Taken in Holland, in a bungalow park near Hapert, not far from the Belgian border. Despites the very strong sun, I liked to view enough to make an image.
TECH-INFO: nine shots (each a stop difference) were needed to cover the full dynamic range. The sun was in my eyes (and camera) and I was looking at the shadows part of the trees. All shots are merged into a HDR file (after a DxO Optics Pro treatment). Tone-mapping was not so easy, unless you want very artistic and surreal results. First I used Photomatix which gave a nice and poppy result. Then I tried using Picturenaut and I got a very realistic but more dull image. I combined them in Photoshop, so 70% is the latter program, the rest is of Photomatix. Some color enhancement, extra contrast and corner vignetting were added. I really wanted a realistic though saturated looking end-result. Please judge if I succeeded or not.
The Sun, the Water and the Trees
Taken in Holland, in a bungalow park near Hapert, not far from the Belgian border. Despites the very strong sun, I liked to view enough to make an image.
TECH-INFO: nine shots (each a stop difference) were needed to cover the full dynamic range. The sun was in my eyes (and camera) and I was looking at the shadows part of the trees. All shots are merged into a HDR file (after a DxO Optics Pro treatment). Tone-mapping was not so easy, unless you want very artistic and surreal results. First I used Photomatix which gave a nice and poppy result. Then I tried using Picturenaut and I got a very realistic but more dull image. I combined them in Photoshop, so 70% is the latter program, the rest is of Photomatix. Some color enhancement, extra contrast and corner vignetting were added. I really wanted a realistic though saturated looking end-result. Please judge if I succeeded or not.
oh wow, Paul, this is really gorgeous! the mirror image of the sun and the reflection look perfected in the center as you have them. also I like that you went for something a bit more natural here. (i just tried my first HDR yesterday and was not thrilled with the results)
LightningPaul: Thanks Charles. Keep on trying, HDR techniques gives you an infinity number of possibilities; just search till you find it's right for you. I'm also still experimenting.
Unlike so many of your pictures Paul i don't think this one has a very strong composition. I like the reflected sun in the water but not the bright white in the sky. It just doesn't quite work for me but technically into the sun you have achieved a lot of detail
LightningPaul: Thanks for your comment. I understand your opinion about the composition: indeed not the best but I like the very symmetrical lines, any other angle would have probably made it worse at that place (though I might be wrong). I agree less with the sky, it has still lots of tonal differences around the sun, only the sun it self is pure white.
Nine shots is quite a mix to obtain this tonal range. Do you always take as many for your HDRs?
Beautifully imagery. Love the light and flare.
LightningPaul: Many thanks for your comment. I take as many shots as needed to cover the full dynamic range of light. The brightest exposure may have no (near) black parts (or dark shadows) and the darkest shot may have no highlights (except the sun or very strong lights when making images at night). Sometimes 3 shots can be enough but mostly I take 5 or 7 exposures. Also better to make too many than not enough pictures (I'm speaking of my experience). In the case above I think 8 was actually enough.
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