Tasteful HDR? You be the judge!

Invisodude · Feb 15, 2010

New here but gotta have a first real post somewhere

I like the first two also, I agree with everyone, most over-do HDR's, all those halo's and over saturation isn't so cool to me either. but yours look good, the first one is so clean it looks more like you used some kind of super sonic future sky filter instead of it even being an HDR

The second one to me is cooked just right for that fantasy look.

robertwsimpson · Feb 15, 2010

step 1. figure out something that will look cool but has too high of a dynamic range to take a normal photo of
step 2. properly expose multiple exposures for different light levels in the scene
step 3. PP each RAW file for sharpness and noise reduction then convert to jpg
step 4. import jpg files to photomatix
step 5. mess with sliders in tone mapping until the photo looks cool
step 6. process and save the resulting jpg
step 7. bring into photoshop and adjust levels, clone out ugly stuff, and generally make the photo cooler than it was before
step 8. upload to flickr for the world to see!

burstintoflame81 · Feb 19, 2010

I like 2 the best. I really like what HDR does with old cracked woods.

#1 I like but think the sky could be toned down just a tad. It tends to take focus away from the car which I am assuming is the focus of your picture. It also screams "Doctored Photo." Thats just my personal opinion though. Overall its a great picture though.

#2 Like I said, I really like it. If anything I would say just brighten it up just a tad.

#3 just doesn't do anything for me. I don't think there is anything that pulls me into the picture and maybe its partly the perspective that was used. Its very flat ( if that makes any sense )

Hope this was useful. Great job in my opinion.

PackingMyBags · Feb 20, 2010

2 is the better of them. Not a fan of 1 or 3. The subjects just arent interesting enough.

SrBiscuit · Feb 20, 2010

robertwsimpson said:
Actually, to the right crowd, it's a very interesting car... grocery getter that runs the quarter in a 13.3 seconds? Yes please.

um yeah...my first thought was "sweet 3".

i agree that the 3rd looks the flattest of the 3 and i dont like seeing the fuse box or whatever that is. it makes it seem not so old and abandoned (IF thats what you were going for)

the second one is a sketchy little place huh? that dirty mattress skeeves me out. ugh. lol

i like your processing on the first 2. third doesnt seem to have gone as far.

nicely done overall! :thumbup:

250Gimp · Feb 21, 2010

Nice job!

I like the HDR you did! Not too over cooked like a lot of HDR you see. I would back down just a hair more to keep it real, but I still really like the first two.

Cheers

End Game · Feb 25, 2010

I really like the second one the best. The first one I'm just turned off to because of personal bias against putting a car (Or at least a functional car

) into an image. To me it makes it look like a stock shot. But that aside, I think it's fine; an odd thing to HDR, but fine nonetheless. The third one IMO is just a bad photo. To me there just wasn't that...I dunno...originiality of composition. It's just a straight on shot of an unmatching blue sky and semi-dead-grass ground. With a few slabs of wood in the middle.

</rant>

robertwsimpson · Feb 25, 2010

maybe you will like this one better?

End Game · Feb 25, 2010

Ooooh yes. OooHOHoooh yes. And it has a car in it XD. Well played, mon ami. I really like the outer glow effect. Or...if it isn't outer glow, how did you do it?

robertwsimpson · Feb 25, 2010

lol I think that one is way overdone. The only reason I did it was because I thought those pipes would look cool... and they do!

burstintoflame81 · Feb 25, 2010

See, maybe its just me, I tend to love what HDR does with building materials apparently. The brick and concrete buildings look awesome. I guess I should take up architectural photography.

robertwsimpson · Feb 26, 2010

Yeah I like the way that it makes buildings look kind of animated. It doesn't look much like a photograph at that point though.

JimKing · Feb 26, 2010

bigtwinky hit my feelings pretty well. No. 2 is a clear winner. No. 1 did not strike me as an HDR image. I like the shot but not the way I like No. 2. No. 3 is nicely done but doesn't have the depth and color contrast that makes No. 2 such a grabber. I've done a few HDR shots but nothing I would want to show anyone. Your's are worth showing.