Red Bridge (First HDR attempt)


nitewalk

Senior Member
May 31, 2010
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Singapore
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1. in what area is critique to be sought?
First attempt at HDR. Would like to see if the HDR was done properly and visually acceptable.

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
Found this scene to be one of the scene which i totally struggle to do manual exposure blending, yet through single exposure, I can't quite expose for the sky and the bridge properly.

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
Sunset timing.

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
Even though I mention it is my first attempt but I would like to seek most honest opinions. I don't quite mention it is a first attempt to seek soft comments, rather I'm putting that to give a context and perhaps seek opinions which may outline a possible growth from a first attempt to a second and so on. Otherwise, the most truthful and upfront critique will be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
 

It all depends, some may like it and some may not.. For me, is a good effort but what you have done is a bit strange in the processing or blending. If you look carefully where the yellow clouds and its reflection, it looks darker than the right with no bright clouds and reflection. So the water on the left side of the bridge should have a little more light intensity than the left. For taking multiple exposure and doing manual blending, you can expose the background or trees a little more too.Especially on the left.
 

Last edited:
MGohzxc said:
It all depends, some may like it and some may not.. For me, is a good effort but what you have done is a bit strange in the processing or blending. If you look carefully where the yellow clouds and its reflection, it looks darker than the right with no bright clouds and reflection. So the water on the left side of the bridge should have a little more light intensity than the left. For taking multiple exposure and doing manual blending, you can expose the background or trees a little more too.Especially on the left.

Yes I had the feeling that it appear as if it was two image of different exposures stitched together. Still exploring the effects of the sliders in photomatix. Noted about the water and tree parts. Thanks Manita! :)
 

Wow.. photomatix. It will take awhile to get use to and it took me many months to play with it. Even is the best light shot during sunrise and sunset time, multiple exposures are actually important and getting a good HDR image. The camera is not able to capture all the details you need to show in your frame and I always remember that.

This is an example from your shot: I re-focus the image to get the trees a bit more in focus, apply a reflector on the left, very slight adaptive sharpening to bring out some details, contrast correction, color cast correction and expose the overall image.

xdWQm.jpg
 

Personally I do not like to see halo effects in HDR-processed photos... Some photographers tend to overcook HDR resulting in glowing buildings against dark skies. If you look at the bridge structure there seems that the bridge somehow bleed into the blue sky.

You may try do use layers and brush off the halo areas.
 

the photo looks underexposed and the colours are flat. would suggest boosting contrast and gamma, with a bit of backlight correction.
7567791596_928d43d2ed_o.jpg
 

yrh0413 said:
Personally I do not like to see halo effects in HDR-processed photos... Some photographers tend to overcook HDR resulting in glowing buildings against dark skies. If you look at the bridge structure there seems that the bridge somehow bleed into the blue sky.

You may try do use layers and brush off the halo areas.

Yes I'm worried of getting halo also
 

MGohzxc said:
Wow.. photomatix. It will take awhile to get use to and it took me many months to play with it. Even is the best light shot during sunrise and sunset time, multiple exposures are actually important and getting a good HDR image. The camera is not able to capture all the details you need to show in your frame and I always remember that.

This is an example from your shot: I re-focus the image to get the trees a bit more in focus, apply a reflector on the left, very slight adaptive sharpening to bring out some details, contrast correction, color cast correction and expose the overall image.

Ohhh! Wah a lot of terms and processes I've never used. Will go read up. Thanks!
 

zaren said:
the photo looks underexposed and the colours are flat. would suggest boosting contrast and gamma, with a bit of backlight correction.

Thanks Zaren! Yes I totally can see what u mean theu comparison with my photo.

Thanks Manita and Zaren for taking the time and effort to adjust my photo to teach me and show me what is lacking.