First HDR, need critique

[abhivg]

My first HDR attempt. Would love to have some feedback.



Was going for the subtle look, happy with the way the marble walls and columns turned out.
Would like to know how I could have bettered the background seen through the windows.

[abhivg]

No replies????
Either I've processed it way too perfect or its beyond repair...
Come on people....

[RichardTaylor]

Technical.
A lot of the photograph appears to be a bit soft especially when viewed larger on your Flickr stream.
The background sky appears a little weird.

Aesthetic.
The out of focus column on the right is a bit of a distraction as does the brightish outside background.

Were the originals shot in RAW?
If so I wonder how the pic would look if a number of individually processed raw files were selectively merged instead of doing an HDR.

The scene itself appeals to me very much.

[wulf]

I think your HDR work has gone a bit askew. You have managed to reveal so much evenly lit detail through the windows that it looks like a flat poster pasted up in the background, while the top of the archways is still over-exposed, lacking in detail.

However, while I can see the interest in the line of brightly dressed women walking through the stonework (temple?) I think there are aspects of the basic photograph that need to be addressed before doing any HDR work - for example that foreground pillar Richard mentioned or whether you have positioned the women optimally (almost walking on the bottom of the frame and only coming about halfway up the image).

Did you take any other shots of the same scene?

Wulf

[abhivg]

Originally Posted by RichardTaylor

Technical.
A lot of the photograph appears to be a bit soft especially when viewed larger on your Flickr stream.
The background sky appears a little weird.

There was a netting on the open arches to keep the pegions out. Do you think it is adding to the wierd look of the background?

Originally Posted by RichardTaylor

Were the originals shot in RAW?
If so I wonder how the pic would look if a number of individually processed raw files were selectively merged instead of doing an HDR.

The scene itself appeals to me very much.

Yes it was shot in raw. I changed exposure to create the 3 bracketed shots from the single raw shot and tried out the hdr.
I think I'll try out the selective merging, when I get some time

[abhivg]

Originally Posted by wulf

I think your HDR work has gone a bit askew. You have managed to reveal so much evenly lit detail through the windows that it looks like a flat poster pasted up in the background, while the top of the archways is still over-exposed, lacking in detail.

Yes the background doesnt look normal.Thats the way it turned up after the HDR processing. Maybe adding some blur to it might help?
Did selective merging on the women and the top of the archways since these came out quiet dull and shady after the HDR processing.

Originally Posted by wulf

whether you have positioned the women optimally (almost walking on the bottom of the frame and only coming about halfway up the image).

Did you take any other shots of the same scene?

I tried to include the arches in the frame to include some of the architectural features. Tried to crop the arches and see how it looked, but didnt like it so retained them.
It's a museum and was observing something when I suddenly saw these women walking by. Just clicked the one shot.

[wulf]

I think a bit more of those near arches would be good - you've chopped them off just at the top of the inner curve of the arch. Did you get some more shots of the architecture?

Wulf

[jojonac]

I would say the grayish background is because of the lack of range from the original shot. I would bet the original Raw was not able to get any detail out of the sky and it is completely blown out.

What I would do to try and fix it is to just re-mix in the original and leave the sky blown out. When trying to shoot HDR indoor to outdoor, it usually takes 5 or more exposures to cover the dynamic range.

I do think the inside of the museum turned out nice.