HDR pics...

[mountaindew]

Hello All!

Sorry I haven't been around since a couple of weeks ago when I said that I was back.. Things are still crazy around here! But it's tampering off little by little now....things are getting settled a bit more now.

Anyhow..just wanted to show a couple of pictures that are in HDR (high dynamic range) images. Did those during at night when I had the time the most to do the photo computer working.

Still experimenting on them. Learning as I go along. I know there are some halo around some trees..I guess I don't mind. Let me know what you think.

I printed some of them on poster sized, and man, they look GREAT on Luster photo paper!

This one here was taken on this small wooden shed building that's been boarded up.

This is the elevator taken in Waldorf, MN

Another elevator taken in Henderson, mn

I did the restoration of this tractor, sandblasting and painting. Couldn't resist taking a shot of this beauty.

And this one.. this is 9 shots in different exposures to get this results...weird and interesting.

Here's the thing..noticed how I make the skies/clouds pretty much in gray..for some reason I just think it looked better rather than in bright blue sky. It seems to make it more "dramatic" this way.

What do you people think?

Thanks for looking.

[fishinchicks]

I really like this effect the most on the tractor.

[Dbl]

First off let me quantify this by saying I'm in general not a big fan of HDR, so my opinion may not be worth a whole lot. One of the reasons I'm not a fan is due to the "fake" look that you often times get with HDR.

I've seen a few that were subtle and thought they looked good, but the majority look to0 processed. The other thing I personally don't care for are the halo's. Dead give away that HDR is being used. I don't have a lot of experience with HDR processing so I don't know if it is a by product of that process.

With all that out of the way the image that works the best for me is the last, the flower. I'm not seeing any haloing or artifacts around your flowers and it has an almost natural look as if it was shot on a cloudy day.

The grey skies work OK with the elevator shots but the haloing around the edges just are not my cup of tea.

Keep in mind this is my personal opinion, there are many fans of this technique and if you are happy with the results that really is all that matters.

[WCS]

What software did you use to create the HDR images? I have used both Photomatix and the HDR capabilities built into Photoshop CS2. I much prefer Photomatix, but for reasons similar to Dan's, I don't use it much. As for your photos, I do like the last one best. You must have had a nice calm day to pull off 9 shots without the flowers moving. That really turned out nice. The colors in the shed and the John Deere tractor really do pop!

[mountaindew]

Thanks guys!

Dan, I know what you're saying. Some people like it, some people don't. I agree it looks fake, more like a painting. I tried printing it on canvas material, and wow..it was almost as if someone painted it. It's cool looking! So I need to work on the halo thing. Thanks for your honest opinions!

Yep, I used Photomatx, and I'm still learning to use it. Very tricky not to go overboard on the colors..which is I'm good at "going overboard" And that's how I get the halo effect.

I used the tripod for the flower with a remote so I wouldn't move or touch it anymore than I have to. After 3 shots, (that's the max shots for different exposures) I'd set different settings exposure on the AEB settings in 2 more sets of 3 shots. That was the only time I'd touch the camera. And it was a dead clam day when I took the shots.

Will experiments some more! Thanks again!

[mmeyer]

I agree that the last one is really nice. I've tried to do some HDR and have not had much luck. I'm not a fan of the gray skies but that's just me.

One thing, they are really difficult to see well in such a large size.

[311Hemi]

Of them all....the last shot looks the best to me.

I do like the composition of the second image....I find it very interesting. The shadow of the silo mixed with the grey sky gives it a dark/eerie affect....as you can certainly tell it was sunny. I don't care for the halo's in the photo though, and the angle of the whole thing seems a bit tilted. Cool photo though...and I like the colors on the building on the right side of the photo. Overall it seems a little dark...but that may part of what makes it interesting to me.

The colors on the tractor really pop out nice...but again the halo kind of lessens the visually pleasing aspect of the photo for me.

[DeeDee]

I really like the tractor and there's something about picture #2 I like that also