My very first time.. Pls comment and Advise..

[NikonMI6]

#1

#2

this is taken with my very first DSLR and my very first time creating HDR effects.. any critics

and comments are very welcome and i will take them seriously and try to further improve my

skills..

 

[evilorgi]

I think the 1st pic is done pretty alright! I love the details from the skies n the lights...

 

[NikonMI6]

I think the 1st pic is done pretty alright! I love the details from the skies n the lights...

thank you very much..

so do you find anything lacking in either of the pictures?

 

[daredevil123]

To be honest, the highlights in the first pic is slightly blown. If you took this photo in RAW, you just might be able to salvage this picture. Composition wise, this is a very weak picture. The entire part of the frame south of the horizon is really uninteresting. If your focus is on the sky, give it more weight. The only part of the picture I like is that 10-15% in the middle where I can see a hint of water and reflections. Maybe it is a better idea to actually zoom in on that opening in the trees.

The 2nd picture is not worth saving. Shots like these are usually test shots to see if the camera is working. Sorry for being blunt.

 

[NikonMI6]

To be honest, the highlights in the first pic is slightly blown. If you took this photo in RAW, you just might be able to salvage this picture. Composition wise, this is a very weak picture. The entire part of the frame south of the horizon is really uninteresting. If your focus is on the sky, give it more weight. The only part of the picture I like is that 10-15% in the middle where I can see a hint of water and reflections. Maybe it is a better idea to actually zoom in on that opening in the trees.

The 2nd picture is not worth saving. Shots like these are usually test shots to see if the camera is working. Sorry for being blunt.

now that you mention it. i too agree with you that i should aim higher and leave out more of the south portion of the picture. and zoom in on the opening showing

the water and reflections. thank you very much for you comment. appreciate it. i will do better next time.

 

[daredevil123]

now that you mention it. i too agree with you that i should aim higher and leave out more of the south portion of the picture. and zoom in on the opening showing

the water and reflections. thank you very much for you comment. appreciate it. i will do better next time.

We all started from scratch. Here is a good read to get you started. Composition is 95% of the picture, really.

http://photoinf.com/General/KODAK/guidelines_for_better_photographic_composition.html

 

[twiki]

Hi NikonMI6,

If the first pic is HDR, then you've messed up the exposure of the foreground. The point of HDR is to capture, in one shot, a dynamic range (DR) so wide, that most (digital) sensors are unable to reproduce.
So you expose to capture the foreground on one shot, and then expose for the (brighter) sky in another shot. Combining the two gives you a DR not possible with a single exposure.
There is barely any shadow detail in the foreground and trees in the first shot.

 

[NikonMI6]

Hi NikonMI6,

If the first pic is HDR, then you've messed up the exposure of the foreground. The point of HDR is to capture, in one shot, a dynamic range (DR) so wide, that most (digital) sensors are unable to reproduce.
So you expose to capture the foreground on one shot, and then expose for the (brighter) sky in another shot. Combining the two gives you a DR not possible with a single exposure.
There is barely any shadow detail in the foreground and trees in the first shot.

ok. i get what you mean. the reason being that i used bracketing for my shot.. maybe i should manually take 2 different shots (or maybe 3) of

huge exposure differences, one concentrating on getting the details from the sky and the other from the foreground? is that right?

 

[daredevil123]

I really think HDR is overrated.

I prefer to do blending using layers. More natural.

 

[NikonMI6]

I really think HDR is overrated.

I prefer to do blending using layers. More natural.

so you basically blend those different exposures together rather generating HDR using those different exposures? right now i

am using photomatix, beside generating HDR it gives another options of blending exposures. is that what you are refering to?

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

so you basically blend those different exposures together rather generating HDR using those different exposures? right now i am using photomatix, beside generating HDR it gives another options of blending exposures. is that what you are refering to?

Actually the 2 things are pretty much the same.
Don't get hung-up on the term 'HDR' too much.
Basically the camera's sensor cannot capture the same dynamic range (from brightest spot to darkest spot) as your eyes can. So... you have to take multiple exposures of the exact same scene, each with different metering. Then you lay them on top of each other in your photo-editing software, and blend the layers appropriately.
Essentially this is what an automated HDR software like photomatix does, automatically... but some automated HDRs come out looking very unnatural, perhaps due to the saturation being boosted too much.

 

[NikonMI6]

Actually the 2 things are pretty much the same.
Don't get hung-up on the term 'HDR' too much.
Basically the camera's sensor cannot capture the same dynamic range (from brightest spot to darkest spot) as your eyes can. So... you have to take multiple exposures of the exact same scene, each with different metering. Then you lay them on top of each other in your photo-editing software, and blend the layers appropriately.
Essentially this is what an automated HDR software like photomatix does, automatically... but some automated HDRs come out looking very unnatural, perhaps due to the saturation being boosted too much.

thanks for the explanation..

"perhaps due to the saturation being boosted too much", so this is where the tone mapping configuration comes in? try to fine tune the details to make it look more natural?

 

[sabee]

Composition appears to be lacking, what were you trying to achieve with both pictures?

Nice sky in #1, but what value does your foreground add to it?

#2 looks really random unfortunately.

Nevertheless, good effort, keep shooting!

 

[daredevil123]

so you basically blend those different exposures together rather generating HDR using those different exposures? right now i

am using photomatix, beside generating HDR it gives another options of blending exposures. is that what you are refering to?

Photomatix's blending engine is not bad.

But what I was referring to is to actually use Photoshop and do your own blending using layers. More control that way.

 

[NikonMI6]

Photomatix's blending engine is not bad.

But what I was referring to is to actually use Photoshop and do your own blending using layers. More control that way.

pardon my simple question. so you actually create a different layer for each of the exposures and lay them on top of each other?

 

[daredevil123]

pardon my simple question. so you actually create a different layer for each of the exposures and lay them on top of each other?

yes of course.