wedding with a view…hdr

[Nieton21]

Over the weekend I second shot at a wedding in Hood River, Oregon. It was @ a winery on the hillside over looking the Colombia River Gorge and had a fantastic view of Mt. Hood. I typically never do HDR and havn't ever had a successful shot so this seemed pretty decent to me. I took this shot @ (I would estimate) 9:30pm or so and it was pretty much pitch black outside. I did the first exposure for 3 seconds which was lit for the trees and grass areas, the second for .8 seconds which exposed the crowd/dancers, and the last was for 14 seconds which exposed for the sky and the mountain. I did white balance correction in Aperture, then in photoshop combined all three photos and used masks to incorporate the best exposed photo for different parts of the overall image.

Please ignore that this was for a wedding as I did this more for myself, though I gave the jpg shot to the first shooter (my boss) to include with his photos for the client.

Any ways you might do this shot different? Since I typically don't do HDR I'm not really sure if there is a better way to combine the photos? Any other ideas are greatly appreciated

Used a Canon Rebel iso 200 with a 24mm f1.4 prime lens, at F 1.4 (which I wish I did differently)

[R lake]

Wish you could get rid of those "street lights", cool shot over all.

[Nieton21]

street light? Do you mean the lights in the back left, and in the dance floor. The one in the dance floor is actually one that changes colors during the dance, the one on the left is a strobe for the party.

[Palladius]

I really like that! It has a sort of ethereal feel to it. Was it Titania and Oberon's wedding?

Could you possibly post the composite images, if it's not inconvenient? I really struggle with HDR, and I think I may be taking the wrong sort of pictures to begin with.

[jefferyeudy]

really a cool shot you did very well

[windrider86]

A very memorable shot. I do have to agree the bright lights need to go. They are overpowering the whole scene

[coldphoenix]

What an incredible place for a wedding, beautifully captured here. And as others have mentioned, the bright lights must be tamed. I do however find the slight lens flare appealing, though probably not the most realistic of elements for a wedding shot. I only wish they weren't blocking the view of Mt. Hood, but besides that, I feel they certainly add to the ethereal atmosphere.