North Carolina Mountain Sunset

[KennethBK]

Stumbled on this shot while shooting an assignment (a party) at a cabin high in the mountians on the NC/TN line. This is my first attempt at an HDR landscape: 5 exposures compositied in Photomatix.

I did bump up the saturation in the sky a bit to give the red some pop. The ethereal quality of the shrubs in the foreground comes from the fact that a pretty stiff wind was blowing so there was motion between frames that was darn near impossible to correct. I like the effect produced myself.

My goal was to faithfully reproduce the scene as much as possible. I didn't want to overprocess in to illustration territory. My question: did I accomplish that?
Any ways I could make this a better HDR landscape?



Aperture: f/14.0
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 200

[peeperita]

very nice image you've submitted.....i love the colors in it and the overall contrast is so restful....did you faithfully reproduce a scene?....only you can attest to that......is it realistic?.....very much so.....

although, i can't help looking at those bushes.....i think if they all had that "ethereal" look to them, i would stop looking at the few that do....if that made sense....experiment with your tool of choice.....a smudge maybe?.....

again, very nice image....

peeper

[KennethBK]

Originally Posted by peeperita

although, i can't help looking at those bushes.....i think if they all had that "ethereal" look to them, i would stop looking at the few that do....if that made sense....experiment with your tool of choice.....a smudge maybe?.....

Good idea. Those sharp bushes on the right do draw the eye. Thanks for the tip!

[johassler]

Originally Posted by peeperita

very nice image you've submitted.....i love the colors in it and the overall contrast is so restful....did you faithfully reproduce a scene?....only you can attest to that......is it realistic?.....very much so.....

I can't say whether the colors were accurate when the photo was taken by KennthBK, but I can tell you that I the mountains where I am (pretty darn near the tri-cities area in NC) often show these colors - it look very true to my eyes!

What a beautiful photograph!