Blue hour church

http://gallery.photographyreview.com...0/DSC_4455.jpg

http://gallery.photographyreview.com...mapped_800.jpg

To hdr or not ? can you tell which is which ? LOL

I can see more details in the HDR version, specially at full resolution , but, even after spending countless hours could not make it more pleasant to look, it came out looking cartoonish even when tonemapping was down a lot. Very noticeable side by side

I wanted to share both, because I spent a lot of time on the hdr version, mainly trying to fix the top triangle on the right from being too bright, and because my wife commented "I like that sky"

This is the "Templo Expiatorio" @ Guadalajara Mexico
the fountain is usually running, since it wasn't I used it for reflections ....

Comments ? critiques ?

I know a lot of people are not fans, but I really like the textured skies that tone mapping gives, so I like the second one a lot. First one is nice too.

I like the first one because of the simplicity. The second one is nice and I like the brightness but I think the plant makes it look really unappealing. The little guy on the right between the legs of the plant is pretty funny.

good job. it's hard to decide because both have great things about them but I think I am going to go with the first one.

I prefer #2 just because I like those, but the haloing on the crosses needs to be fixed.

thanks for the comments !

so far it is :
2 for hdr
1 regular

This is kind of tough to decide. #1 is sharper. I don't like the placement of the pinkish thin cloud next to the bright light on the right of the church. It looks connected to the light.
#2 takes care of this problem. There is an unreal quality to this as well, but not distracting, in fact, it makes this shot unique. As mentioned, the haloing should be fixed.
But, I keep coming back to #2.
So I vote for #2.

Armando, yes it's tough to choose. You know I have no problem with HDR, but this one seems to have too many distractions. In my mind, the lights (starburst and all) fountain and side buildings are much more obvious in the HDR than the non-HDR shot which tends to distract from the church itself. Have you tried blending the HDR and non-HDR to see what you get?

PC

Im for regular, because the HDR is quite apparently HDR. But, I think you could HDR the sky alone and still have a real looking image. I'd also vote for adjusting the extreme distortion, then, I'm not particularly fond of distortion on buildings.

I'm definitely for #1 here. lovely exposure, I just wish that thing on the right wasn't there.

Thanks all for the comments
surprised that perspective was mentioned once
seams the spiky fountain was not a good idea to include in the frame
I would need to learn to do layers to do some of the suggestions like hdr only parts of the image

I'm usually an HDR advocate Armando, but I do prefer the straight exposure on this one. HDR is good when there's a lot of contrast and you would lose out on too much without it, but with this church and similar illuminated subjects against a dark sky, the contrast is what makes them so bold. The HDR is OK here too but seems a little out of a fantasy movie, looking surreal. Anyway, great find.

G

The two biggest issues I have is the light pole left side of the frame needs to go and it needs skewed. I don't think you left enough room on the right to skew it and keep the large fountain in the frame. I also think a zoomed in shot of one of the blue crosses would work well. There was really no way to avoid the light pole, maybe shot it out.LOL

Thanks GB, I agree tere are situations where HDR is great, while some people have like the hdr version , I also think the single exposure is better

Greg,
my daughter keeps telling me the bright light is awful :) while I liked this position and find the light star "cool"looking I also would have liked to omit it, I have a shot from the other side of the fountain, which does not include the spiky plant on the top of the fountain, and also does not have a bright light shining on the camera, I'll see if i can work on it and post it.

Edit. the other shot I mentioned was handheld and it is a bit blurry