River Boat - HDR

[AshRinz]

River Boat at Marina Pier. C & C welcome.

[Nick]

good attempt at hdr here but the original image lacks the vibrancy due to the overcast skies.

[AshRinz]

Yup. The original photo dun have skies at all. Not even clouds. Was surprised HDR can actually bring it out. I'm beginning to like this HDR thingy. Only heard of it recently.

[Nick]

Yup. The original photo dun have skies at all. Not even clouds. Was surprised HDR can actually bring it out. I'm beginning to like this HDR thingy. Only heard of it recently.

There are lots of HDR guides online. Try looking them up. There's a lot more to HDR than just the multiple exposures.

[AshRinz]

There are lots of HDR guides online. Try looking them up. There's a lot more to HDR than just the multiple exposures.

hmmm...am looking for more infos on HDR constantly. Saw a webby some time back on HDR. An Indon photog, i think. His images are sooooo surreal and nice. Can't remember is name though.

[Nick]

You might want to check out this gallery for HDR images. http://www.pbase.com/night86mare. This photographer shoots a lot in HDR.

[AshRinz]

You might want to check out this gallery for HDR images. http://www.pbase.com/night86mare. This photographer shoots a lot in HDR.

Thanx Klose. Will definitely check it out.

[g-khoo]

There's a light shade of haloing around the ship bro - i get the same issue for my hdr images sometimes too.

Might want to try burning it or use a low opacity brush to go over it to make it less obvious.

Just my 2cts =)

[Michael]

allow me to give 3 tips for this image

#1. lack of contrast and saturation
using photoshop, at saturation +25, as well as curves at the settings Strong Contrast, you will enhance the image such that it will spring into life. although it's not a one-setting-solves-all, you can try and vary the settings and enhancements. saturated with high contrast colours will bring an image, dull due to overcast skies, into amazing shots.

#2. hdr and halos
such problem of halos are often in hdr images, especially when done automatically. what i'd do is do -2EV, 0EV and +2EV images and overlap them, using a feather of 0 px, highlight the boat and cut it out then paste it over to the darker skies image. that's the best solution of avoiding halos - doing it manually
also, pick a better subject for hdr photography, something like landscape shots, where the bright sun with magnificent clouds would highly contrast the dark and lush green vegetation at the bottom.

#3. composition and shot
i can see you tried to frame it such a way the greens take up 1/3rd of the frame, however, by doing so, you centre the boat and it loses the impact you intended. by zooming out, or taking several (many steps back), i would suggest you frame the boat at the top right of the frame, giving little room for the dull skies, and ask a friend to walk into the frame at the bottom left. that way, there is attention in both the foreground and background, that you can contrast the small human to the large ship as well as avoid the dull skies

[AshRinz]

Thank you for the inputs. They're very constructive. Will definitely learn from them.