Another first attempt at HDR

[Aegea]

Took this in the local park yesterday with my new Christmas presents! Nikon D90 and Tokina 12-24 @f8. I was trying to be a bit subtle with the HDR, maybe I should have pushed it further?

[dhparsons]

Lots you can do with HDR and tone mapping. Tendency of many photographers starting out is to blow it out and create an unrealistic image, altghough sometimnes this can be result in beautiful work. Your photo develops the dynamic range of the eye in a more natural way with the sky water and landscape receiving proper exposure. Have fun and experiment!

[Mad Ged]

I agree with dhparsons, so many HDR shots are overdone. This looks closer to what the eye sees, which is much more pleasing in my opinion. Well done.

Cheers,

Gerard

[Aegea]

Thank you both for the feedback, it looked good to me and I am happy to have confirmation.

[Japaslavian]

I think if you had not mentioned this was HDR, I would have never even thought twice about it, which makes me question why you shot as an HDR to begin with.
Judging by the available light, and the end result, it seems pretty unnecessary.
That or you've done it with the most subtle perfection that I've ever seen...

[ncbcymtechie]

Agreed with Japaslavian. I don't feel that this scene needed to be done in HDR, but then again I wasn't at the original site and I don't have access to the multiple exposures.

The one note I have is that the foreground (snow and water) still feel a bit underexposed to me. The background where the trees and golden light are are beautifully lit whereas the foreground feels dark and clammy. If by "push it" you can replace the foreground with portions from a more exposed shot, I'd say go for it.

Otherwise, the HDR is very subtle, so well done.

[Aegea]

Thanks for the comments, the feedback is welcome. I shot it as HDR partly as an experiment in the technique, but also in the original exposures I couldn't capture the range I wanted; for instance either a large part of the trunk of the tree on the right was blocked, or the sky was blown out.

I do take the point about the snow in the foreground, it should perhaps be brighter, although I remember it as in quite deep shadow.

Generally, I was trying in to follow the approach advocated in this HDR Plea, although of course those photos are superb and I'm nowhere in the same league.

[luismr]

In HDR there´s more than one way to do it.
It looks like you are going for the ¨natural¨ look, if that´s the case I´ll say your picture is nice, good composition and interesting elements (the river, the trees, etc)

HDR let you experiment in different ways, get some fun.

Thanks for sharing.

In my site you can see a section for HDR, HDR - luismr's Photos

[Aegea]

@luismr - I took a look at your website - very appealing photos, I like your approach.

[luismr]

Originally Posted by Aegea

@luismr - I took a look at your website - very appealing photos, I like your approach.

Thanks Aegea, I´m glad you like it.
Cheers.