First Post, First HDR

[streetglyden]

First of all hello everyone... I have been lurking, reading the forums for a few months now since I got my D60.

I took this picture the other day just as the sun was going down. I took 3 pictures changing the shutter speed, created the HDR image in Photmatix, and touched up a little in Photoshop. Still practicing my Photoshop skills...

I was going for an effect that highlighted the sun, and looked a little "fake".

Any thoughts are appreciated from the composition, to the HDR processing!



Camera: Nikon D60
Exposure: 0.5
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 18 mm

[barabe]

Hello and welcome to DPS,

I thinkl your HDR is nice but it is all a matter of taste. some will like some will hate it.
Composition side, i think the barn and hay are competing with each other for attention. I would try cropping some of the barn away and make a stronger subject.

I hope you will enjoy DPS.

[Thomas.H1]

I pretty much like what I am seeing. I think the HDR processing is well done. I do not agree with barabe regarding composition. I like the way the wood of the barn frames the hey. I also think the green of the evergreen on the right works with the pine trees on the left to balance the composition. The only change that I would make would be to process the sky and try to increase the blueness of it. With so much intensity of color the blue of the sky seems somewhat washed out. Overall, very nice!

[streetglyden]

Thanks guys for the input. Thomas, I agree that the sky needs to be more blue. I am still trying to work on my Photoshop skills, but will try to fix that this weekend. I know that should be PS 101...

Barabe - thanks. Would you crop all the way over to where the evergreen ends on the right side of the barn? I kind of like it how it is but just curious what you are thinking. Btw - your picture of the plane is awesome... Really nice job.

[barabe]

I would not crop all of it out, I would just crop a bit past the shadows. It would make it a bit less massive and dirrect our eye to the bails.