Overcooked?

[IgneousIsBliss]

What is it, and how do I avoid it?

I have never tried HDR before, but plan to soon. I've seen some very, uhm...overdone HDR's, which I assume are the ones that are referred to as overcooked? The ones that look more like cartoons than anything in reality?

How do you avoid getting that effect? Or is it simply "less is more", and the ones that are overcooked are a result of too much editing?

I don't want to make that mistake. Does anyone have an example of a "good" HDR vs one that is overdone/too much?

Thanks

 

[molested_cow]

I do HDRs when I know I am dealing with very bright and dark lighting in one scene, like back light situations, where the one photo won't be able to capture the entire dynamic range. Yes I do overcook it from time to time when I do like the effect, but I try my best to avoid the halo look. Different softwares will create different results though, so it depends on what you use to create them. I am using photoshop cs5, but I think there are definitely better ones out there.

Over cooked or not, it can get subjective. Here's an example:

For some people the second one isn't over cooked, but by comparison, it may seem so. It's up to your preference.

 

[Bynx]

Whether its overcooked or not is strictly up to the user. In earlier versions of Photomatix and other HDR software it was up to the user how much they used the sliders. Now you can select visually from assorted presets. Getting overcooked results is no longer an accident just poor judgement. Watch out for highlight smoothing which creates the dirty smoky clouds and skies and halos, and too much saturation results in nuclear grass (way too much yellow and a fluorescent greenish yellow glow). Both signs of poor tone mapping. HDR is not to be feared but embraced, just dont go hog wild when you start.

 

[SlickSalmon]

One other aspect that impacts how overcooked an image looks is how it's displayed. On a video screen, overcooked images can look awful. But when printed, they can look quite nice, particularly if printed on fine art paper.