Sea HDR - is it too dark?

[gnome33nz]

This is my first HDR attempt of a seascape scene. Is it too dark? It was fairly dark when taken as the sun was setting and hid behind some clouds. Feel free to add any other comments if there's something you notice about it that would help me to improve. I wont be offended. Thanks

[Murtasma]

Nice image! I don't think the image is too dark, at least on my monitor I can make out plenty of detail in the rocks. Maybe getting a little lower and filling more of the foreground could be a good compositional device to try next time your out there. I think the processing you have done here is very nice note over done which is easy to do when tone mapping.

[wattsbw2004]

Not enough exposures for this scene unless this is what you wanted for this image. If you want the rocks bright I would suggest 7-9 exposures for sunset shots. 3-4 over and 3-4 under and 1 middle exposure.

[Pen]

only problem would be that a shot like this with the ocean waves, multiple exposures could be very problematic, it would be great if you were to post your exif data, im guessing you took 1 shot in RAW and then did -2, 0, and +2?

[Pen]

oh, as for the picture itself, i do not think it is too dark, the darkness helps set the mood and that sorta thing, and you have enough light to see features in the foreground so i think your probably good there

[wattsbw2004]

Originally Posted by Pen

only problem would be that a shot like this with the ocean waves, multiple exposures could be very problematic

Not if you take mutiple exposures and mask in the best sea exposure into the tonemapped image.

[CaptainNH]

For an HDR, the rocks are a bit dark - it would have been a good exposure were it single shot.

As Wattsbw2004 said, you need to bracket more widely to ensure you capture detail in both the shadows and highlights.

Great colours though!