How to improve HDR photo

[spcandrew]

Hi all,

I've been taking photos for a little under a month. This is my first HDR photo I took. Shot using Mt. Rainer as a background. F/5.6, 1/60, ISO 100, 40mm. Shot 3 bracketed exposures (+2/-2) in sunset light on a tripod and using a remote. Specifically, does it seem like the car and foreground is a bit under-exposed?

[Lightwriter]

Nice shot! I think the car looks OK but the mountains look overexposed to me.

[Ennor]

i'd crop out the mountains and focus on the vehicle. The Mountains are over exposed and distract from the vehicle

[jpamyers]

I think the shot looks great, but I believe it looks a bit washed out. A simple curves and/or levels adjustment would probably do wonders...

Originally Posted by Ennor

i'd crop out the mountains and focus on the vehicle. The Mountains are over exposed and distract from the vehicle

Err, no. The mountains are pretty cool here with the car... i'd actually back up and find a spot with less trees.

But, hey what do I know about car photography?

Originally Posted by jpamyers

I think the shot looks great, but I believe it looks a bit washed out. A simple curves and/or levels adjustment would probably do wonders...

I'd use external flashes here to illuminate the car.

Originally Posted by Lightwriter

Nice shot! I think the car looks OK but the mountains look overexposed to me.

I'm OK with that here because the focus is the car... not the mountains.

My $.02.

#1 - Position the car differently
#2 - Use better lighting
#3 - Don't use HDR with cars... it sucks.
#4 - find a spot with less trees and more mountains.

~Eric

[RecurrentNerve]

I'd use a mask to seperate foreground and background and brighten the foreground a bit.

[jpamyers]

Originally Posted by maxharvard

#3 - Don't use HDR with cars... it sucks.
~Eric

IMO it all depends on the type of cars your shooting...I've had great results with older hot rods shot in HDR.

And I think the car is illuminated enough as it is...its just the photo seems a bit washed, thus my suggestion to do a levels/curves adjustment to bring back some contrast...

Here's a quick redux I did on it. Hope the o/p doesn't mind. If its an issue, I'll delete it immediately. Just wanted to show how the shot could look with just a bump in contrast, white balance and some mild sharpening...

[avishek24]

I really like what you have done with the edit. Nice work.

Originally Posted by jpamyers

IMO it all depends on the type of cars your shooting...I've had great results with older hot rods shot in HDR.

And I think the car is illuminated enough as it is...its just the photo seems a bit washed, thus my suggestion to do a levels/curves adjustment to bring back some contrast...

Here's a quick redux I did on it. Hope the o/p doesn't mind. If its an issue, I'll delete it immediately. Just wanted to show how the shot could look with just a bump in contrast, white balance and some mild sharpening...

Originally Posted by jpamyers

IMO it all depends on the type of cars your shooting...I've had great results with older hot rods shot in HDR.

And I think the car is illuminated enough as it is...its just the photo seems a bit washed, thus my suggestion to do a levels/curves adjustment to bring back some contrast...

Here's a quick redux I did on it. Hope the o/p doesn't mind. If its an issue, I'll delete it immediately. Just wanted to show how the shot could look with just a bump in contrast, white balance and some mild sharpening...

More times than not, like... 99/100 times, HDR will kill any good car photo.

[milosh]

Jpamyers, sorry, but I really don't like your edit. To me, the tree tops look unnatural and the car also has that unnatural look that screams hdr.

As for the original photo, I think the background (both the sky and the mountain) look alright, but the foreground (the car, the road) and the trees look a bit washed out. To me it seems like some basic adjustments should be done to the foreground, like setting the black point and maybe brightening it a bit. Or maybe increasing the overall contrast a bit while protecting the mountains and the sky.

Edit:

I took it in PS to see what I could do with it in a few simple steps and ended up almost completely processing the photo. This is with one curves adjustment (no mask), one brightness adjustment (with mask), and high pass sharpening (with a mask to protect the trees).