Evolution of a Sunset

Well done, LD. I think #1 looks sweet in b/w

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That's a great series. You can see the sky's colors get richer and then bam! 8:39.

LeuceDeuce wrote in post #6011356
While I appreciate your enthusiasm very much I'm not quite sure I'm creating masterpieces yet 8:39 is also my favorite of the posted series.

Well when nature aligns itself to look like it does on that particular photo, no attempt at creating needs to be done by the photographer, simply press the shutter.

Mother Nature created that masterpiece, you were just in the right spot at the right time to capture it

I like the idea Hoff. They're nice in colour, but the textures convert to B&W nicely as well.

At the risk of offending thekid24

8:39 B&W (grain added to conceal the jpg artifacting that became prominent when I converted):
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thekid24 wrote in post #6014243
Well when nature aligns itself to look like it does on that particular photo, no attempt at creating needs to be done by the photographer, simply press the shutter.

Mother Nature created that masterpiece, you were just in the right spot at the right time to capture it

Isn't that the truth. I go to shoots like this with certain hopes, but I don't get dissapointed when nature doesn't cooperate with my original intent. I look for something else to do while I'm there. This idea just presented itself to me after I took a few of the skyline, and then nature was good to me

Did you use a polarizing filter, or any filters? The sky looks really cool.

Coppatop85 wrote in post #6015282
Did you use a polarizing filter, or any filters? The sky looks really cool.

No filters, but each one is an HDR combination of EV -1.3, 0, 1.3. All have been processed the exact same way using an action I recorded for the series. Before printing I would fine tune the tonal range of each image, but I wanted to get these up fast.

Edit: Sorry there was a UV filter attached as it always is.

Would you merge to HDR with a program (I.E. Photomatix?) THEN adjust the tonal range? Or adjust the range of the three pictures, then merge to HDR?

Anyways, I really, really like how these came out, It's a great idea and a great result.

Coppatop85 wrote in post #6015320
Would you merge to HDR with a program (I.E. Photomatix?) THEN adjust the tonal range? Or adjust the range of the three pictures, then merge to HDR?

Anyways, I really, really like how these came out, It's a great idea and a great result.

Yes I did the HDR merge using Dynamic-Photo HDR (my personal favorite), tone-mapping in D-P HDR (greatly reducing the default result to create a realistic image), then applied my normal workflow (Ancient Chinese Secret) in CS3.

The greatest compliment I've received on my PP is from thekid24:

LeuceDeuce wrote in post #6015303
No filters, but each one is an HDR combination of EV -1.3, 0, 1.3. All have been processed the exact same way using an action I recorded for the series. Before printing I would fine tune the tonal range of each image, but I wanted to get these up fast.

Interesting ... these are HDR captures! I think that you have done very well in processing them so that the final results seamlessly depicts a very wide dynamic range of lighting without noticeable artifacts such as halos. It makes me somewhat sad that HDR is getting a bad rap because many people haven't been exposed to the really useful benefit that it can give (hint: it rhymes with high dynamic range) and instead treat it as a toy to create cartoon like images with low dynamic range.

I am interested in which application you used to merge the images. I have done a few HDR images using Photoshop CS3 Extended, but I find that it is difficult to get final results that do not look rather washed out. I may be missing something on the tone mapping curves. Because of that, I have abandoned it in favor of using masked layers to combined exposures. It does have some advantages such as tolerance of movement within the scene.

I absolutely love the series, very nice work!

bill boehme wrote in post #6015455
Interesting ... these are HDR captures! I think that you have done very well in processing them so that the final results seamlessly depicts a very wide dynamic range of lighting without noticeable artifacts such as halos. It makes me somewhat sad that HDR is getting a bad rap because many people haven't been exposed to the really useful benefit that it can give (hint: it rhymes with high dynamic range) and instead treat it as a toy to create cartoon like images with low dynamic range.

I am interested in which application you used to merge the images. I have done a few HDR images using Photoshop CS3 Extended, but I find that it is difficult to get final results that do not look rather washed out. I may be missing something on the tone mapping curves. Because of that, I have abandoned it in favor of using masked layers to combined exposures. It does have some advantages such as tolerance of movement within the scene.

I am in the "HDR is a useful tool for capturing images that have a dynamic range that is too great to capture using a single exposure" camp. I do not go for the cartoony look either, and it's that look that is becoming synonymous with the HDR process. I see so many people slamming HDR because of the way it is used. Well I won't get on a soapbox for too long about it

The tool I use is: Dynamic-Photo HDR from Mediachance. This tool has all of the same capabilities for abuse as well, but I'm sure you'll find it very useful when used with a light touch. Especially for shots like the one you posted earlier with the blown sky. I shoot a LOT of my HDR images hand-held using the high-speed drive on the 40D. I have no issues with image alignment, and get top quality results even without a tripod.

^^ OK, that's two things that I need to buy. At least the software is cheap at $55. The 40D may be a bit more expensive. I see that the software has features to address some of the more common HDR problems such as overenthusiastic tone mapping which leads to halos in the sky and burned-in dark areas.

Leuce, I forgot to mention your avatar freakin pwns.

Coppatop85 wrote in post #6016531
Leuce, I forgot to mention your avatar freakin pwns.

LOL Thanks