BW and HDR C&C?

took a few hours to go drive around the beach area and find some new places i hadn't been close to home. this is what i came up with

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

forgot one

I like the BW building, but the sky looks untouched. Maybe some more contrast. I bet some more detail can be brought out of the clouds. Also, if you're into this kinda thing, maybe you could try dodging the light areas of the building with a soft brush, set to highlights, at a low percentage, just to balance the tones so it's not so low key and a little less flat. But hey, I'm not gonna twist your arm about it.

i would agree with the above but only to bring out just a bit more detail in them.

you don't want to take away from the focal point with too much post-processing.

for some reason that pic looks different from the orig i have on my computer. i'll look at it tomorry and work on it some more, i've got a fresh/sore tattoo and i'm goin to bed

i agree with all above...

There is only 2 that look dynamic. the one of the two im referring to is questionable.
Picture #1 and #4. # 4 is questionable, like mentioned, little detail and very dark. On B&W HDR try to set your bracketing more towards over, so you have maybe 3 frames over and 2 under...ect.

Remember, when shooting black & white, you have to vision what the shot will look like in black and white. the shadows being your darkest points, midtons being more on the gray scale/side of things, and highlights being your whites.

Also, when converting your b&w in photoshop its not a true b&w. a little post-process should be done. slightly... bumping up the contrast. boosting the blacks a little. and checking your histogram and curves to ensure your getting a full range of blacks, grays, and whites to evenly ballance the picture.

once thats done, merdge them into HDR and youll be set. Try not to bump your threshold up to much if possible, to help keep the detail. In photoshop, it tends to wash it out a bit, especially when you need a high radius.

those are just simple pointers. im by far no professional at hdr's, but ive produced several nice looking ones. Im still experimenting with ideas and tricks to the HDR style. But, if you dont have good negitives to work with at first, your not going to have a good print. same situation on digital.

keep shootin and lets see some more.

the b/w shots were shot in b/w, not shopped, and the color shots are the only 2 hdr's.

do people like to edit the tones in PS before they merge them to HDR pics or afterwards? i have been in the habit of merging the pics and then editing them, but i can see the benefits of processing the images first.

thanks for the tips guys