Oh Good Lord not another HDR....

This was done with a single shot back in August but you know I had to try out the new toy from the in laws.... So what do you think. Its Pittsburgh. Done with Photomatix. Honestly its my first one so please let me have it.

0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture f/13.0
Focal Length 18 mm
ISO Speed 400

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MommaBird80 wrote in post #11606968
This was done with a single shot back in August but you know I had to try out the new toy from the in laws.... So what do you think. Its Pittsburgh. Done with Photomatix. Honestly its my first one so please let me have it.

Then its not an HDR image...just a single shot that has been tonemapped in Photomatix. Something just doesn't seem to look "right"...it has a flatness and a lack of depth to my eyes. Not to mention the wide angle distortion which causes the buildings to tilt inwards...

It also seems out of focus, and there is a lack of contrast.

Cool, thanks argyle for the clarification like I said it was a new toy that maybe I got a little too anxious to try out. Maybe when the weather warms up I will attempt a True HDR but for now the cold temps have me limited. Thanks again for you input and hopefully I can post a good one sometime and we can go from there.

Here's a light rework of it...

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Forum Spam : )

Eeeek! Oh no! I am a spammer I was so hesitant about posting this anyhow. Maybe I should of just left it in its folder....

MommaBird80 wrote in post #11606968
0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture f/13.0
Focal Length 18 mm
ISO Speed 400

Well, since you have plenty of daylight, you can drop your ISO to 100. I would also consider opening your aperture up some; there's no compelling reason for the depth of field that 13 provides, in this shot, but make sure that you get good focus... the tall building on the left shows the lack of focus, most visibly.
I don't know what that side of the river is like, but maybe get right down to the shoreline put the water in the forefront, and let the city rise majestically above it.

THe lens distortion alone doesn't flatter the cityscape, just me. Get that puppy into landscape situations! Not so many angles.

Yeah, this was shot 2 weeks after I got my camera so I had no clue about ISO and aperture. I have def came along way since then and I think that this is just a poops and giggles shot that I will redo correctly come Spring. Definitely not my best and that is for sure! I just got a little new editing stuff happy and prematurely posted...

The horizon seems to be distorded some and also your lines is not vertical, it should be inline with your frame. I fixed the vertical lines but not the distortion, this is the best I could come up with.... Enjoy!

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Try again with 3 shots and if your going to do HDR (or any work) be proud of it and don't use that thread title ever again.

I like it, Cindy! Kind of fun to play with ...

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I really don't mind the original image, except for the obvious distortion. Some correction to straighten the buildings and horizon would help. It seems to me, also, that the highway/bridge is moving very slightly further away from me from left to right. Since much of the rest of the photo implies a certain architectural flatness, I would have positioned myself and the camera so that the highway/bridge is parallel to the focus plane.

After Photomattix did its work, you could have still introduce a bit of a curves adjustment. Alternatively, even a little bit "clarity" adjustment might have helped.

As for the to edits of the photo... those move in the direction of oversaturation and overcooking the photo... everything that, in my opinion, is bad about many hdr attempts. The OP's original photo lacks some contrast and seems a bit underexposed.