MMA Fight

[kennybahr]

HDR of an MMA Fight in St. Louis, MO

What do you all think?

[BigDaveE]

Did you take this shot?

You were in the ring with 'em?

[LostShootingStar]

is that a photograph or a painting? http://m08o1124znfu179.imageshacknow.info/img/2465/f09c0126zdtr/confused.gif

[kennybahr]

BigDaveE: Yes I took that shot, and I was on top of the rail of the cage

LostShootingStar: Yes that is a photo taken with my 50D and proessed with Photomatrix pro and Adobe Lightroom 2.2

[Sharpness]

Definitely not good. This isnt good HDR, it looks like you have overdone with tone/sharpness and lighting slide far too much, without any control. It's very hard to focus on fighters due to disturbing second plan, colors sucks too. Composition is also not appealing to me.Sorry.

[BigDaveE]

Wow... Bit grumpy today, aye?

It's got a bit of a Dave Hill effect going. Some people hate it, some people love it... Obviously Sharpness hates it...

I think it's pretty cool and makes it more interesting than it otherwise would be... And I give you props for getting so close...

Definitely not good. This isnt good HDR, it looks like you have overdone with tone/sharpness and lighting slide far too much, without any control. It's very hard to focus on fighters due to disturbing second plan, colors sucks too. Composition is also not appealing to me.Sorry.

[kennybahr]

BigDaveE, thank you for the compliment!! I have only been doing HDR for a few days, I just wanted it critiqued. Sharpness, sorry it's not the best HDR you've seen, I'm still learning.

[Keeler]

I agree with bigdavee in the fact i see more of the dave hill effect. but I still really like the picture and the PP. post the original sometime. I'm a firm believer that HDR comes from Exposure Bracketing around -2,0,2 ... but thats just me. some people manage to pull off a decent HDR from one exposure. give it a shot sometime and combine them with photomatrix. some great hdr guides for photomatrix on youtube if you care to take a look.

[griptape]

BigDaveE, thank you for the compliment!! I have only been doing HDR for a few days, I just wanted it critiqued. Sharpness, sorry it's not the best HDR you've seen, I'm still learning.
The trouble with it is, it's really not HDR. It looks more like it's just been tone mapped to hell and back. If you want to pull it back some (which I recommend, at least just to see how it looks), take your original, put this as a new layer on top of it, and make a layer mask. Then mask out the areas that look over cooked at about 15% opacity, and keep going over them until they look right. When it comes to tonemapping, a lot of times more subtle can give a better effect.

[howaboutnow]

Wow! I'd like to see the original.

[10megapixel]

Well, I like it. It's extreme...yes, but I think that was what you were going for and you accomplished it well. I know alot of folks don't like the "creationist" HDR look because it looks to much like a painting or it doesn't look "real" anymore but that's the whole idea sometimes...to create something different, something that doesn't look like every other action shot that was taken that night. Alot of the landscape style HDR's processed with photomatix start to look the same after a while because it's so easy to over-do it when those vibrant colors and details start to pop out...I admit I have been guilty of that myself. But what you did here was create a surreal looking HDR with actual people in the picture in a situation where it I think it works, which you don't see very often. Keep it up!;)

[kennybahr]

Thank you all for the comments!! Here is the original
oh I forgot....I flipped it horizontally

[thexrickx]

Freaky.. BTW, who are the fighters? Black guy looks familiar.

[Robbierob]

Wow... Bit grumpy today, aye?

It's got a bit of a Dave Hill effect going. Some people hate it, some people love it... Obviously Sharpness hates it...

I think it's pretty cool and makes it more interesting than it otherwise would be... And I give you props for getting so close...

I agree with above qoute...

when I 1st saw the image i thought of dave hill too (that is a compliment). Honestly for me, i dont care if it is technically correct as much as pleasing to my eye. I may be in the minority, but I like this shot, and other images, that make you look twice.

imho...good job

[macroshooter1970]

I like it, It's different.

[pyngthyngs]

I really like the shot. It's interesting how golden you made the fighter in the foreground.

[kylejackson]

like everyone's saying, its a little overdone. you can be dramatic without going over the top. but everyone does it when they first get photomatix, so its okay haha.

[Andregen8]

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't HDR a compilation of three of the same images at different exposures? How can you possible capture an HDR image of moving fighters? (just curious...I thought most HDR required a tripod)

[conkeroo]

HDR of an MMA Fight in St. Louis, MO

What do you all think?
Not my thing at all. Far too overdone and doesn't suit the editorial nature of the shot. The original with a bit of sharpening is way better. In fact it's a very good shot indeed.

[tonydee]

I like the post-processing... makes it look somewhat cartoonish, somehow more elemental, aggressive, and emotional. But, one guy hopping around with his leg half-grabbed isn't exactly a climactic point in the fight, and - trying to make the most of it anyway - the technically relevant aspects to evaluating the situation are the balance on the supporting leg, whether the supporting foot is still flat on the floor, how the legs might be brought round to sweep etc.. You've effectively got a picture of a guy who kicked at a bad time, with most of the interest in his physique and expression, and a little more in the other guy's body-art. Cheers, Tony

[tonydee]

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't HDR a compilation of three of the same images at different exposures? How can you possible capture an HDR image of moving fighters? (just curious...I thought most HDR required a tripod)

As others have said, the image in this thread is not HDR at all. Because HDR requires tone mapping, and the results are often (though not necessarily) over-the-top, anything that's similarly tone-mapped risks being incorrectly identified as HDR by those who don't know about or just don't care about the distinction....

You're right... real HDR requires multiple exposures, so it's impractical for moving subject matter like this. It is generally better with a tripod, though recent software can attempt to realign images that were taken by hand.

[Sharpness]

As for me original shot looks a way better.