My first attempt at HDR...(C&C please)

[inaka]

I know many of you probably hate overly artistic HDR processing, but here goes anyway. It was my first crack at HDR and I took a few shots along the road of the Northern California coast.

The process is a little addicting at first as I wanted to fully tweak the ever living s&%t out of each photo. And I know I pretty much over-blasted the processing on #2, but I just liked the effect.

Here goes....

1.

Old St. Mary's at Sunset by InakaMike, on Flickr

2.

Rock Under an Ominous Sky by InakaMike, on Flickr

3.

Nicasio Barn at Dusk by InakaMike, on Flickr

4.

Nicasio Main Barn at Dusk by InakaMike, on Flickr

5.

Stormtrooper's Escape by InakaMike, on Flickr

C&C Welcome

 

[Tdnash]

Personally, I like well-done HDR, and I think these look great

 

[MidnightGrimm]

IMHO, these are really good. They're not overdone like most of the others I've seen. Composition is great too. The only thing I see, is #1 looks just a hair bit too bright.

Great work, friend!

 

[Shawnda]

Numbers 2 and 3 are my favorite. What program did you do for your HDR??

 

[SlickSalmon]

I liked them, as well. Though I agree with your self-assessment that #2 is a little strong. A little sharpening might be helpful addition to a couple of them.

 

[Ashleigh80]

Really nice pictures....what does HDR mean ? I am guessing something to do with high definition ??

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

They all seem a tad soft to me, did you use a tripod? 2 and 5 looks the sharpest but the haloing around the rock and overprocessed sky kill it for me for 2 for 5 I would have rather see a more centered shot. The storm trooper heads tend to draw my attention away. In terms of HDR, I think 1,3, and 4 look the best, if only they were a bit sharper.

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

Really nice pictures....what does HDR mean ? I am guessing something to do with high definition ??

HDR is High Dynamic Range. You bracket exposures one center, one over, one under ( sometimes more incremental exposures if needed ) The idea is to blend them to show a range you cannot achieve with a single exposure. So like a sky that will blow out if you expose the ground below, or a ground that will be too dark if you expose the sky properly.

 

[aaneiros]

Congrats, all of them look great to me!!

 

[inaka]

Numbers 2 and 3 are my favorite. What program did you do for your HDR??

thanks for the comments!
I used PhotomatixPro and then some slight tweaking in Aperture.

 

[inaka]

They all seem a tad soft to me, did you use a tripod? 2 and 5 looks the sharpest but the haloing around the rock and overprocessed sky kill it for me for 2 for 5 I would have rather see a more centered shot. The storm trooper heads tend to draw my attention away. In terms of HDR, I think 1,3, and 4 look the best, if only they were a bit sharper.

Thanks for your comments. Yeah, I definitely used a tripod for all. Most shots were bracketed with 9 exposures. (3 for the standard bracketing mode of the D7000, and 3 more under/over on each U1 and U2 setting.)

I agree the over processing of #2 really tweaked the sky a bit much. As per your comment, here's a variable of #2 (same subject) from another angle with slightly less processing and a more centered rock:

6.

Rock Under a Slightly Softer Sky by InakaMike, on Flickr

Sky looks a bit less "processed" in this shot and without as much of a pronounced halo from behind the rock, etc...

 

[JoshC.]

I really like these. Great composition on all of them! Nice work!

 

[flameshots]

Now that's what HDR is supposed to be. I really like them. Good job.

 

[lyonsroar]

Love the stormtrooper graffiti on the last one...

 

[SlickSalmon]

The softness that you see is a byproduct of Photomatix processing. Part of it relates to the fact that tone-compressed images almost always need some contrast correction (S-curve). Also, HDR photos generally benefit from a more than average amount of sharpening. See some of myskin's photos in the HDR forum for reference.