Waterfall in Yellowstone

Attempt at HDR, which I'm trying to learn to do. C & C, please.

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Seems to blue for me. Another thing is its hard to find a focal point, entire photo looks a bit OOF.

droberts wrote in post #11090662
Seems to blue for me. Another thing is its hard to find a focal point, entire photo looks a bit OOF.

Looks like too much noise reduction on this screen. (Was working on a small one before.) Think I can sharpen it up. Looks much bluer on this screen than the small laptop. Will see if I can tone it down. Thanks.

Looks like the pine tree is glowing.

This looks like the old version of photomatix. If you purchased recently, then the new 4 version is a free upgrade and tons better in terms of, "I can't believe it;s hdr!" However, If it is the new one, try using the "smoother" option as the grunge and painterly options tend to go a little haywire. Getting back to the snap, it does have halos and that protuding bottom l/h branch is just getting in the way of the water action. Also with hdr, a tiny curves adjustment can improve things no end.

corkneyfonz wrote in post #11092034
This looks like the old version of photomatix. If you purchased recently, then the new 4 version is a free upgrade and tons better in terms of, "I can't believe it;s hdr!" However, If it is the new one, try using the "smoother" option as the grunge and painterly options tend to go a little haywire. Getting back to the snap, it does have halos and that protuding bottom l/h branch is just getting in the way of the water action. Also with hdr, a tiny curves adjustment can improve things no end.

Thanks. It IS the old Photomatix. Will try the upgrade and follow your suggestions. I've yet to do anything with HDR that doesn't suck.

Too scared to descend to gain a different perspective? The trees take away from the waterfall, and the perspective from below is quite impressive.

SoaringUSAEagle wrote in post #11098004
Too scared to descend to gain a different perspective? The trees take away from the waterfall, and the perspective from below is quite impressive.

A photographer died in similar circumstances. Full story on link.
http://www.thesun.co.u​k …ile-taking-a-picture.html

Firehole River ?

Not to many places to get a clear shot off that drive.

bettyn wrote in post #11095725
Thanks. It IS the old Photomatix. Will try the upgrade and follow your suggestions. I've yet to do anything with HDR that doesn't suck.

Just changing the version of Photomatix won't magically convert this picture into a wallhanger. What you need are several images that have been properly exposed for shadows, highlights, and mid-tones. If you're trying to generate an HDR by creating several +/- exposures from a single RAW file, then you're wasting your time since you will never have enough of a spread in the dynamic range beyond that of your original file. Also, Photomatix isn't the end of the process...you still need to take the blended image into Photoshop or other editing software for further processing.

That being said, your image above looks flat...try simply adjusting the contrast and sharpen properly and you'll see a noticeable improvement. As far as the composition goes, it would have been better if the lower branches of the left-most tree weren't there...as it is, they're blocking the view of the image center, "preventing" the viewer's eyes from being drawn into the frame. Short of cutting them off (a definite no-no in the field), you would have been better served to look for a different vantage point.

I took a quick play with the image above...if you allow image editing, I'll post it up for you...