Milder HDR - Critique

[Trevor Harris]

Hey all,

So I feel like I've been overdoing HDR lately - so I tried a milder one. I did a few things different than I usually do. This was a handheld burst of -1, 0, and +1. Blended using Photomatix with more mild settings than I usually do. After this I bought it into photoshop and put the aforementioned layers below it, and then masked out blown out portions. Then some desaturation and vignetting to add sort of a historical look to the photo. The things I don't like about it is the noise in the sky and I don't see a definitive separation between the boat and the beach. I burned the beach enough, but I didn't want to process it too much. Please be very critical.

Trevor

 

[Over Exposed]

I like your thought process and self critique. It's obvious you've got a good eye and objective view of your own work which will definitely help you progress quickly. I am in agreement on the sky and the separation of the foreground elements.

For the sky, I would try to use some highlight smoothing and micro smoothing to reduce the noise and create a more natural look by reducing the edgy appearance of the clouds. You can also do some further work to reduce noise using noiseware (kind of expensive) or a cheaper alternative such as Topaz DeNoise PS plug-in (go to their site for a free 30 day trial, not bad). You could also do a layer mask in PS with some blur for the sky (just enough to rid the noise).

For the foreground, increasing the amount of shadows will help to separate the boat from the rocks and grass. In my opinion, HDR landscapes suffer most when the lighting is over evened and the lack of shadows creates a loss in depth. Try lowering the luminosity and also maybe increasing the micro contrast a bit. You may also want to take the light smoothing a bit higher and even play with the gamma, white point (lowering) and black point (raising) to see what effects that brings.

Other than that, the composition is good, but I'd maybe try to keep the boat from blocking the left edge of the water meeting the shoreline. Also it would be nice to eliminate the houses and road so that the only man made object is the boat.

Great work and great post! Please show us any new edits you come up with.

EDIT* After looking at the image again, I don't think I'd raise the micro contrast anymore.

 

[Provo]

I like the image the only thing I can suggest is better highlight control because on the clouds the whites are blown and some of the white areas of the boat as well especially towards the back end