Sunset and Power Line

[Got Turbo?]

I posted this in the landscape forum but didn't get much feedback.

Crazy sunset today. Pulled over on the side of the road and grabbed this through the open window.

7 shot HDR bracketed 1 stop per shot. C&C welcomed!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2713/4396803055_d010d550a0_b.jpg

[peter_co]

To be honest, I'm not really sure how well the HDR works here. To me at least it seems like you get the "fakeness" of HDR without actually extending the dynamic range (the area around the sun still looks blown out and the trees are silhouetted).

I do like the colors of the sunset though, this looks like a very interesting landscape and the picture seems well composed, I'm just somewhat skeptical of the processing.

Do you mind posting one of the original exposures (towards the middle of the pack), I'm curious to see what that is like.

[Got Turbo?]

Sure thing. Here's the middle of the pack exposure straight out of the camera. Maybe I'm doing something wrong in Photomatix, but when I lighten up the foreground, it get's really noisy and distorted...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2701/4399625731_166ee42d2d_b.jpg

[peter_co]

Sure thing. Here's the middle of the pack exposure straight out of the camera. Maybe I'm doing something wrong in Photomatix, but when I lighten up the foreground, it get's really noisy and distorted...
Well, you know it's more or less inevitable that noise will start being a major problem when you try to bring out the shadows. To be honest though, I'm not sure why you would really want to do that. After all, the real subject is the beautiful sky, the foreground not being of too much interest here. My approach would be to fully silhouette the foreground and let the sky stand out. For instance, this quick edit is the general direction I would have taken.

[Got Turbo?]

Thanks for the input! I do like your crop better.

[jetcode]

I have a small collection of power poles ... this image is nice ... here's another way to print this ... warm and cold tone