My first attempt at HDR car.

grapnell · May 10, 2012

Please critique it.

grapnell · May 10, 2012

And for a more realistic version, for those who prefer it.

vipgraphx · May 10, 2012

yeah not feelin that first one at all....the filter you used just amplifies all the grungy and the selective coloring in both to me is not working.

grapnell · May 10, 2012

I agree with you on the first one. It's overdone, but for the second one, do you just not like selective coloring? Or is there something specific about it that's not working. Useful criticism please.

vipgraphx · May 10, 2012

you have lost a lot of detail in the dark areas. HDR is supposed to bring that out. Unless you purposely did that but, I don't know. The sky in the second in full size as some weird lines and some blown out white areas and there is some slight haloing around the top of the building. I am not a huge fan of selective coloring at this time.

grapnell · May 10, 2012

I'm pretty sure that what you are seeing as a "slight halo" over the building is just a coincidence of the shape of the clouds, as there is no halo over any of the other objects. That being said, here is a full color of the image since you aren't a fan of selective coloring. I tried not to lose as much detail either in the dark areas. Only slight Fattal tonemapping to bring out the contrast a little better.

Jaemie · May 10, 2012

Maybe it's the car I'm not really liking - looks like a lot of Z28s I see. Anyway, the last post is better - I like the brick building and the sky. The other cars distract, imo, by disrupting the Camaro's roofline/curves. Also, there's another car or something behind the hoodline. I'd try shooting from a different angle on the Camaro, consider rule of thirds, and keep the background uncluttered but use the brick building and sky. Maybe try to work the sky into the car somehow, cliche as that might be.

grapnell · May 10, 2012

Thank you very much Jaemie, I am planning to take some more shots of this car this weekend when the weather is better. The car was a little dirty, and it was a rainy day. My options were limited since we were on break at work.

Jaemie · May 10, 2012

A used car salesman once told me the best day to sell a car is a rainy day because even the dullest paint looks shiny.

Majeed Badizadegan · May 10, 2012

Watch your backgrounds. HDR is a secondary tool, the rules of a good photo should come first.

Bynx · May 10, 2012

If I was president of GM Id sue you for publishing that first pic its so bad. The second one isnt much better. Neither is HDR and so shouldnt have been posted here.Now the third image is not bad and is the only one that should have been posted in the HDR forum. 2 minutes with a chamois to clean off the raindrops would have done a lot to improve the feeling of the image. The sky looks pretty good and menacing dark rather than just sooty (HDR done poorly) gray.

Jaemie · May 10, 2012

Bynx said:
If I was president of GM Id sue you for publishing that first pic its so bad. The second one isnt much better.

I think that's an excessively harsh, ridiculous comment. Since the OP asked for a critique, it would be appropriate to include your reasons for saying the first pic is "so bad" and the "second one isnt [sic] much better."

Bynx · May 10, 2012

Well first off neither are HDR images so what are they doing here? Second youre probably right -- I didnt have to be so harsh, since anyone else looking at the images would have thought the same thing that I typed out loud. Sometimes someone posts an image that I really find so offensive it defies description. That first image is one of those. If that is supposed to be rain drops all over the car it doesnt look like it. But it does look like tree droppings or some other cruddy stuff which doesnt do the car image any good at all. The rest of the treatment of the image isnt any better. I honestly cant see a single redeeming pixel in the whole image. So overall, I dont think I was being too critical at all. Just honest.