First shot at it

Looks good. Nice work making the sky look natural. The only thing I would have done differently is played with the Microcontrast slider. I think it will make it a touch sharper looking and give it a little more "pop".

2 questions for you:

I am going to Zion in 3 weeks. Any suggestions?

Also, I noticed you use a 7D, I do as well, what lens did you tend to use the most during your trip? I am trying to strategize what lens' to bring.

I used the 16-35L for that shot. And I agree about a little pop. My pics always look good until you see others here. But it was late in the day and the ground was completly in shadows so I was happy to get that. I will play some more though. Thanks. For Zion you really want that wide angle and I also used my 24-105 a lot. My son keeps a Powershot in his pocket for the quik people photo.
Lots of suggestions for Zion. Briefly here is what we did.
Hiked the Chinle Trail just west of Springdale on a Sunday to stay from the crowded valley. Long but not much elevation gain. Cool petrifed forest area too.

Day trip to the Arizona Strip. East outta the park and right on the 89 to the 59. Pipe Springs monument is there and you can knock it out in an hour. Smithsonian Butte Scenic Byway is down the road. GREAT place for some sunset pics. We didnt go all the way thru as it got real deep and muddy 7 miles into it. We hit Grafton Cementry in Rockville on the way back. Some of Butch Cassidy was filmed there.
Hiked Angels Landing and Observation Point. Angels Landing was scary.
Day trip to Bryce Canyon for sure if you havent been there.
And finally take a drive up Kolob reservior road and hike the short North Peaks trail. You will appreciate the quiteness of it. I would have liked to explore Kolob more but there was snow if we went any further up the road. If it melts for your trip there are cool options up there. Have fun and let me know what you did!

Thanks for all of the info! We are doing 1 1/2 days in Bryce and then 2 full days in Zion. I know it isn't enough time for either, but that is all we can do and still have time to let loose in Vegas. Can't wait to get out there and explore.

madmxe wrote in post #14203242
My first HDR photo from Zion last week. CC welcome and thanks.

Nice, but looks a little 'flat' - I would try to add more overall (not local/micro) contrast assuming you are going for a natural look (which it very much looks like you are).

One way of doing this is in general is to try to get the image really quite flat/low contrast (lower even than you have) coming out of the HDR process, then do further adjustments in PS, first on the entire image and then perhaps some more local adjustments.

Of course JMO, but you asked and I thought this image was worth a quick-ish tweak (with several local adjustments). It it were me I might even do a bit more to lead the eye around the image and really think about where I want the highlights and shadows, but hopefully you get the idea.

Appreciate the comments. I have gone ahead and purchased the software and redone it. It does look better than the one posted but I still like yours better.
Question,,do you do anything to the pics before you merge them or just wait until your done??
And yes I do want a what I see kind of look,natural shot.
Thanks again.

There's a giant word in the sky.




Hey, do not by Photomatix until you explore the various discounts they offer.

Edit: Ooops, I spoke too late.


Zion is a great place, by the way.

madmxe wrote in post #14221147
Question,,do you do anything to the pics before you merge them or just wait until your done??

As little as possible. I do a lens distortion correction and CA correction, some NR (since HDR can increase noise levels) and a very small sharpening (nothing close to the final sharpening, just to counteract the anti-alias filter a bit). No curves or levels. Definitely no clarity or any other local contrast enhancer.

I use a different software for the HDR (Easy HDR Pro) and sometimes I do apply a highlight recovery to the input which seems to help stop the output highlights being clipped, but this may or may not help with photomatix.

I would play around a bit though, worth experimenting, but I think most people don't to a lot (if any) of PP before the merge.