Trying HDR Toning

[boran]

Hi people, I just tried HDR Toning as the original photo was not great, esp the sky. How can I improve it?



Info: Canon 7D, 18-135mm, 1/20, F10, ISO: 160, at 6:30pm

[BigFuzzy]

First suggestions is to read the critique forum rules. Asking a general "what do you think" is not really how it's done.

I'm a harsh critic of HDR because generally I feel that they are not done well.
And typically it's considered not a well done HDR when you have "halos" and your image has lots of them so I'd say it's not a great HDR in the end to me. But as I said, I'm harsh when it comes to HDR, so others may love it.

[wulf]

The colours look artificial but you still have some areas that are too dark to see any detail. Could you tell us a bit more about the source photo(s) that went into creating this final image?

Wulf

[boran]

Thanks for all the critique. Here is the original:

How could i improve?

[wulf]

Did you create the finished photo just from the one original? Typically HDR work will combine two or more pictures to capture a wider range of detail than can be grabbed in just one shot. If you have a single image, you can sometimes get an interesting result by combining versions of it which bring out details in different areas.

Your original manages to avoid the extremes of light and dark; it looks to me that, instead of high dynamic range, what you have been aiming for is high contrast, high saturation. If you are going for impact, I think the biggest step forward would be to get an original shot that frames those foreground boats more dramatically.

Wulf

[boran]

Thanks Wulf for your advise!