Is this too much

[Billygast]

I took an image of my sons from earlier this year and Did some HDR treatments and Topaz adjust to it to give it a little sureal look (I know some people really do not like the SUPER HDR look but i think it has its place) I am wondering if I went overboard Let me know what you think




I really appreciate others input as it only makes me better at something I really enjoy

[Japaslavian]

I think it looks fine on the back of the kids, but the background is starting to look more like an oil painting. The voice screaming "photoshop!!" in the back of my mind is overshadowing the fact that it is a lovely image, which is why I object to HDR 99% of the time.

[Sterling]

I think it looks pretty cool. Does it look realistic? No! And so what? The processing has made it look like image is a composite. I bet you could have some fun selecting the bars and the boys and adding them to different backgrounds.

[davewb]

I love this image - the HDR effect only serves to reinforce meaning. The bars connote the kids being trapped in a 'prison' of sorts - perhaps trapped in the city and they long for the peace of a country setting. The unrealistic HDr confirms that it is indeed an unrealistic goal.

One must remember than whatever the technical concerns of a photo (and that is subjective), as long as a viewer engages with the image and can construct their own narrative, you have done your job as a photographer.

Dave

[teedlepeep]

A thought came to me as I was reading other posts on this ...
Could you mask out the children and the bars so as not to have them HDR ... do the surreal on your background and have the kids taken down so that they are almost in b/w.

[Aegea]

I think it's partly a matter of taste and partly a matter of your objective with the picture. To me it definitely has hat "super-realistic" HDR look, so I'd say you achieved what you wanted to do. I generally do not much like obvious HDR, but this shot has a certain painterly quality which is quite appealing.

[syphlix]

it's a nice image... could it have been better w/out the topaz?... w more processing? who knows... it's your photo you do what you want with it!

[gazsus]

I like it both as a photo and as a painting, good job.

[FormElement]

I think you have done an interesting job. I have only one critique, and that is that the clouds are distracting. As an art photo, I want to notice the boys first, then the fence, and then get pulled into the dreamlike background. The clouds are too strong IMHO.