Crop & HDR advice on '41 Chevy P/U

[wbrook13]

After reading James Brandon's tutorial on HDR, I purchased Photomatix, Topaz Adjust & DeNoise, and upgraded to PSE 9. For the last couple weeks, I've been playing around with a lot of different images, getting one to the point that I could put it here on DPS for critique.
This past weekend I went to an "flight museum" looking to get some great images of WWII fighters and bombers. Unfortunately, all the aircraft were real close together, with chains preventing me from getting shots from any angle I wanted; and a lot of the shots had other aircraft or different distractions in the background. I did, however, find this old truck that begged me to take some shots of her . . . . . but I had the same limitations. Unable to get a decent shot of the whole truck, I decided to take some shots of little sections and see how they came out. Here are a couple of my favorites, with the same questions about each one: 1. How does the HDR look in each photo? 2. Does the cropping of each shot leave you with an "incomplete feeling", since you can't see the whole truck? 3. Do the things in the background distract from the main subject?





Both images were made from 5 exposures . . . . -3, -1, 0, +1, +3, tone-mapped in Photomatix, mild color pop added in Topaz Adjust, and some minor adjustments in Lightroom.

Any and all critique & suggestions welcome. Thanks for your help.

[stafford]

Love the details in these 2 HDR photos! They were very nicely done.

In my opinion, the first one gives me a little incomplete feeling. The story I read from the shot is about that old Chevy truck and I am dying to see the front. But this photo can be a great one if it is one of the group shots of that truck.
I don't feel incomplete about the 2nd one.

The background is a little distracting, but not too bad. You may try carefully selecting the background area and make it more blurry.

[digirebelva]

The HDR looks good, I might have gone in close for details on the truck if you couldnt get it all

[wbrook13]

Originally Posted by stafford

Love the details in these 2 HDR photos! They were very nicely done.

In my opinion, the first one gives me a little incomplete feeling. The story I read from the shot is about that old Chevy truck and I am dying to see the front. But this photo can be a great one if it is one of the group shots of that truck.
I don't feel incomplete about the 2nd one.

The background is a little distracting, but not too bad. You may try carefully selecting the background area and make it more blurry.

Thanks, stafford. The moderators deleted the close-up of the interior w/dice, so I don't know which one was the 2nd one. I did a series of images of the truck; and here is the front! Does this work?

Originally Posted by digirebelva

The HDR looks good, I might have gone in close for details on the truck if you couldnt get it all

Thanks, digirebelva. I did take some "close-ups", as well as the whole truck . . . . .but there is a big plane in the background.

[EOBeav]

The extra exposures really help the HDR out a lot.

[wbrook13]

Originally Posted by EOBeav

The extra exposures really help the HDR out a lot.

Thanks, EOBeav. Since HDR is a new thing for me, I'm trying a lot of different settings/variables. I have taken as many as 9 different exposures for a given shot; but never used more than 5.
Do you get better results with more exposures?

[EOBeav]

Originally Posted by wbrook13

Thanks, EOBeav. Since HDR is a new thing for me, I'm trying a lot of different settings/variables. I have taken as many as 9 different exposures for a given shot; but never used more than 5.
Do you get better results with more exposures?

I've done as many as 17 before, inside of an abandoned hydroelectric facility here in Oregon. The roof was about half tore off, and the incoming sunlight really fought with the deep shadows of the place. Combine that with some old decrepit machinery, and I used every bit of those 17 exposures. It was a fun project.