my first single hdr toned image

[daine]

hi all would love for you guys to give me some feedback on this image i know its a little blurred but just wanted to try this whole HDR thing image taken with a nikon D90 f/11 1/20 sec exposure 18-55mm kit lense set to 35mm ISO 400 edited in photoshop cs5 extended. look forward to your comments thanks

[autofocus]

I hope you don't mind me being brutally honest, but the image does not work for me. Your white detail is totally blown out, the horizon line is a little too close to center, it's too over saturated and contrasty for my taste, and the chain fencing leads your eye right out of the image on the far left side. Sorry.

[daine]

thanks i know the image was not that great to begin with i just wanted to try out HDR toning to see what all the fuss was about

[silverbirch]

Originally Posted by daine

thanks i know the image was not that great to begin with i just wanted to try out HDR toning to see what all the fuss was about

I'm very much an amatuer here, but one thing I've noticed about HDR on the forums, and with my own attempts, is that you need to be clear about what end result you're trying to achieve.

I've used it successfully when I was photographing some toadstools in quite poor light, and knew they wouldn't be there next day - so used autobracket, and did a light HDR simply to bring out what little light etc there was.

On another occasion - quite by accident I got a wonderful photo of a rose with a metallic edge finish, which was quite over processed by my usual standards, but I liked it!

I enjoy it's various effects, and have seen some incredible images posted here on the forums.

Good luck :-)