Capital Building Austin TX HDR

[Revolver]

Just wanted to get your thoughts on this. The one problem I have is the halo around the tree on the left. Also should I have used f8-f11 instead of f3.5

Nikon D300s
f3.5
11mm
5 shot
Photomatrix

[IMG][/IMG]

[Krusty79]

Yes, I think you should have used f/8 or f/11 to get the greater depth of field. Also, most lenses are sharpest around f/8.

I think the shot looks fantastic except for the halo effect. I can see it above the capital building also.

I have only used the default settings for my trial version of Photomatix. However, I regularly update a photo tips document and I found a couple of tips I have seen others post regarding halos:

"I would suggest that when processing try and concentrate to even out a well balanced sky. When you see a halo or powerful grays and blues you need to work using the MICRO SMOOTHING slider and this should help balance the skies in your pictures."

and

"One of the most telltale signs of over processing is the halo that will silhouette the horizon, where the landscape meets the sky in the image, or just an overall grainy image (unless you just took the pictures using a high ISO). Avoid this by increasing the the "luminosity," decreasing the "strength" somewhat, and increasing the "smoothing" and/or "micro-smoothing" if you are using Photomatix."

and

"The halos, as BRIT says, can be tweaked to be 'less obvious'. Another way to fix this is to open your Final Tonemapped image and add an extra layer in PS using the shot with the best sky exposure. Stick it underneath, then perform an Auto Alignment and either erase or mask out the haloing (using a soft, opaque brush setting) so that the nice sky in the bottom layer replaces the haloed trees, clouds, etc. in the top tonemapped layer."

HTH