newbie HDR

[littleny]

hi guys...im new here and also new to digital photography. i've trying to learn HDR...
heres a few examples. i'd sooo love some constructive criticism. i find tonemapping in photomatix very confusing...i simply move sliders until i like what i got..

[TheDarkReaver]

It's alright but it feels a bit surreal, like there's too much detail than there should be. The top left corner seems a bit noisy, looks like the colours are breaking down or something.

I think if you were going for that more real than real effect you would pretty much be there, except for that top corner

[bonafide]

Neat concept. I like the idea you turned a photograph of groceries into something worth looking at. But it seems a bit harsh and TheDarkReaver is right the top left corner is out of wack.

[windrider86]

Try doing your tone mapping in layers. By doing so you can mask out areas that are too harsh or lower the opacity so you wont see as much detail.

[AlphaBjerke]

I think this is pretty cool-looking. I can't help with the tone mapping. The two times I have done it in Photomatix, I didn't change a thing because I thought it looked good without me messing with the sliders--most people love the result too, so I guess I got lucky!

[sdphil]

I wouldn't change anything!!
My eye was having a ball wondering about the image picking up details in this surreal world.
I think that sometimes not being too familiar with a process is better since all you have to go by is your artistic eye .... and you do have one! I mean who would have thought to photograph the inside of your trunk, much less having a vision and processing it to this.
I say awesome results!!!

[littleny]

thanks for the constructive criticism and the compliments as well.

i do tend to look at ordinary things and try to find ways to photograph them then process them into something less then ordinary. grocery shopping is part of my life (cries)...

and absolutely!! that left corner is a noisy mess.

[sdphil]

Your the artist however, I feel the upper left corner shows a sense of depth that is the truck instead of a confusing array of bags and groceries.