Empire State Building NYC

[mavericksupersonic]

Here's my take at a HDR shot. I took this shot from a roof on 35th St. in NYC. Three RAW files merged. Sight adjustments made for distortion, sharpness, and brightness. I think it came out ok but any suggestions would be appreciated. What do you think?

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e344/mavericksupersonic/NYC/ESB_12_20_08a-800x600.jpg

[zacker]

sweet!! how bout one from the top of the empire state? lol

[canonloader]

This is quite nice, but a little dark here. I have found that 5, 7 or better yet, 9 RAW images make a better render when the light is low or in high contrast. It gives PM more to work with and a side benefit is less noise too.

Three images only covers so much of the range, no matter what. If those three are only one stop apart, it can't cover the range of the dark sky and the bright point lights. A long exposure at one end of the sequence will give PM more range to work with, more like using exposure compensation. :)

[mavericksupersonic]

Thanks for the comments. I would like to go up to the top and take some shots but unless you want to wait 2-3 hours at this time of year, it's not worth it.

As for the brightness, I actually reduced it and used a slight gradient effect to reduce the brightness more on the bottom than the top. This was the original after the merge. I thought it looked too over processed and un-realistic so I darkened it. Maybe it was better like this?

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e344/mavericksupersonic/NYC/ESB_12_20_08-800x600.jpg

Next time I'll try using the 5 images and see how much different the image looks. Thanks again for the comments and tips. Hopefully I can improve with your help.

[canonloader]

I do like the lighter version. There is more detail in the overal image, like those bare tree branches and stuff in the fence area, probably somebody living in there. ;)