Small bridge downtown

Pallycow · Nov 22, 2012

Was riding bike on trails and took me downtown. Small river runs through and saw this bridge. Regular shot would not come out right as it was nearing sunset. Thought it might make a good HDR. I normally dont like 'cooked' hdr images but as I was messing with this one, thought it looked kinda neat done up as such. I thought it might be too sharp/noisy, but I felt the texture added to the age of the bridge.

Curious as to any thoughts, suggestions, room for improvement.

Parker219 · Nov 23, 2012

"I thought it might be too sharp/noisy, but I felt the texture added to the age of the bridge."

You should have went with your first thought. It is WAY too sharp and noisy. You can add texture to the bridge without doing that. Post the original photo, and I will process it for you if you want to show you that it can be done. The water, the colors, most everything seems to be off in this one.

Light Guru · Nov 23, 2012

The water looks horrible. I would do a long exposure to smooth out that water.

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Derrel · Nov 23, 2012

I think the shadows are placed incorrectly...my impression is that this is a fiery, glowing-orange sunset sky, reflected in the water under a bridge, near sunset time. Buuuuuuuut, the scene has been HDR'd so much that it looks like it's noon on a foggy day, and orange paint has been spilled on a print of the scene... The photo is entirely in the wrong "key"...it's....just...far...far...too...bright....to make any sense.

gsgary · Nov 23, 2012

Light Guru said:
The water looks horrible. I would do a long exposure to smooth out that water.

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The whole photo looks horrible

PlanetStarbucks · Nov 23, 2012

It burns my eyes.

If a picture can't stand on it's own without HDR, you shouldn't bother HDRing it. I don't see a picture here. Just a fraction of a bridge positioned haphazardly in a frame. The colors are all over the place. Color is part of composition and colors have harmonies just like musical notes. Putting the saturated orange next to desaturated slate grey and greyer grey is like walking up to a piano and punching the keys with your fist. In addition, the ultra contrasty processing just kills any sense of form and light.

SCraig · Nov 23, 2012

I have to agree, sorry. It's way oversharpened making the water look fuzzy. The orange on the far side of the bridge looks like it doesn't belong to. I'd cut back on the processing, and, much as I detest black and white, convert it to B&W to eliminate the splash of orange. It may look better, it may not, but it's worth a try.

Mully · Nov 23, 2012

Way too much HDR.

Pallycow · Nov 23, 2012

the orange in the water is a reflection of a building that is orange, the bridge really is green and moldy, those things I did not change.

the whole reason for trying hdr was to see if I could bring out the shadow detail that would have otherwise just been black. I wanted to be able to see under the bridge as well. then I kept playing with it and it turned into what it is.

I'll agree, it is a boring photo as it was practice in learning software and bringing out shadow detail. While I say it "looked kinda neat" I never said it was an amazing photo...lol.

craig I did do a black and white, and looked pretty cool, but not really worth keeping or posting. I only posted this to get ideas on how to better improve processing and usage of tools.

FanBoy · Nov 24, 2012

HDR photography isn't always the answer. Shadows/highlights depict depth and interest. And your mold might show up better!

amolitor · Nov 24, 2012

I think it's interesting.

You've killed the light, completely, except as masses of *color*, without losing the graphical strength of the image. There isn't the usual "what the hell am I looking at?" problem with this sort of wildly heavy HDR, the geometry of the scene is perfectly clear, and the composition is somewhat pleasing. This is a pretty good sample of a direction I think HDR and tonemapping techniques can profitably go.

No, it doesn't look natural. Yes it has a lot of what we perceive as technical problems -- which are really failures to comply with current tropes and ideas. I don't even LIKE it that much, since I am an old traditionalist. I do recognize it as a real thing, though.

terri · Nov 24, 2012

I'm probably the only one who might say this, but it resembles a manipulated Polaroid Time Zero print. I have no problem with manipulated images of that nature as long as there is reasonably good composition and the subject is recognizable. You have accomplished that much here.

As for the colors, it's funny to me when something that is so intentionally manipulated gets dinged on strange colors. Really? The colors aren't coming off realistically in an image that was intended to present something in an unrealistic way? :razz:

Color is part of composition and colors have harmonies just like musical notes. Putting the saturated orange next to desaturated slate grey and greyer grey is like walking up to a piano and punching the keys with your fist.

I disagree completely. Not only did he not "put" anything anywhere, orange and blue are complementary colors. While we may desire warmer colors in the foreground and cooler colors in the background, here it makes no difference because it is one of the few things from the original image that is natural.

Pallycow: you may not find much, but try a google search on Polaroid Time Zero manipulation. You will probably be amused to see what you unwittingly created here with your HDR, and if you like it, it may be something you want to continue to experiment with. Lord knows there won't be any more manipulable film coming from Polaroid anymore.

Pallycow · Nov 24, 2012

Thanks for the words.

While I agree with many on what was posted...rather than get into debates I just say thank you. My intent was obviously not to create something the die hard hdr'ers like to see, but rather create something interesting and different. Was hdr needed? no..'course not. Did I want to do it and see what I came up with? yup.

Art is just like love...truly something that's meaningful to some and not so much to others...

I will check that link, thanks. Something about it when creating it said to me "this reminds me of something". I am quite ignorant of many things and techniques so I may well have done something that others do intentionally on accident.

In any case...I love putting up my practice stuff to get other eyes and ideas on it and see what surfaces.

Thanks to those who blasted the image for crap and who appreciated it for what it is.

;-)