A Few HDR Images

[jpeyton]

Taken with the D700. The first two are with the Sigma 50mm f/2.8 Macro; the last with a Nikkor 35mm f/2.

DSC_0505HDR.jpg

DSC_0451HDR.jpg

DSC_0400HDR.jpg

Processed using Photomatix and Lightroom. All were shot 9 frames at 1EV intervals using auto-exposure bracketing, handheld at 8FPS.

I'm still getting the hang of Photomatix, trying to figure out how to process HDRs so they don't look so 'fake'.

 

[ghostman]

I think the first two are done very well. For me, the third starts bordering on fake.

 

[996GT2]

I like the second one the best. The first one seems to have a "halo" around the bridge from the HDR creation.

To get rid of that slight "halo" effect around the outline of the bridge, you might want to increase the smoothing in Photomatix. Sometimes, putting the HDR layer on top of some of the original images and creating a layer mask in Photoshop to cover up some of the awkward areas also helps for making the photos look more realistic.

 

[troytime]

i like 1 a lot.

 

[foghorn67]

It's daring to take a picture with a busy background, yet make a simple point with subject matter. I like all of them. The 3rd is a little bit zorched, but I'm sure you have plenty to work with if you choose.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

#1 & 2 really work for me.

 

[jpeyton]

Thanks y'all; I'll have to go back and tweak #3 a little to tone down the sky.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Thanks y'all; I'll have to go back and tweak #3 a little to tone down the sky.

IMO, it's not just the sky. There looks to be to much micro-contrast going on , so all the little details (like the grain in the door, for instance) look exaggerated.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I'd have to say that #2 is the best and the most natural, followed by #1 which is less natural and like everyone says, #3 has the generic unnatural HDR look.... overly dark sky, white periphery around anything bordering the sky, etc.

 

[Rufus12]

#2 is awesome. Good job!

 

[jpeyton]

I tried creating one from a single exposure, and it worked pretty well. I opened up the RAW file in NX2, created 3 TIFF copies 2EV apart, and combined them in Photomatix.

DSC_1257_3_2_1.jpg

This technique doesn't really work well in strongly backlit scenes (like when the sun is in the frame) because a single RAW file usually doesn't have enough dynamic range to pull back sky detail.

 

[SuperjetMatt]

Is that in Astoria?

 

[jpeyton]

The first two in the OP are in Portland; the third in the OP is in Dundee. The pic posted today is from Tualatin.

 

[Miklebud]

I really like all 3 of them! Especially the first!

 

[ObiDon]

#1 and #3 look a little oversaturated, but that tends to happen with hdr/tonemapping and is fine if that's what you're going for

i think #2 is the best one because it looks the most natural of the 3. it's really just personal preference though. i have a couple tonemapped images on my flickr that a lot of people probably wouldn't recognize as such.

are you on flickr? there's an AT flickr group but there's no activity

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: foghorn67
It's daring to take a picture with a busy background, yet make a simple point with subject matter. I like all of them. The 3rd is a little bit zorched, but I'm sure you have plenty to work with if you choose.

Yeah, I love really busy photos that can look so seemingly simple. The first photo is just amazing in that regard.
But the one thing that is detracting from the beauty is sadly the nature of early morning photography in the shadows. Concrete is so hard to capture in the early morning and still lend to a beautiful color scene. In black and white photography this problem can be minimized more easily, but the concrete in shadow is hard to combat in full color.
Is there anything that can be done to lighten up the bridge? I think it probably cannot be changed much, the only thing that can make concrete stand out so beautifully in the early morning is when the sun is at your back and striking the concrete.