with good details in both the highlights and shadows. What usually follows is bad tone mapping. I like the composition of your first shot but find the blue just too much.

 

[matthewo]

how about this, i think i like less blue also... this is a different set of photos, but the waterfall was spraying good and managed to get a few spots on my glass as you can see.

 

[Bynx]

How about just tweaking the color on your first shot? I know it says dont touch your pics and if you dont like this I will remove it. But its easier to show than to type it out. I didnt touch the sky and it looks more natural now. The gray look is gone. I think its still a bit too sharp and contrasty but overall its a good shot with nice composition. I might like to see a bit more of the bottom, but its better than some waterfalls Ive been seeing lately.

 

[matthewo]

Thanks, i just tried out photomatix i might end up getting it. It seems to work much better the photoshop and way quicker with the 64bit and using all 6 cores. I just declined the lightroom pluging/add on, what is that?

 

[Bynx]

If you use Lightroom instead of Photoshop to do post work then you can do an HDR with Photomatix right from inside Lightroom. Otherwise you dont need it. I use Photomatix as a stand alone.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

how about this, i think i like less blue also... this is a different set of photos, but the waterfall was spraying good and managed to get a few spots on my glass as you can see.

This is is probably the closest to natural looking you've come.
Just mask this over your original image and bring back the sky.