Some for critique

[Eclectix]

From a recent trip to Las Vegas. The blown glass art is on the ceiling at the Bellagio hotel.

.

 

[ronlane]

Welcome to the site.

#1 seems a little dark, can you up the exposure without blowing out the highlights too much?

#2 isn't too bad, I personally think you don't need as much of the water in the foreground. I say this because there isn't a clean reflection of the tower. You could also crop out the Bally's sign without cutting off any of the other buildings attached to the tower.

 

[Eclectix]

#1, sure, no problem. Here's a brighter exposure of that image. Better?



#2, I'll try that crop and see how it looks.

And thanks!

 

[ronlane]

I like that edit much better. See how there is less dark areas in it? This makes the colors pop more in my opinion.

 

[Eclectix]

I do prefer it. Sometimes I get too close to a photo and any change I make seems to be "wrong" until I get some distance, and often I need a second set of eyes to see what I am too close to see.

Here is a cropped version of the second image- I think I prefer it, too. I was reluctant to eliminate the splash of color that the neon sign gave the image, but I don't know why, because it's really more distracting than helpful.

 

[ronlane]

I like that crop.

 

[DiskoJoe]

Photos are okay but they dont look much like HDR.

 

[Dinardy]

Second crop on the tower is sweet. Nice work

Sent from my iPhone

 

[weepete]

Love the second edit on the first image, the other one is "meh" imo.

 

[Eclectix]

Thanks for all of the input! It is all very much appreciated.

Photos are okay but they dont look much like HDR.

My guess is that this is probably because I try to compose an image that doesn't result in an image that looks highly saturated or otherwise manipulated. I love the greater depth of visible detail that HDR offers in highlights and shadows, but I try to balance this against making it look heavily processed. I guess my approach is a bit more subtle than most. For the sake of comparison, here are the images at a single exposure without any bracketing- you can see that there is a lot less visible range in them:

 

[JohnnyBlack]

No issues here with a subtle approach to HDR, like the second shot with the new crop