First Somewhat Successful HDR:

[Glliw]

I've tried my hand at HDR before a few times, but this is the first time that I've actually liked the way the image has turned out. Let me know what you think of the outcome.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3108/3178724182_f29b141a4e_o.jpg

[jgrussell]

Generally I like it, but the layering is a little disconcerting on the left. It looks as though the reeds should be BEHIND the trees in the distance.

[JoYork]

I quite like the colours and texture and the actual HDR processing has come out quite well. It's not too overdone, there are no obvious halos (a sign that the tonemapping process has been pushed too far), etc.

However as a photograph it has a few issues. First of all the composition - there are all those reeds in the way! Looks like a beautiful view of the lake has been spoilt by all those plants waving around. They also look blurry and ghostly so I'm guessing this is image was made from 3 exposures combined? Unfortunately it's very hard to make multiple exposures when you have moving objects in the scene.

Generally when I shoot landscapes I take bracketed exposures and combine them afterwards providing there's nothing moving around in the scene (like people, cars, trees blowing, etc). If that's not possible I have to make do with processing a single RAW file and hoping it comes out ok.

I'd love to see the same image but without the plants in the way because it looks very beautiful there. I think you have the HDR processing worked out well, it's just a case of making sure there are no distracting elements getting in the way.

[canonloader]

I kind of like it, but it does look like the reeds were added in as a layer. Take them back out and you have something nice.

[Glliw]

Yea, I figured those reeds to the left were quite distracting, just had somewhat put in my head that they would be "okay." Thanks for letting me know that they are not.
This is one of the originals.

Compositionally, I see what you mean about having the view of the lake opened up on the left there.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3325/3179033501_648b6cecb8_o.jpg

[canonloader]

Ah, they got the ghost look cause they were moving in all three shots and did not align. This would be one you want to use only a single frame in. :)

[Glliw]

So I should just make faux exposures in Camera Raw?

[canonloader]

That's one way, or, if your using Photomatix, you can just import the single RAW and let it do it.

[Glliw]

Okay, so I went about you guys' advice and did a faux-exposure setup from a single RAW file. This angle seemed to be a bit better without the distracting grass in the way. Here are the results:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3498/3183271652_900466a621_o.jpg

Here's another one for shiggles:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3358/3182436201_e88d9cc2f7_o.jpg

[canonloader]

The compositions are great. But, there are halos, which I personally think detract from the image. You can reduce those by going higher on the Light Smoothing settings. Go to 4 or 5.

[Glliw]

Thanks for the compositional compliment!

I believe I had the light smoothing at either 2 or 3 for that one. I noticed if I went any higher that the detail got blacked out in the wood railings. I figured a bit of halo was worth the detail.

[canonloader]

Well, there are other adjustments you can make to bring the wood out. I can't tell you which offhand, but they are there. Are you using the latest update of Photomatix, 3.1?

[Glliw]

Yea, I am, I just played around with it some more. I got the wood to come back some...I'll post it up here in a sec.

EDIT:

[Glliw]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3358/3182502903_7e8dd14094_o.jpg

[slapstix55]

looks good!

[Glliw]

Thanks!

[canonloader]

Yeah, that really looks good now. :)

[Glliw]

Couldn't have done it without your constructive criticism. :)

[canonloader]

Glad to help. I know that once you have gotten one you like, the rest will be easier. You understand the process now. Took me two years, cause the older versions of Photomatix were not near as good as now. I never figured it out till I sat down and spent a couple days figuring out what each slider was for. :)

[Glliw]

Wow, talk about some time dedication. I think I have a decent idea of which one does from playing with each one from each end of their spectrums. 3.1 is definitely easy to use though. At first I thought it looked like a shoddy program, but its more so one of those function over form things I'd say.

[canonloader]

Well, not total dedication. I gave up on it several times over a couple years, but always went back to it. I finally got one to come out the way I was seeing others do them, and it just got better from there. :)