Hoar Frost - HDR

[Somerleaze]

I am not so much looking for critique on HDR, although I welcome it but I feel the composition isn't as good as it should be and I'm not sure what I could have done better.



I welcome edits and re-posts in this thread.

Canon 350D
18-55mm kit lens
1/1250 @ f8 +- 2EV
ISO 200
Lightroom 3 and HDR Efex Pro


Phil
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[Sterling]

I think the hdr has left the shot looking a little washed out with little contrast. It also seems a little fuzzy, like the alignment of the frames was just slightly off.

The composition is lacking because the subject isn't clear. Your title indicates the frost may be the subject but it's too far away to really see it in the tree. Much of the frame is taken up by the blue-tinted grass in the foreground but it's not very compelling. The path is way over on the side. That leaves the big tree. But it is pretty far away and has been crammed against the top of the frame.

Shooting into the sun seems to have produced a gigantic flare, the edge of which is pretty distracting as it cuts diagonally through the sky.

I think you need to move in closer to your subject here. I bet moving closer to the tree and to the left. using portrait orientation, and shooting the side lighting of the frost on the tree would've made a nice shot. Just a suggestion as I see lots of potential here.

[BlackRockBacon]

Boosted Clarity and Contrast, tweaked saturation/luminance of the yellows a little, and brightened the sky.
With a different composition this would have been an awesome shot.

[Krusty79]

Welcome to DPS. I'm afraid the composition feels disjointed to me. The path on the left does not lead me to your subject, which seems to be the tree with the sun behind it. I would prefer less foreground. That would have the effect of not cutting off the top of the tree also. Shooting later in the day should give you a more colorful sky and less of that sun flare. I also find my eye going to the people in front of the trees on the right - so I would say that is distracting from the subject. Actually, the people in front of the trees might be a pretty good shot on its own. So, I think you need to recompose the shot so that the elements in it reinforce the subject and do not distract from it.

[EOBeav]

HDR starts with a good image, and unfortunately this image lacks some strong compositional elements. Also, there is separate section for HDR in the forums, and an admin might move it at some point.