Kauai Truck

[gailz]

Hi all... this is my first posting to the forum. I've recently started playing with Photomatix and HDR imaging. Here's a shot of a truck I had the pleasure of riding in last year on a trip to Kauai OOTC:



As you can see, this was taken mid-day and in the excitement of the moment I forgot to check my histogram so didn't notice the hood was totally blown-out and the entire image was somewhat washed out.

With Photomatix and PhotoShop in hand, I came back to this shot a few weeks ago and started playing. First, I processed the RAW image in Photomatix a couple of times, intentionally with some extreme settings to play up the grungy graffiti with the Details Enhancer. Then I brought the result into Photoshop and cloned some "paint" onto the hood, made some Curves and other adjustments to come up with the following:



Any feedback? It's nice meeting everyone!! /gail

[lputman]

Welcome to DPS gail. Nice processing. I really like the colors.

[MrCastle]

There are 2 things that bug me :-\

The hood doesn't look natural after the cloning of paint onto it.
And you went from over-exposing the hood to having pure-blacks on the side. (that might be what you were aiming for though)

But hey, not trying to be negative here ;p
I personally prefer receiving some "negative" feedback than only "nice shot" comments. Negatives help make me better (I hope :-( )

So, cool shot :-)

[corry]

hi gail and welcome. i agree that all the dark/ black added is a bit too much for my liking.

[gailz]

Thanks for the constructive feedback! I see the points on the blackness of the hood -- I shall play some more.