Post Your Best HDR Photo

[maloner]

Thanks, everyone. The first was my favorite at first but I like the 2nd a lot more now as well.


Alex, I didn't tag the post correctly - each one was processed in Photomatix off of three bracketed exposures, + and - 2 stops. I did then proceed to play with the generated photo in Photoshop (and Lightroom) to get them a little less aggressively HDR in look.

[Tim]

Great photos, and I love the fact that there is snow in the last one. Great contrast cold and hot.

[Alex Bishton]

Maloner, understood. I've been using Photomatix and I agree that it makes the images look too processed. I guess fiddling around in Photoshop would rectify some of the damage caused.

[maloner]

Sometimes what I'll do is blend it as normal in Photomatix, then take the middle exposure and paste it on top as a separate layer, then use whatever blending options make the most sense for that particular photo (it varies a lot). That way you can keep your dynamic range but also restore a more natural look to the photo. I try to get as much of that done in Photomatix itself, but I find that the preview window it shows is not really close enough to the real output to trust it completely.

[John]

Here are a couple I did yesterday and the day before that. This is Cologne, Germany.