Philadelphia Skyline at Night - HDR

[Whiskers Hampden]

Hi folks,

I'm still futzing around with HDR occasionally, but I know that in many people's minds, there is a fine line between a cool-looking shot and too much over-processing.

My question is, where do you think this particular shot falls on that line? Was I too heavy-handed with HDR here? I'm still such a novice with this particular technique that I sometimes lack confidence in my own judgment.

Thanks!

[PhotoGearInfo]

I think that this is a really cool shot. I do see your leeriness regarding the HDR and overprocessing. I think that your after effects look really cool with regards to the contrast between the buildings and the sky and really make the buildings jump off the page.

One area where I think you lose the subtlety of the effect is with regards to the bluish lights. I think they look really cool around the buildings. However, in the lower right where the park is the blue bleeds into the green of the grass and gives it a real weird and artificial look.

I'm no expert either but I might suggest using a mask layer over just that area and bringing out some more of the greens.

Just one guy's opinion but either way I think that it is a really cool shot. Thanks for posting!

[Art]

IMO a tad over processed, but in general good job
what was your procedure? EVs info, brackets, software, etc?
Thanks Art

[khahsan]

overall its a nice picture....
well done

[fletch]

The white balance looks a little off to me. A bit warm. If you shot in RAW you can fix easily. You need to be really carefull when shooting cityscapes like this as there are so many different light sources the WB can be a nightmare to get correct.

[Avandria]

I love Philly, (It's the only city that I can stand being in every weekend and have considered moving there while I'm young) so I can really admire this photo. I don't know much about HDR so I'm not sure if this was on purpose or not but the actual sky looks a little noisy to me, and some part of me would like to cut off the last building on the right where there are no lights. Other than that I really enjoy it!