Please Crit My HDR Attempt :)

[Lurch]

Hi all, this is an HDR composition of the rememberance sunday parade in November 2007. Taken from a single exposure merged in Photomatrix and tone mapped in CS3. Not the best example in the world i know but i am just starting to explore HDR as a medium, in particular which subjects make for a good HDR conversion.

Sooo..have at it, please




Here is a link to the full size version on my DeviantArt Page...

http://dunka.deviantart.com/art/Reme...e-HDR-71897867

[Japaslavian]

I'm going to have to say it's a bit too much. The reason HDR is a great tool is that it allows you to perfectly expose your shadows and highlights without blow outs or drop offs. From what I can see here, you could have probably gotten a perfect exposure with a single shot.
HDR used in this way just seems to create a bizarre texture in things that should not be textured, such as the glass windows in the upper portion of the shot. It's almost like adding grain to an already grainy image.
If you're going for that surreal look than by all means keep at this because it does have that 'wow' affect, but for me, it is just too much.

Subjects that I have found to really benefit from HDR processing is things that already have texture, like cement structures, and pieces of architecture like old buildings, as you can capture all the details of the cracks and designs in the materials.

Hope this helps.

[wulf]

Likewise, I am not completely convinced. I prefer the more subtle end of the spectrum; this one looks artificially coloured and oversharpened for my tastes.

Out of interest, do you have the original shot for comparison?

Wulf

[Nai no Kami]

I was hoping that the posters before me would have alleviated me from being the most brutal, but that didn't happen.
Without anesthesia, your photo is not an HDR. Why is this?. Because -as you said- it is made from a single exposure. As true as HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, you cannot achieve a higher dynamic range if you use just only a single exposure.
When creating an HDR photo, you try to go beyond the dynamic range of your camera and the only way to do this is by using different exposures. Those exposures are combined into high bit depth per channel. Then this file is usually... "compressed..." into a 8 bit per channel JPEG trying to preserve as close as possible the appearance of the HDR file. Bear in mind that this JPEG is not dynamic-range enhanced, as the crude merge of the exposures is. This is why you need a soft for creating HDRs.
All of this things are a journey, and a quite fascinating one.

[ike]

I like the shot, and i also like the styling used, although not HDR, i like it because it looks like a painting,

But, i feel it could do with being toned down slighty in the contrast, bit too harsh,

It could also do with a small crop from the top, to get rid of the busy terrace, leaving only the flowers, cloning out the studio url too, and a small crop from the side, getting rid of the 'half lady'

ike,

[Lurch]

Thank you all for comments, here is the original for a comparison...which i was going to bin before trying out the hdr(ish) process..

[wulf]

The original is a bit soft. I think I would have been inclined to delete it although some sharpening and a bit of a play with the curves does bring some improvements. There is lot going on and it looks cluttered.

However, I think the buildings look interesting (shapes, colours, reflections, textures). It might be a place to return to early in the day, not long after sunrise. Use a tripod and catch some shots of the architecture (and paving) with various exposures (eg. one to get the colour of the sun and sky, another to show what is in the shadows and perhaps a third somewhere in the middle) and you could have some very usable material for working with HDR techniques.

Wulf

[windrider86]

I think it would be agreat picture of you cropped it down quite bit to show just the guy int he front and maybe a few off to either side of him. Just not fond of the buildings and the ohter people. It makes this too busy.
I love hdr pictures but only when they are done as to not make them look to cartoonishy.
You can create an hdr with one picture if you photoshop it first. Take your orginal and lighten it up, save it and then do the same when darkening it. Then merge the 3. Its isnt quite the same as bracketing with your camera but it turns out better than using just one image and works when you have nothing else to use
You had a great idea and ran with it very well.

[Murtasma]

This is not a true HDR image. This is a tonemapped single exposed image.

HDR Images that have been tonemapped don't have EXIF data

[Iman_D80]

The original is a million times better than the HDR image unless you want to scare people off visiting scotland ;-)