Sunset and nightime HDR - C&C welcome

Balfey1972

OK so I am bitten by the HDR bug. Managed to have the camera with me last night and got the last 15 mins of Sun in Rogerstown on the way home. Also took a trip to Skerries last night and tried a night time HDR. Well here they are. C&C welcome.

1. Rogerstown Estuary


2. Shamrock Boat


3. South Beach Sunset


4. Skerries Pier

DaireQuinlan

Honestly, I think they look really awful, completely overcooked. HDR was originally designed to try and fit into one scene a much higher range of values than would ordinarily be possible. All you've managed to do here is squash whatever tonal variations you have into a sort of muddy halo-y dullness.

paulusdu

I wouldn;t go as far as DaireQuinlan and say they are awful. I really like number 4 and i like the idea of number 2, but i just think that you went a bit far on number 2. there are strange patches of light to the right of the boat and the tree line looks too over cooked, if it were toned down a bit i would say that it would be a cracking shot.
1 and 3, i jsut can't warm to, i'd agree with DaireQuinlan on that, they have been completely over cooked to my eye. I know its easy to let loose on something like that, i did something similar when i started messing around with Topaz filters in photoshop.
Nice places to go and shoot though by the looks of it, i've ever been around that area.

PCPhoto

its not that bad - in an arty way

but as HDR - it just looks wrong - like Daire says.... HDR is about getting a balance of exposure (a complete tonal range)....so no part of the picture is too bright or too dark.

in your pics the exposure seems be be extreme tones - which is not very pleasing to the eye.....if your images were displayed in a gallery - I'd think it was just a piece of art - wouldnt stand out as HDR.

Balfey1972

PCPhoto wrote: »

its not that bad - in an arty way

but as HDR - it just looks wrong - like Daire says.... HDR is about getting a balance of exposure (a complete tonal range)....so no part of the picture is too bright or too dark.

in your pics the exposure seems be be extreme tones - which is not very pleasing to the eye.....if your images were displayed in a gallery - I'd think it was just a piece of art - wouldnt stand out as HDR.

Thanks Guys, appreciate your views.

On these I was going for the more art / painted picture effect. To me it is the extreme of the standard photo. Guess it is down to taste and everyone has different opinions when it comes to that.

kelly1

I like #2. I'm not a big fan of HDR in general but it's OK when it subtle.

Promac

2 isn't bad! It's extremely difficult to hold back with HDR when you first start playing with it. You should see my first efforts - jesus maria! They're like an explosion in a metallic paint factory!

Try taking it off the defaults and bring everything right down to minimal levels and then start bringing them back up. Save everything and come back to it the next day or next week and see how you feel.

HDR is a lovely tool if used correctly (see a lot of AchtungBarry's stuff) but like any tool, can be used too heavy-handedly.

DK32

I think the overcooked look can work in certain situations and on certain subjects.
I don't like overcooked on landscapes.
Fair play for putting them up for C&C

5uspect

It great to experiment and try things and take criticism well but I'm tempted to post this again.

I think no.2 would work with a tight crop around the boat without the busy background.

nonsequitir

I'd like to see the originals and understand the rationale for HDR versions. If it's just to experiment then cool, but I think they look too surreal to appeal (to me).

For landscapes particularly, I think only subtle HDR works unless the images are destined for use that requires this extreme rendering. I also think that using HDR as a mechanism to recover a technically flawed original is inferior to going back and redoing the shot.

Of course, I do dislike overcooked HDR anyway, so you can take or leave the comments.

Taking HDR out of the equation, I do like the compositions.