First HDR Attempt! Coloring

[SandeeWig]

This is my first attempt at HDR. I really wanted to capture how deep blue the sky was and the colorful fall colors of the trees in front. I'm thinking I might have overdone it a litte. How would I get a smoother transition along the tree/leaf line at the top? It was so tedious to remove every spec of blue between the leaves, and it seems I removed too much so you see a dark outline. It's really obvious in the large view.

Any and all feedback would be appreciated it. I did it in PS CS2 and only merged 2 of the 3 AEB images taken. The background is the -2 EV, and the foreground is 0.

Also, can someone please tell me why the exif says "Flash: 80" when the flash was not on and did not fire? I've had several images tell me that and I don't know why.

Thanks so much!!




Exif:
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 6.7 mm
Exposure Bias:-2 EV
Flash: 80
Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
X-Resolution: 180 dpi
Y-Resolution: 180 dpi
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows
Date and Time: 2008:10:30 23:50:18
YCbCr Positioning: Centered
Date and Time (Original):2008:10:30 00:27:24
Date and Time (Digitized):2008:10:30 00:27:24
Compressed Bits per Pixel:5 bits
Shutter Speed:287/32
Maximum Lens Aperture:92/32
Metering Mode: Pattern
Color Space: sRGB
Focal Plane X-Resolution: 9372.781 dpi
Focal Plane Y-Resolution: 12515.556 dpi
Sensing Method:One-chip colour area sensor
Exposure Mode: Auto bracket
Digital Zoom Ratio: 2816/2816
Compression: JPEG
XMP Date and Time (Original): 2008-10-30T00:27:24-05:00
Image Width: 1584 pixels
Image Height: 2816 pixels

[SandeeWig]

So, this is either REALLY REALLY REALLY BAD and no one knows where on earth to start to tell me how to fix this piece of crap...

OR

It's perfect! LOL!!!



I'm having a rough day on here...two posts and not one reply. Guess I just got buried on this Halloween

[SamuraiZenU]

I hate to say it, but.......it's boring and a waste of HDR technique, that being said, I understand you are using this as a way to learn the technique, but a bunch of leaves is a waste of your efforts.

Keep trying!

[SandeeWig]

Originally Posted by SamuraiZenU

I hate to say it, but.......it's boring and a waste of HDR technique, that being said, I understand you are using this as a way to learn the technique, but a bunch of leaves is a waste of your efforts.

Keep trying!

Thanks SamuraiZenU. I hear what you're saying. Maybe I'll find something a bit more exciting to practice my skills on.

[bahgheera]

I think what Samurai is saying is that your photo needs a definite subject. This is something I struggled with when I first started out, and still do occasionally (every time I get a wild hare for a landscape shot ). Landscapes and scenery are difficult to shoot, for me at least, because I'm seeing the color and shape are fantastic, but when presented in photo form for others who weren't there at the time then the mental reaction is 'eh... what am I looking at?'

As for the HDR, I usually use a very soft, low flow brush, set to about 5% to 7%. Don't worry about going into too much detail in between the tight areas like the leaves, use a larger brush and just be sort of random. This will prevent the sharp transitions. Hope that helps you out - remember: I am not a pro!

[SandeeWig]

Thanks, bahgheera. I see what you mean. No real focal point. And you're right, it was all about the colors when I took the pic, but it has no dimension in a picture.

I greatly appreciate the brush tip as well. I think I might've been going about this process all wrong now that I've tried it a second time. It turned out better, but I still need to work on it. I'll definitely keep your brush tip in mind.

Thanks again.

[blarg]

I use photomatix for HDR, but I see nowhere where you can use brushes or the like anywhere on it. Have I missed something?

[bahgheera]

Well, we were talking of doing HDR manually. If you do it in photoshop, then you just layer your three images, apply a layer mask to each, and then start brushing out what you don't want to see. It's a lot more painstaking and time consuming, but the results are less random than with automated process.

[blarg]

Ah ok, thanks. Might have a try with that.