Early experiment with HDR

[doghouse]

I took this on a foggy night in the woods by my house last week, experimenting with HDR to try and broaden the impact of the lights. Liked its spooky B movie feel.

Thoughts appreciated either on photo or HDR generally.

http://195.177.193.138/gallery/data/500/Straight.jpg

[james_death]

rather like it, have you blanked out part of the bugs number plate or is a light out???

[doghouse]

It is a light out otherwise I would have blacked the letters out a bit. Must do something about that:suspect:

[mmcp42]

pic's gone walkabout?:shrug:

[Ajophotog]

Giz a look ;)

[Didgi Widgi]

cant see the image......ok who took it

[Sadlybrokeboy]

cant see the image......ok who took it

Well he did say it was foggy!! :lol:

[Jimmy_Lemon]

Think it is this one

http://195.177.193.138/gallery/data/500/Straight.jpg

Could be wrong though :p - I like that one anyway :) very moody and atmospheric!

[Sadlybrokeboy]

I quite like it -- although I'd perhaps give it a slightly tighter crop at the top to get rid of some of the dark space at the top!

Apart from that, I'm with Jimmy, although I'm not enitrely convinced it's a HDR...

Matt

[doghouse]

Yes thats the right image - ta

Its taken from a single raw image brought into photoshop with three exposure settings and with layer masks used to combine high and low lights.

I thought this was a basic form of HDR but its one of the first images I've tried doing this with. Is it HDR, if not what is?

Thanks

[Sadlybrokeboy]

Sorry - I'll expand on what I said and meant...

The way you've described your PP work IS HDR - it just doesn't look like it and that's not a bad thing. It just looks like a well exposed night shot rather than a HDR -- as HDR's often end up being "overcooked" and over saturated - but then again it would be difficult to over saturate what is pretty much a mono picture :)

It's a nice spooky shot and done very well - forgive me for not being clearer :)

Matt

[doghouse]

Thanks Matt, agree that some of the HDR images seem really overdone and tried hard to keep it 'believable'

[dolomitefan]

This doesn't look like an HDR ut then I have also produced a few pics that are in fact HDR's and look quite normal. Put them next to the original picture though and they look much better, more vibrant, more shadow detail etc. I don;t think you always have to go OTT when it comes to HDR though for some pics it does help if it is a bit more in your face. As i'm sure many here will agree the Photomatix tone mapping tool whilst easy to use does tend to overcook things if you aren't careful.

[doghouse]

Yes Dolomitefan, here is one of the images from which the final photograph was taken, in this case the darker tones.

http://195.177.193.138/gallery/data/500/Woods_Darker.jpg

It was interesting being able combine this and images with more exposure to put light where I wanted, while trying to keep something that looked relatively natural.

[macker]

That 1st version posted is really good, I think you achieved exactly what you were after, although I agree with the suggested crop at the top.

I like it alot though :thumbs: :clap:

[doghouse]

Thanks Macker

[we11ingon]

Nicely done.
PS. So where did you bury the body?? ;-)

[nobody]

Both photos are amazing! :)

I was amazed by the HDR photo before I saw the second one (it's just like a movie scene), however I like the mood of the 2nd photo. The composition is very good.

[purpleclouds]

very spooky film feel indeed!! I quite like them, especially the last edit you posted :)

[Anima Templi]

Agree with Purpleclouds and Nobody. Real movie feel to it. Really seems to suit HDR although would probably be a strong shot regardless.

[Eoghan]

the first thing that popped into my mind was that this image reminded me of the film straightheads...

Eoghan

[doghouse]

Hi ,

Thanks for the comments. Sorry not to reply, it was a while since I posted this and havn't check the forum for some time.

I'll check Straightheads out.