Effect of Pseudo HDR treatment on JPG

Experiment on two images--how do you feel about it?


http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/im...lebeach3SM.jpg
untreated


http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/im...beachHDRSM.jpg
treated



http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/im...d/sound2SM.jpg
untreated


http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/im...ound2HDRSM.jpg
treated

Don, well, they look different. Honest opinion, the bottom one has way too many burnt artifacts in the clouds. The original isn't quite right either though, I am not sure why. With the top pseudo HDR, the group is a bit too dark I think, and the colors in the sky seem a bit primary / secondary. Worth an experiment but I think they're too extreme.

One question - what are you setting your JPG compression to? I see little squiggly artifacts in all four of them, which usually indicates too much compression. Would be much better for us to evaluate if the those artifacts were not there.

Helpful GB. I think I'll stick to raw for these.

How exactly are you doing these treatments?