Oregon Rocks 2 (HDR)

[GB1]

Used CS2 to create and tone map the 5 separate, bracketed images of this scene. Comments?

GB

[Shebang]

My least favorite of the series -- just doesn't have the wow of the others -- but still rockin' !!

EDIT: Weelllll, maybe it does! The depth is incredible.

[Anbesol]

very cool GB! I can't tell that it was HDR'd, but I can tell when in comparison to your other shots - and I think this one the sand really comes alive. The details in the rock look slightly blotchy, though that might just be the compression for the web image.

[jetrim]

I think this may be my favorite of the set. It may be worth trying as a duo-tone or tri-tone as well.

[alik]

Beautiful Shot.

[draymorton]

I dunno, to me, this is awesome. It looks like a 3-D rendering done with a very sophisticated version of Bryce or Maya. At first I thought I wanted to see more detail in the rock, but nah... I don't think it's needed. Really nice HDR work.

[gahspidy]

I like it. the strong silhouettes against the soft color and tones/texture of the sand and water are very appealing. Smooth and earthy color and tone. Its a pleasing image and tranquil.

[GB1]

Thanks fellows. I personally view it's colors as both pleasing and somewhat 'fantasy' looking. I think that comes from the HDR effect, especially in the sand. The downside is that the shot's not as super sharp as I would like it to be, which is what happens when you shoot 5 shots on soft sand (I shot them as fast as possible and tried to add more stability to the tripod by pushing down at the base,.. maybe it helped a bit).

Paula - Yeah the depth was sort of a side effect of trying to slow down the SS. I have seen other coastal shots (of the OR coast, actually) which really look soft and surreal by doing this. It worked to some extent: I could have added some ND filters but dont have any for this lens. Anyway, it was f 22, I believe.

Anbesol, you really didn't notice it being an HDR? Ok, maybe it's an HDR lite, as the colors are dull vs wild. I do see some blotches in the rock. I believe at least one of them is sensor dust. I will work on cloning that out.

Jet - How do you do those in CS2?

Dray - Ha, thanks, I see where you are coming from. 3D animations seem ever so much simplified and they often cannot quite look totally realistic, and this image does look like that. Now if I can just sharpen it up enough to print it out say 16 x 20 ", I may be able to enter it in a contest. And yeah, detail in the rocks - does it need it, or no? Hard to answer in this particular shot, as the shapes and color seem to be what it's all about and not the detail.

Thanks Gary. I used CS2 on this HDR. I must try PhotoMatrix too just to see what it comes up with.

Thanks also, Alik.

[jetrim]

There's a fairly comprehensive tutorial here:
http://www.photoshopsupport.com/tool...-tutorial.html

[idahogiant]

Nice shot!!