|
terapr0
      
location:
Sauga City
Gender: Male
www . tohellandback . net
 |  |  | some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
< on 7/12/2008 11:27 PM >
|  | | | Lately Ive absolutely fallen in love with HDR photography...Its like Ive discovered an entirely new world of photography that I never knew existed. Unfortunately, while I totally adore my HDR stuff, not a lot of you guys (or anyone else I show it too) seems to really appreciate them. These pics arent in any sort of order, and I know Im posting more than the recommended 3-5 images, but any advice you could give me on how to improve my style / technique would be hugely appreciated. Whole I'm more interested in processing / technical insights from more experienced users than pointers on subject or composition, seeing as how this IS the photo-critique forum, Im sure I'll get a bit of everything and thats fine with me
All of these were taken using my nikon D200 on a tripod with either an 18-70, 18-200 or 50mm prime lens. I do light touching up in PS, but for the most part I try and let the colors from the HDR do all the talking for me.
enjoy and please let me know what you guys think...any advice is certainly welcome!
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
#13
www.tohellandback.net |
|
inviolate_light
location:
toronto
Gender: Male
| | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 1 on 7/13/2008 4:58 AM >
| | | | I am only starting to dip my toe into the HDR waters, so I am no expert. Through all of my research, one piece of advice has stuck with me. That is, shoot HDR only when the dynamic range of the scene you are capturing exceeds what your camera can do. When I look at a few of these shots, I wonder if HDR was needed to capture the scene. For example, shots 4 & 5.
I do love shot #4, though. If I didn't know it was HDR, I would've praised the post-production technique. It is a great capture too. I like how empty the room feels.
Shot 12 feels a little busy. I don't know what to look at first.
I think shot 11 is a great example of what HDR should be. It looks REAL. It looks like what the human eye would see. Real colours. Real Tones. HDR and your composition really showcases the vastness of that place.
I think the monochrome and HDR make a great pair. (i.e. shot 9) It seems like all the weird colour tones picked up in the colour original produce really interesting textures in B&W. Cool shadows and midtones. I wonder, if pushed the right way, would monochrome HDR start looking like IR photography.
wow...sorry about the long post. I must have had a lot of time on my hands tonight.
|
|
mentok
location:
buy the ticket take the ride
Gender: Male
absinthe makes the heart grow fonder
| | | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 2 on 7/13/2008 5:15 AM >
| | | | Posted by inviolate_light
I am only starting to dip my toe into the HDR waters, so I am no expert. Through all of my research, one piece of advice has stuck with me. That is, shoot HDR only when the dynamic range of the scene you are capturing exceeds what your camera can do. When I look at a few of these shots, I wonder if HDR was needed to capture the scene. For example, shots 4 & 5.
|
I kinda disagree, in the first image the HDR processing gives the image a life that I'm not sure the original would have had. Sometimes HDR isn't always about necessity, kinda like a fisheye, it serves an artistic purpose as well as a pragmatic one.
Posted by inviolate_light
I think shot 11 is a great example of what HDR should be. It looks REAL. It looks like what the human eye would see. Real colours. Real Tones. HDR and your composition really showcases the vastness of that place.
|
I do agree that it looks very real as if I would be standing there the light would allow me to really see everything that way. A+ for realistic processing that one 
Posted by inviolate_light
I think the monochrome and HDR make a great pair. (i.e. shot 9) It seems like all the weird colour tones picked up in the colour original produce really interesting textures in B&W. Cool shadows and midtones. I wonder, if pushed the right way, would monochrome HDR start looking like IR photography.
|
I agree with that also, I really like the texture in the B&W that was obtained from the HDR.
The only real criticism I have is that some of your images are a little crooked, but as far as your HDR I really like what you've done. Although, I should warn you, I love vivid color and good contrast, of which your images have both, but others may not enjoy those characteristics as much.
if you're such a badass why haven't i seen any blood yet?
The Squirrel Conspiracy |
|
Yehoshua
location:
Ontario
Gender: Male
| | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 3 on 7/13/2008 5:41 AM >
| | | | #2 and 11 are great, #4 looks like a corporate advertisement (take that as you will, they are "professional" but often cheesy), and the colours in #1 are blinding.
Our Citizen.
Our Justice.
Bring Omar Khadr back to Canada. |
|
Jeff!
location:
Boston, MA
Gender: Male
| | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 4 on 7/13/2008 3:07 PM >
| | | | all of these look silly to me, too cartoon-ish
i also don't see why any of these were shot HDR as the dynamic range is all the photos could have been achieved comfortably using a single exposure
|
|
maypost
location:
North, South, East, West, all around... then down to the underground
Gender: Male
Exploring if for n00bz0rz
| | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 5 on 7/13/2008 3:28 PM >
| | | | Different strokes, different folks.
I am not a huge fan of HDE but the first one was OK. The rest did not really do too much for me.
Exploring is like tattoos... They stopped being cool in 2005
|
|
terapr0
location:
Sauga City
Gender: Male
www . tohellandback . net
| | | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 6 on 7/13/2008 4:15 PM >
| | | | Posted by jeffmc
all of these look silly to me, too cartoon-ish
i also don't see why any of these were shot HDR as the dynamic range is all the photos could have been achieved comfortably using a single exposure
|
I dont really agree with that at all (the part about these scenes all having fully capturable tonal ranges). Not to be a prick or anything...but whenever I shoot HDR, I almost always try and shoot my HDR sequence, and then shoot one or two "normal" shots of the same composition. When I get home Ill throw em both together and look at them side by side. Sometimes I'll go with the HDR, sometime I wont. I have copies of all these as non-HDR shots, and each and every one of them looks far more interesting (in my opinion anyways) as an HDR.
#8, 10, 11, 12 & 13 are the best examples I think. I do have non HDR shots of these, and yes, they look nice, but they are all way too dark, you cant see enough detail, and they just dont have the same character as the HDR composition does (again, in my opinion).
I can understand if you think they look too cartoonish, but I dont think that most of these shots would have looked "better" in their regular manifestations. the regular #1 is woefully mediocre.
thanks for all the comments tho guys...its always appreciated
guess dongs right when he says Different strokes, different folks.
www.tohellandback.net |
|
Martino
location:
Almere - NL
Gender: Male
2,5 days 5691 km, 1200 cigarettes, 131 beers, 67 locations, 3 girs and 2 cars! I absolutely rule!
| | | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 7 on 7/13/2008 7:56 PM >
| | | | i'm no hdr fan!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martino_ |
|
telefunker
location:
Somewhere in Belgium
Gender: Male
| | | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 8 on 7/13/2008 9:01 PM >
| | | | Posted by Martino
i'm no hdr fan!
|
Very bald statement my man, people are mostly surprised when I tell them I use HDR many times for my shots. But I do it – as stated before in this thread – just to get a higher tonal range than my D70s can handle. Many of the shots in this thread are HDR’ed: http://www.uer.ca/...urrpage=1&pp#post0
But they are HDR’ed in the way it has to be done imho. When you can tell it’s HDR from a 1 kilometre distance, like the shots in this thread, it isn’t done right. Especially 1, 2 and 4 almost hurt my eyes and the spin rag in 7 looks purple (because of the HDR fringing-effect), you have to keep the colours at least a bit realistic. Just my 2 eurocents.
http://www.telefunker.be/ |
|
Imbroglio
location:
DFW
Gender: Male
The glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
| | | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 9 on 7/14/2008 1:11 AM >
| | | | I concur with those who feel HDR should only be used to actually expand the dynamic range of an image to accomodate the conditions of a scene. I'm really tired of seeing HDR used to create an overly dramatic and obviously unrealistic look to what would otherwise be a perfectly fine photograph.
All skies do not have to look like they're from a Spielberg movie!
It's much, much easier to do HDR poorly than it is to use it well and make it look natural. See RustyJaw's fine work to see HDR done properly:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tendril
http://www.noelkernsphotography.com |
|
Sailor's Heart
location:
San Marcos
Gender: Female
| | | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 10 on 7/14/2008 2:33 AM >
| | | | Take HDR critiques with a grain of salt. Every person who ever negatively critiqued my HDRs, who also did HDRs themselves, either said they were too overdone, or not strong enough. Then I look at their pictures and they are either day-glo abortions, or watery and embossed looking.
Instead of telling you what I think about your pictures, send me your bracketed shots, and I'll show you what I would have done with them.
|
|
don cornelius
This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.
location:
Your asshole.
Proud Parent
| | | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 11 on 7/14/2008 2:36 AM >
| | | | I dont know shit about photography or HDR, but I like 4 and 10. # 1 is cool as well, but a bit cartoonish.
40+ year olds with Myspace pages are not cool, they are pediphiles on the prowl. Buyer beware. |
|
Jeff!
location:
Boston, MA
Gender: Male
| | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 12 on 7/14/2008 3:14 AM >
| | | | Posted by Martino
i'm no hdr fan!
|
right i don't see why one would try and recreate a tonal range that is more than the human eye
|
|
sYnOnYx
location:
Las Vegas , NV
Gender: Male
what happens here, doesnt stay here.
| |  |  | | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 14 on 7/14/2008 4:04 AM >
| | | | Those are pretty damn good. loved #11
My Ongoing Blog: :http://www.realismphotography.com/ |
|
desmet
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
| | | | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 15 on 7/14/2008 6:23 PM >
| | | | My critique is pretty much the same for all these images.
- Spend more than 5 minutes in photomatrix and play with the sliders. The colors are garrishly oversaturated, the highlights and shadows are all fucked up in most of these, and many lack real tonality. This cartoony look was never any good and it's a fad that is hopefully...FINALLY...starting to die off. It doesn't look good...it's hard to even tell what some of this shit is.
- Work on your composition. You're using this wild HDR processing as a crutch for ignoring some basic photography stuff.
|
|
zonnebloem
| | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 16 on 7/19/2008 3:32 AM >
| | | | HDR is still a relatively new concept to me, but in my opinion, I think it's best left to photos that don't have a lot going on. Specifically, #2, #3, #11, #12, #13 (I think those are from the Brickworks?). There's already a lot going on in the photos, and with the HDR added, it kind of overloads things. It makes it seem like there's TOO much to look at.
I also think the colors look off in some of them, but I really like how the first one turned out. The colors aren't too out of whack, and it just looks really dreamy.
[last edit 7/19/2008 3:32 AM by zonnebloem - edited 1 times]
|
|
182 lbs of sad
location:
in the gym training my ass off!
Gender: Male
| | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 17 on 7/19/2008 7:24 PM >
| | | | Posted by desmet
My critique is pretty much the same for all these images.
- Work on your composition. You're using this wild HDR processing as a crutch for ignoring some basic photography stuff.
|
I would have too agree, your composition is way off on some/most of these, either put it in the shot or take it out.
like in #1. the platform or whatever it is that your standing on, the railing is half in the shot, and its extremely distracting.
also hdr with clouds is difficult, because the clouds move, which gives you a big gray blob.
[last edit 7/20/2008 9:39 AM by 182 lbs of sad - edited 1 times]
Fight like a man
Bleed like a man
Die like a man |
|
flux
location:
North Carolina
Gender: Male
so many places... so little time...
| | | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 18 on 7/25/2008 4:08 PM >
| | | | Over all you have some nice shots in there.
One | is nice, personally i think the building edge on the right detract from the picture and i would line the shoot up a little more straight.
Two & Three | Don't really do anything for me.
Four | Really great shot, love the colors on this one. Looks tilted to the left a little.
Five | Awesome shot, my favorite of them all. Love the balance and the colors.
Six | The upper portion looks nice and smooth, love the black and white. The bottom looks like an HDR shot that could use a little more detail showing.
Seven | HDR ruins that shot IMHO.
Eight | More meaning...
Nine | Awesome black and white shot!!
Ten | Good lighting, would look better not an HDR.
Eleven | Nice detail
Twelve | Too busy for me
Thirteen | Not bah, although I would leave out the HDR.
Capturing God's beauty and mans decay. |
|
Wilk
location:
NYC
Gender: Male
| | | Re: some of my HDR stuff...let me know whats working and what isnt
<Reply # 19 on 7/25/2008 4:30 PM >
| | | | Does anybody know of a good HDR tutorial? I have a D40X and I've just begun messing with this. I've put together some shots but I have having trouble getting the vivid colors like you see in these pictures. Anybody got any ideas? Do I need to get a tone mapping program? I've got CS3, which I know my way around pretty well but I'm still learning.
Ready for liftoff
|
|
Powered by AvBoard AvBoard version 1.5 alpha
Page Generated In: 171 ms
|
|
Ethics
