My first attempt at an HDR image - Capt. Smith statue

[DwainDibley]

Just downloaded and had a play with a free HDR programme today. I know very little about HDR, but have had a play with the settings, and got this result:

Used a picture of the statue Captain Edward Smith, captain of the Titanic which resides in Beacon Park, Lichfield as my subject for an attempt at an HDR image. Used a free programme called Qtpfsgui (very incomprehensible name!) with the settings below:
Qtpfsgui tonemapping parameters:
Operator: Fattal, Parameters:
Alpha: 0.114, Beta: 0.855, Color Saturation: 1
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PreGamma: 1

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[DwainDibley]

Constructive critisism welcome, though one thing I'm not happy about is the corner of that building at the bottom of the picture just to the right of the statue.

 

[The_Traveler]

It's interesting - but only for the colors. The statue is right in the middle of the image - and so has 'his' back to half the picture. Takes all the tension right out of the image.

 

[DwainDibley]

Thanks for the comment - so it would have been better if I'd panned to the left, so that the statue was at the right of the shot, and have him 'looking' out over the rest of the picture?

I've probably fallen into the 'snapshot' trap by centring the statue rather than moving it to one side!

 

[The_Traveler]

Thanks for the comment - so it would have been better if I'd panned to the left, so that the statue was at the right of the shot, and have him 'looking' out over the rest of the picture?

I've probably fallen into the 'snapshot' trap by centring the statue rather than moving it to one side!

Yes, I think so. (but just my opinion).
It really depends if there is something of interest at the left side.
(To be honest, its a better result than my HDR attempts)

Lew

 

[DwainDibley]

For me it was just a case of playing with the HDR settings, bit of trial and error. I think there are some buildings to the left of the shot, but can't remember, will try the shot again with a different composition next time I'm in that area.

 

[karissa]

I've been going back to this picture trying to figure out what is bothering me so I can give a decent crit. Let me pad this with the knowledge that I have yet to get an HDR image to work for me so take this as you will....

The colors on the statue look fake to me. Possibly over saturated? The sky looks awesome. Now please take that with the consideration mentioned above and also that I have not seen this place in person before either.

 

[DwainDibley]

I've been going back to this picture trying to figure out what is bothering me so I can give a decent crit. Let me pad this with the knowledge that I have yet to get an HDR image to work for me so take this as you will....

The colors on the statue look fake to me. Possibly over saturated? The sky looks awesome. Now please take that with the consideration mentioned above and also that I have not seen this place in person before either.

You could be right, as this is my first attempt at an HDR. Though the statue was quite green with verdigris anyway, I think the HDR process probably accentuated that aspect. I'll try to do a couple more HDRs tomorrow, and see how they come out

 

[karissa]

Well, your HDR turned out better than my first attempt did. I look forward to seeing more attempts. Maybe you can get the rest of us HDR dummies up to speed. You said you used a free program. I'm interested in what that would be. Photoshop's HDR stuff hasn't been to nice to me. Could just be me.

Now I post this at the risk of violating some of the crit rules. I'm honestly not sure how to "moderate" my own post. So, to the other mods, if you feel this is not substantial or doesn't fit please tell me. I'm new to all this crit stuff just like everyone else.

 

[DwainDibley]

The programe I used was http://qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net/]qtpfsgui[/url] with the settings above. Just for reference here's the original pre-HDR picture, as you can see the statue is already quite green with verdigris: