To HDR or not to HDR

[janok]

I take all of my pictures with bracketing – either 3 or 5 shots. I know that I eventually will try to see how they turn up as HDR-pictures. Sometimes pictures are better not processed thru Photomatix. Still I’m grateful that I have several exposures of the same motive. These two pictures are of the fortress in Oslo centrum. I have manually blended the different exposures with the darkest as baseline.


Akershus fortress by janokiese, on Flickr


Akershus fortress by janokiese, on Flickr

 

[Norma]

Love the composition and the light in the first one. The second is beautiful...

 

[Joel_W]

Stunning. But picture #2 is sensational.

 

[EchoingWhisper]

Brightness the sky a bit more, maybe half a stop, but keep the brightness of the shadows.

 

[SCraig]

Those are beautiful. They are exactly what HDR should be used for, increasing the dynamic range of a photograph. For some reason many people feel that HDR means increasing saturation to hideous levels. I really enjoy the way you use HDR so please keep doing so.

 

[EchoingWhisper]

Those are beautiful. They are exactly what HDR should be used for, increasing the dynamic range of a photograph. For some reason many people feel that HDR means increasing saturation to hideous levels. I really enjoy the way you use HDR so please keep doing so.

It is not HDR, read again.

 

[EchoingWhisper]

Those are beautiful. They are exactly what HDR should be used for, increasing the dynamic range of a photograph. For some reason many people feel that HDR means increasing saturation to hideous levels. I really enjoy the way you use HDR so please keep doing so.

This is not what HDR should be used for, look at the shadows, how is it HDR?

EDIT: Oops, my mistake, it is a HDR, but how could there be such dark shadows in HDR?

 

[SCraig]

This is not what HDR should be used for, look at the shadows, how is it HDR?

EDIT: Oops, my mistake, it is a HDR, but how could there be such dark shadows in HDR?

Set the black point any where you want it to be on the histogram. Everything below that point will be black and everything above that will change based on the tone curve.

 

[MissCream]

IMO these pictures needed more then 3-5 exposures.

 

[Bynx]

The first image is very similar to a shot by 480Sparky. Only difference is that sparky shot for the dark interior side of the wall as well as the outside view. Your view through that arch is perfect.