2004 Volkswagen R32 - Subtle HDR vs. Original

Took some photos today because nice clouds aren't too common in SoCal

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Yes yes very nice. ime a fan of this type of hdr photos rather than the cartoony looking type. Just need to get rid of the reflections on the rear pillar and front bumper. Is the bonnet on the car black or is it my monitor

uk86ze wrote in post #3992409
Yes yes very nice. ime a fan of this type of hdr photos rather than the cartoony looking type. Just need to get rid of the reflections on the rear pillar and front bumper. Is the bonnet on the car black or is it my monitor

I actually dialed in my circular polarizer to leave a bit of reflections in the C pillar... looked too flat without it I thought. The car actually has a carbon fiber hood painted with a candy blue (translucent) paint... but it does look black in most pics unless you're really close.

I think its a little too overexposed. I would try it using just -1, 0, and +1. Using the +2 exposure is probably over-exposing it and ruining the shot, or what you could do is, use the -1 background and the 0 or +1 car and see how that works. But for this shot, I think it could really use some adjustments by using Curves.

Heres some adjustments using Curves/Levels/Dodge/Bu​rn (excuse the halo around the car, it was just a quick job):

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Good photo, but IMO the reflection off of the windshield is incredibly distracting.

I think that this photo could benefit well from the combo of a Circular polarizer + ND graduated filter to both improve sky / car contrast and color, as well as help you to keep from over exposing the sky while keeping the car looking good.

I hate HDR :P It seems to be THE thing to PP. Well I'm always marginal. But nice shot, it sures add something !

I really like the original and the first HDR, very nice!

Charles Richards wrote in post #3992767
Good photo, but IMO the reflection off of the windshield is incredibly distracting.

I think that this photo could benefit well from the combo of a Circular polarizer + ND graduated filter to both improve sky / car contrast and color.

I did use a circular polarizer, and could have gotten rid of windshield reflections, but then the side of the car would have had way too much reflections. I don't have any ND graduated filters, but maybe I'll look into that soon. Thanks for the C&C.

Clouds & sunlight make it tough to get a good shot: A few Car Lighting Tips

If you must use a CP, which I don't, you could have taken 3 different CP shots & combined them.

Layer mask. See post #9; PS Elements in Post # 14
A question about sky