Stephen F. Austin statue

[jamesbjenkins]

Hey all,

I recently overhauled my entire HDR workflow thanks to a couple of helpful members of the forum. Until recently, I'd never used layer masks in conjunction with HDR processing to produce the completed image. The image below was processed using Photomatix, Photoshop CS6 public beta and Nik Color Efex Pro 4. I used 3 completed HDR from photomatix, layering them together with two of the original bracketed exposures.

I'm very happy with the result, with the exception of the sky. It looks very weird, but I haven't been able to get it to look "right". I'd appreciate your CC on the image, the processing and anything I might be able to do in the future to make my skies look better. Thanks.

 

[Bynx]

I took the color of the sky down quite a bit removing the yellow and magenta and pumping up the black at times.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Nice edit Bynx

 

[vipgraphx]

In regards to the sky. Did you use one of your other exposures to mask it back in? Some times you need to adjust the colors and brightness of the sky in your original exposure to match your tonemapped version.

 

[Bynx]

You should have one of your shots with an exposure for the sky. Dropping that back in to replace the tone mapped sky would be easy enough. Was Austin Texas named after this guy? Or was it the Austin Mini?

 

[ReganP]

Was Austin Texas named after this guy? Or was it the Austin Mini?

What is the Austin Mini?

 

[ReganP]

I like what Bynx did with it, why is the upper corner of the building a different color? Is it really like that or did it get like that through the editing process?

 

[jamesbjenkins]

Bynx, great edit. I'll keep that in mind for the next time.

VIP, I have an exposure of the sky, but maybe you guys can help me with a problem I found. The HDRs that Photomatix processes have ~10 pixels of drift from the original exposures. Layered with each other, they don't match up...by about 10 pixels. I'm confused how this could happen, especially since I have "align source images" turned off in Photomatix since I used a very stable tripod (Vanguard Auctus Plus 323CT).

Austin, TX is named for Stephen F. Austin. "SFA" as we affectionately call him, was the first President of the Republic of Texas. History remembers him as the "Father of Texas". This statue is located on the campus of the university that bears his name, in Nacogdoches, TX. I happen to have 2 degrees from there...

Thanks for the commentary all. Any thoughts on the image as a whole? Composition, processing?

 

[Bynx]

Even if you have a stable tripod it doesnt hurt to leave auto align images on. Just click on left and right up and down alignment rather than align by object shape. That should fix the misalignment. I like the shot, but composition wise Id like to see more details, especially the face. Even up north we are aware of a lot of Texas history. Its odd though that Stephen Austin is not mentioned much.
For ReganP this is an Austin Mini with a model to show scale. Its a wee car but fun to drive.

 

[vipgraphx]

I run into this problem everyonce in a while. If you want to use your original exposures your going to have to not select the auto align feature in Photomatix nor the crop option. once you have done your processing and bring it into photoshop. Use the Auto Align layers in photoshop under the edit menue. This should fix your problems.

But yeah even shooting on a tripod will sometimes give you some variances in alignment. The other thing you can do is make sure when you set off your burst of shots it is the fastest possible burst. This will help you a lot. Just for sake of mind how do you shoot your images in AEB, do you use a timer? Do you use a remote shutter? Are you at CH mode for shooting. Another thing is are you sure all your parts of your tripod are tight and the mounting bracket on your camera? All these things matter and you could always use a weight on your tripod if you have the option to attach a bag or something. I have a vanguard as well and it came with an attachment I can use for weight and or equipment. Also what head are you using? Is your head sturdy enough for your camera and lens?

just things that I thought about as I typed away...Hope one of things thing helps!