Natural Looking HDR

A reworked image for Charles

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HDR from last Friday:

Positive feedback always appreciated. Thanks

Maybe this isn't as natural as I thought initially. One shot, four virtual copies Lightroom, one stop apart, sns-hdr to process, back to LR for some contrast, clarity, slight vibrance, and fixing histogram

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Rh8g​Hd

roseyposey wrote in post #18253938
Maybe this isn't as natural as I thought initially. One shot, four virtual copies Lightroom, one stop apart, sns-hdr to process, back to LR for some contrast, clarity, slight vibrance, and fixing histogram

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Rh8g​Hd IMG_0504-5-HDR(5) Mt Erin from Te Mata Peak-2 by Rose McGillicuddy, on Flickr

As I understand it, making virtual copies at different EVs makes no difference as a tonemapper like SNS-HDR can extract the full dynamic range held in the original single RAW. BTW, I am not sure whether you have fixed the histogram fully. I downloaded your Flickr image (yes, it can be done if you have the right browser and an understanding of HTM) and opened it in Photoshop - it looks like this:

Loch Morlich, Cairngorm National Park, Scotland

roseyposey wrote in post #18253938
Maybe this isn't as natural as I thought initially. One shot, four virtual copies Lightroom, one stop apart, sns-hdr to process, back to LR for some contrast, clarity, slight vibrance, and fixing histogram

A couple of things to consider. First - make sure you fix chromatic aberrations and fringing before you start combining and processing images - the evergreen needles against the sky are a classic set up for fringes (here, purplish-magenta) that get amplified as you start to add in a lot of local contrast and saturation.

Second - this image has a nice sense of distance to it, but the tone mapping process has removed all of that natural contrast. The peaks in the distance should be hazy, and lighter in tone than the grass in the foreground. The trees and topography in the middle and foreground should get progressively darker and have more contrast the closer they get to the camera. The tone mapper does not know this, so it tends to compress and equalize the scene, on a larger scale, and then attempts to add local detail back in on a much smaller scale. So, you end up with a flat image that has strong wiggles and bumps.

Try adding some haze back into the background and sky and try adding some more large-scale contrast into the foreground to re-establish this natural separation that occurs with distance. Also, this is a sunny scene, so shadows can be dark, like black dark, and highlights can be close to white in some select places.

Looks like a beautiful place to be!

kirk

i like the first photo butthey all look really good great work

MIKEYHEA28 wrote in post #18254599
i like the first photo butthey all look really good great work

Which one? There are 6 images onb the page!

MIKEYHEA28 wrote in post #18254599
i like the first photo butthey all look really good great work

Stiga wrote in post #18256709
Which one? There are 6 images onb the page!

Click on link in his post in the top right corner... https://photography-on-the.net …showthread.php?​p=13787249
i think he's referring to the images posted earlier in this thread from January, 2012.

maxblack wrote in post #18256945
Click on link in his post in the top right corner... https://photography-on-the.net …showthread.php?​p=13787249
i think he's referring to the images posted earlier in this thread from January, 2012.

Thanks for (some) clarification - but I see that you only think he was referring to to an images way back!

Stiga wrote in post #18256709
Which one? There are 6 images onb the page!

It would have been more clear as to which post he's referring to by using the quote feature. If you click on the link in the upper right of his post as I show circled below, it will take you to the post he was referring to.