What do you think of my Hawaii Photos?

Please give some CC. These are from a vacation i just went on. We went to Oahu then took a cruise to Maui, Hawaii, and Kauai. These were all RAW files so they have been processes for raw and have had some unsharp mask applies.

Thanks


1

9 For the heck of it an attempt at HDR

Excellent shots, well done.

3, 4 and 9 are my favourites.

Colour/contrast wise the images are really nice - the first 2 are just a bit too over sharpened imo. You can notice noise starting to appear the background/sky.

I usually duplicate the base layer (ctrl+j), apply an unsharp mask, apply an additional mask, invert, then painting in the areas i want emphasis to avoid any excess artifacting.

Here's a fairly simple example

http://farm5.static.fl​ickr.com …14524766_e70ce0​d76f_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.fl​ickr.com …13918581_d5ce19​cb90_b.jpg

If i were to unsharp mask the whole image, the background would become noiser and ruin the soft bokeh/blur.

Strangely Brown wrote in post #10936310
Excellent shots, well done.

3, 4 and 9 are my favourites.

Thank you.

skidu wrote in post #10936347
Colour/contrast wise the images are really nice - the first 2 are just a bit too over sharpened imo. You can notice noise starting to appear the background/sky.

I usually duplicate the base layer (ctrl+j), apply an unsharp mask, apply an additional mask, invert, then painting in the areas i want emphasis to avoid any excess artifacting.

Here's a fairly simple example

http://farm5.static.fl​ickr.com …14524766_e70ce0​d76f_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.fl​ickr.com …13918581_d5ce19​cb90_b.jpg

If i were to unsharp mask the whole image, the background would become noiser and ruin the soft bokeh/blur.

I do see what you are saying about the noise starting to pop up in image 2. Thanks for the tips. I will look into this.

Thanks again.

To be perfectly honest, several look like typical vacation pics (nothing wrong with that) to document where you've been. The two that stand out the most are the shots with the Arizona flag shot from below and the flower in front of the lava rock...these are pretty well composed. The HDR shot is overcooked, and I wonder if HDR was really necessary to begin with...I just don't see that much of a drastic dynamic range in the image. As it is, it looks like something that you'd see in a video game...too unnatural looking (which is the complete opposite of what HDR is supposed to represent). Nothing prominent in the first shot to grab the viewer's attention (tiny lighthouse?), but its way oversharpened. If you're using an ultrawide lens, one rule of thumb to remember is to incorporate a foreground element in the composition...if you don't, you simply end up with a wide vista with something tiny in the far-off distance. Hope this helps.

argyle wrote in post #10936411
To be perfectly honest, several look like typical vacation pics (nothing wrong with that) to document where you've been. The two that stand out the most are the shots with the Arizona flag shot from below and the flower in front of the lava rock...these are pretty well composed. The HDR shot is overcooked, and I wonder if HDR was really necessary to begin with...I just don't see that much of a drastic dynamic range in the image. As it is, it looks like something that you'd see in a video game...too unnatural looking (which is the complete opposite of what HDR is supposed to represent). Nothing prominent in the first shot to grab the viewer's attention (tiny lighthouse?), but its way oversharpened. If you're using an ultrawide lens, one rule of thumb to remember is to incorporate a foreground element in the composition...if you don't, you simply end up with a wide vista with something tiny in the far-off distance. Hope this helps.

LOL a little tough but that is what im here for to learn, yeah i guess they look like vacation pictures b/c that is what they were. Im working with the philosophy of shoot and shoot often to learn. I took alot of photos on this trip just trying different things as i am pretty new to this.

I thought the shot of the flag looking through the framing on the memorial would come out as an interesting shot. Thanks

The HDR 50% of people like it 50% dont. The sun was setting and there were a lot of cool reflections or colors coming off of the colored glass buildings. Im no HDR expert as im just learning how to take normal pictures, i just threw that one in there. But yeah i guess it looks a little cartoonish.

The light house was tiny and looked far away because it was. We were on a Cruise ship, i was using a 200mm lens and zoomed in as far as i could. There was no foreground other than water. I guess the real challenge there was that the mountains in the background were really hazy. I liked the way the sun was setting and casting some shadows around the hill the light house was sitting on. I do agree however that your eyes have to search the image for the light house.

Thanks for to comments.

Mudhog79 wrote in post #10936545
LOL a little tough but that is what im here for to learn, yeah i guess they look like vacation pictures b/c that is what they were. Im working with the philosophy of shoot and shoot often to learn. I took alot of photos on this trip just trying different things as i am pretty new to this.

I thought the shot of the flag looking through the framing on the memorial would come out as an interesting shot. Thanks

The HDR 50% of people like it 50% dont. The sun was setting and there were a lot of cool reflections or colors coming off of the colored glass buildings. Im no HDR expert as im just learning how to take normal pictures, i just threw that one in there. But yeah i guess it looks a little cartoonish.

The light house was tiny and looked far away because it was. We were on a Cruise ship, i was using a 200mm lens and zoomed in as far as i could. There was no foreground other than water. I guess the real challenge there was that the mountains in the background were really hazy. I liked the way the sun was setting and casting some shadows around the hill the light house was sitting on. I do agree however that your eyes have to search the image for the light house.

Thanks for to comments.

Like I said...nothing wrong with 'vacation' pics. Not every image needs to be a wall-hanger. Sometimes its best to just snap away and simply enjoy your surroundings.

The flag shot? Funny, I took the same type of shot many years ago...it never goes out of style.

Wow, I'm impressed, fabulous captures, surfer and hdr are amongst my favourites. However, I would have liked to have seen photos of the area where lava is being constantly spewed out.

corkneyfonz wrote in post #10939342
Wow, I'm impressed, fabulous captures, surfer and hdr are amongst my favourites. However, I would have liked to have seen photos of the area where lava is being constantly spewed out.

Thanks! I have some lava pics but the lava flow is very slow. I took them at night from a good ways off. The lava is flowing into the ocean. They aren't the best bc we were In a boat and I had to use a really high ISO

Thanks again.

I love the placement of the surfer! I wish the conditions had been less choppy, that picture on glassy water would look killer!