B&w hdr

[harrysixtie7]

This is my first try at HDR, therefore any critique is warmly welcomed. I don't think HDR was really needed in this photo, but it did allow me a little more play room with the sky color. I don't know if there are any rules for using HDR and monochrome, but I just played with it until I liked it. The non-processed version is linked below and the EXIF data presented is from that image as well


Camera: Nikon D200
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/180)
Aperture: f/16.0
Focal Length: 28 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: -1 EV
Flash: No Flash

2009-07-08 at 08-27-52 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[denja]

How many images did you merge, or did you just tone map the one image?

[harrysixtie7]

Originally Posted by denja

How many images did you merge, or did you just tone map the one image?

It was 5 images, at 1/3 stop each

[denja]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm - ok - I think I would play with the levels and balance it more then. Try Auto Levels if you have it - one click will improve it vastly I'll bet! What do you think of this?

[harrysixtie7]

Originally Posted by denja

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm - ok - I think I would play with the levels and balance it more then. Try Auto Levels if you have it - one click will improve it vastly I'll bet! What do you think of this?

WOW....thanks a lot. I was afraid of messing with too much b.c I didnt want to lose the high contrast in the dark sky, but that looks excellent. I guess I cant be afraid of that auto button.

[Murtasma]

I think perhaps something more abstract or a recomposition with stronger focus would have worked better here. I would also drop the use of HDR it's not needed in this particular situation.

What you have here is a picture of a building that would be fine if you intended to just take a picture of a building. I see however you are asking for a critique on the image, I take it you where going for more then just a picture of a building.

I think good pictures of architecture to emphasis a certain aspect of a building such as height through the use of converging lines. Interesting repeating patterns, such as windows and lines. You somewhat have them here in this image but the problem is the pattern of the windows is does not fill the frame. Buildings are also places of business, during the morning rush hour people rushing to work with a low perspective to give power the the building and less to the people and inhabit it. Everyone sees something slightly different. Perhaps you want to give less power to the building and more to the people. There is not wrong or right way to take a picture, there is however a right and wrong way to convey what you see or feel when looking at something.

You have two elements working here the sky and the repeating pattern of windows. A lower perspective and closer to the building can give the image a greater sense of scale, height and power. A closer crop with the camera parallel to the front of the building can give you more interesting patterns along with a tighter crop done in camera.

When you look a building what do you see? Capture that, reduce unneeded elements in the image and try to tell a story. That holds true with anything you want to photograph as long as it's not just a straight literal representation of something.

Along with this don't forget rules are ment to be broken.

[harrysixtie7]

Originally Posted by Murtasma

Along with this don't forget rules are ment to be broken.

Thanks a lot. You have given me a plethora of things to think about and look into next time I take a walk downtown. I do like this particular building for some reason and I want to find a shot that showcases all of its glory. I agree HDR was not needed, but I really wasn't sure until I compared the before and after. I have a lot to learn with post production and photography in general.

[Elmo]

A rule of thumb about B&W. The image should have some area of pure white and some area of pure black. This insures you have utilized the complete dynamic range. Note in the corrected processing the appearance of whites not in orig post. I can assure you a good B&W is much harder to do than color. You have to say in shades of gray everything and more that what the colors say.

Speaking of dynamic range HRD is for high dynamic range. Its purpose is to compress the dynamic range of a photo with a dynamic range larger than the camera can capture. To do this the photographer shoots several captures at exposures above and below the average exposure. If you try to use one capture and adjust for other exposures in post processing you have not added any dynamic range. In your case you used 5 images at 1/3 stops. This means you increased the dynamic range by 1 1/3 stops (2/3 above and 2/3 below). A better option might have been -2 and +2 EV, these three exposures will give an increase of 4 stops in dynamic range, an increase of nearly 50 percent over the cameras dynamic range.

As stated elsewhere I am by nature rather harsh in comments and that is one reason I did not comment previously. To me this is a pat-me-on-the-back image. What do I mean? It is a clique image that says nothing. Then look at my wizardry I HDR’d it, I B&W’d it, look at me. Look at your title what does it say?

Now let try something different. What gives you that “glory” feeling about the building, show it to me. What composition tells of its glory? What shooting angle and position do I need to portray it glory? What lens is needed? What time of day will the lighting be perfect? Will a certain weather condition add to it statement of glory. Will some special post processing enhance the projected feeling? Tell me the story in the image, I want to see it. I want to experience the same feeling you get from being there. Can I tell you how to do these things? No, no one can; we do not know what you feel, show us.

[harrysixtie7]

Originally Posted by Elmo

As stated elsewhere I am by nature rather harsh in comments and that is one reason I did not comment previously. To me this is a pat-me-on-the-back image. What do I mean? It is a clique image that says nothing. Then look at my wizardry I HDR’d it, I B&W’d it, look at me. Look at your title what does it say?

I posted the image because I new it was missing something, and I needed help on the technique. You gave valued advice with the recomendation to increase the range of the bracketing, the previous poster showed me what Auto Levels would do......I dont think any of those qualigy as a "pat on the back" and thankfully so, that is what the share your shots section is for.....