Seletar Reservoir

[wxzhuo]

Taken with Nikon D700, Tokina 11-16mm @ f8, ND filter. Bracketed 7 shots HDR photo. Morning 8.45am @ Pierce Reservoir, rather overcast sky added a very nice soft feel to it.

I wanted a rather surrealistic, serene photo, I am personally satisfied with what I got.

All C&C welcomed on how I can make this better - Composition, HDR techniques, post-processing, etc... should I stick to the rule of thirds? 1/3 sky, or 1/3 rocks?

 

[Diluted]

The magenta color cast is too strong IMO..
Did you use Tianya filters?? :dunno:

 

[gundamseed84]

Looks like I am wearing magenta pair of shades when I am see this picture. Since you did pp, why not just focus on the magenta adjustment on the sky colour? The rocks should maintain its natural colours of brown/grey.

Also the trees are still very underexposed (purple shadows), and you talked about processing HDR maybe you want to bring out the details of the trees too? Otherwise I think it's possible to achieve your picture without using HDR in the first place which makes HDR abit pointless.

 

[wxzhuo]

Yes, it's a Tian Ya, and it produces a magenta color cast. Some photoshop magic will get rid of it... but I prefer the way it is. Here's one without filters attached :

My issue with this, is that the greens are way more distracting than the rocks and skies... that is why I took out all the greens. The magenta cast also gave a nice "surreal" feel to it. (Maybe a bit too strong?)

 

[azurebluee]

Yes, it's a Tian Ya, and it produces a magenta color cast. Some photoshop magic will get rid of it... but I prefer the way it is. Here's one without filters attached :

My issue with this, is that the greens are way more distracting than the rocks and skies... that is why I took out all the greens. The magenta cast also gave a nice "surreal" feel to it.

this looks better :thumbsup:. Able to see the texture of the rocks.

Nice angle with the rocks leading towards the horizon.

 

[boilerplate]

Is the original version HDR?

The first version defeats the purpose of HDR: totally burnt out sky, totally black vegetation.

As for the distracting bright green grass, if that was a HDR shot, maybe tweaking the parameters a bit can get rid of it. Else just do the old school way, burn and dodge.

 

[wxzhuo]

Took 2 sets. One with ND and another without.

Thanks for all the feedback. The composition seems ok, will try adjusting the HDR images again.
HDR images are very time consuming... but after staring at the photo for some time, the greens don't seem so bad?

 

[azurebluee]

Took 2 sets. One with ND and another without.

Thanks for all the feedback. The composition seems ok, will try adjusting the HDR images again.
HDR images are very time consuming... but after staring at the photo for some time, the greens don't seem so bad?

Takes abit of time for the adjustments for hdr imaging. Take more practice more will get the hang of it. I started playing with hdr a few mths back only.

The trees on the right is abit brighter than the rest should be able to tweak it quite easily.

 

[niceboyatsg]

Hi ts, i like the one with no nd filter.
May i know which part of seletar reservoir you taken this photo?

 

[wxzhuo]

Hi ts, i like the one with no nd filter.
May i know which part of seletar reservoir you taken this photo?

:bsmilie: Took me so long to realize location wrong. It's Lower Pierce Reservoir, enter from Old Thomson Road. This is somewhere leading to the Lower Pierce Trail.

 

[Dylan1987]

like the hdr too as compared to the initial post.

 

[niceboyatsg]

:bsmilie: Took me so long to realize location wrong. It's Lower Pierce Reservoir, enter from Old Thomson Road. This is somewhere leading to the Lower Pierce Trail.

It should be lower pierce reservoir, as i went last week at seletar reservoir but i did'nt see this view.

 

[daredevil123]

I am sorry but I am not a fan of over pushed HDR pictures.

I thought pic 1 had potential if you corrected the color cast.

 

[Diluted]

gotta agree with dd123..
i think the hdr was overdone in the pic you uploaded afterwards..

 

[wxzhuo]

Sorry for the slow reply, had a very busy week... post CNY shock?

Here's one with the magenta cast removed - rocks still seem a little reddish on my screen?

 

[zaren]

i like the HDR to be pushed even more....to get some really super vibrant colours.... :bsmilie:

 

[tecnica]

you didnt clone out the dust spots?

 

[brapodam]

Sorry for the slow reply, had a very busy week... post CNY shock?

Here's one with the magenta cast removed - rocks still seem a little reddish on my screen?

Still a bit pinkish, should add some green tint to balance it out.

Also, I think halos in HDRs are distracting. I don't mind overcooked HDRs, but when the grass and trees get radioactive and things start getting halos around them, I just don't like the feel.

 

[wxzhuo]

My final take with this -

Has a lot more impact than the others that I pp so far... Didn't know I had so much room for so many "variants" with HDR.

Thanks for all the comments.

 

[brapodam]

My final take with this -

Has a lot more impact than the others that I pp so far... Didn't know I had so much room for so many "variants" with HDR.

Thanks for all the comments.

I like the purple skies, but you might want to mask out the rocks for that colour adjustment, as it just looks weird.