New to DPS, Here's my first HDR

[Cam_rich345]

I'm a new poster on DPS, so I'd like to post in as many Discussions I can. Here's a composition I took a few nights ago and put together as HDR.



The original images and the first composite are on my Flickr account:
Here

First Image
Camera: Canon PowerShot A520
Shutter: 15 sec
Aperture: F/2.6
ISO: 50
Flash: Did not Fire

Second Image
Camera: Canon PowerShot A520
Shutter: 15 sec
Aperture: F/8
ISO: 50
Flash: Did not Fire

Post Production
Qtpfsgui 1.8.12 for composite and HDR
Nikon Capture NX for Tweaking some of the colors

Tell me what you think!

[xxpinballxx]

your original image on flickr is set to private....
Welcome to the forums......
Lots to learn here and great people to learn from.....
Hope you get as much out of this place as I have in the last year!
QTPFSGUI is a great little app expecially considering the price.
Nice work on this one....I like the tree between the two houses....

[Cam_rich345]

Originally Posted by xxpinballxx

your original image on flickr is set to private....

Would you know how to make it un-private? I'm still new to Flickr, thanks for the comments!

[Nicole]

To change a picture from private to public on Flickr, you can either do it in the organizr or you can change the permission right from the photo page by clicking on the edit button next to "Who can see this photo" as highlighted here:



The second option is probably easier if you're new to Flickr. Make sure to check your post again after you do that though since I'm pretty sure that if you change it between private and public it breaks the link on any external sites. So if that happens you can edit your post. Hope that's not too confusing!!

[myth0s]

EDIT: I took the "Tell me what you think" as if you were asking for some critiques and general appreciation of the picture.

I'm not an expert with HDR by any mean, but I like yours. Many HDR pictures are, imho, overdone. Yours is simple, pleasant to look at.

The exposition looks good to my eye and that is, to me, the most important thing in HDR pictures. You seems to have some some of gradient for top to bottom (top is dark, bottom is light). I don't know if that is wanted, but it looks OK.

This is not the sharpest HDR image I've seen (when viewing in large) but I think you did a really good job anyway. It looks really nice when viewing in medium

My last comment is about the aperture. I am really not sure about what I am going to say and anyone is welcome to correct me if it turns out that I'm wrong:
Between your different pictures, you have changed the aperture a lot. I would have rather change the exposition time. By changing the aperture as much as three stops, I would be worried that some things that were out-of-focus become in-focus (or vice-versa) as the depth-of-field could change quite a lot.

Anyway, all in all, I like the picture and I hope my comments will help you.

Cheers,
Alexandre

[Cam_rich345]

Thank you for your kind critiques!

As for the aperture choice, I was originally just playing around with the various manual settings and chose the two pictures more for their contrast than for their clarity. This is probably also why the full image is not as clear as I would have liked. I might stay up tonight to try the exposure technique (which is more in line with HDR anyways).

Thank you again and Happy holidays!

[wattsbw2004]

Good image and i like the composition but the #1 rule that many people use when in HDR photography is don't change the aperture but rather the change the shutter speed. By changing the aperture it creates differences in focus so i only ever change the exposure and keep the aperture the same.

[nepzie]

How can I do HDR stuff using photoshop cs2 or cs 8.0 ......? Please help.