First HDR - Please Critique

[skokkin]

Hi all,

This here is my first attempt HDR. There wasn't a lot of colour in the original so I converted it to sepia tone after completion to try and make it look more "old time".

All critique would be welcome

The original shot is also on flickr
Shaun


HPB HDR2 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[jonnyquest45]

To me it comes off very flat in the color range. I know you made it sepia tone but it looks like it is either light or dark with no range. i looked at the non-hdr version on your flicker stream and found it to be a more interesting photo.

[dlambert]

I know exif info isn't as simple for HDR shots, since you've got multiple exposures, but if you post some info about the shot, that might be helpful.

In this case, I'd be interested to know what lens & focal length you used. Photos with strong straight lines show lens distortion very easily, and I believe you've got some pincushion distortion here. I don't really mind the sepia tone itself, but I'd like to see a bit more contrast, I think.

Was there a specific part of the photo that you saw as the subject?

[jonnyquest45]

pulled these off the flicker page

Camera Canon EOS 350D Digital
Exposure 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 18 mm
ISO Speed 400

[dlambert]

Ok, so probably the 18-55mm kit lens. My 17-85 has the same kind of distortion at the wide end, but it's a fairly easy correction, if you so choose. Just about any photo editing software should be able to do that, and some have settings for specific lenses that help automate the correction.

[skokkin]

Sorry about no EXIF data, was unsure how to add due to being a HDR.
The DATA pulled off the FLICKR page is correct, it was taken with canon 350d with the 18-55mm kit lens.

The subject of the shot, I was trying to get the different textures from around the room in the shot, from the smooth floor to the brick then the very old rough looking wood on the ceiling.

As I said there wasn't a lot of colour in the original so thats why I tried to convert to sepia to give it that old time look.

Also this didn't come from three individual shots but I used a single JPG and manipulated the exposure to 2stops above and below to get the three shots to create the final image.

To me, I didn't bother correcting the lens distortion because it added something extra to the shot I believed but will try to correct it and see the difference.