Coquitlam River

[ewaizel]

HDR in action to capture this close to home

[Mad Aussie]

A lovely scene and very nice composition. The HDR process here however does not appeal to me at all.

[ewaizel]

Another one. I tried to remove the saturation a bit for those that don't enjoy the strong HDR effect. I can say in my case I like this process.



Coquitlam River 3 by Enrique Waizel, on Flickr

[Marko]

Really digging shot 2!!! I think I agree with MA here though.
I don't think it needs all the dressing, I'd love to see what it looks like naked.
(minimally processed or BW).

Let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone.
-L.Cohen

[Renan Paiva]

Good shot, I like composition and texture

[christopher steven b.]

I definitely prefer the second shot, in part because of the change in composition and framing. But I also find the HDR process a little intrusive at times.

[Mad Aussie]

I hope I didn't offend you EW.

I also used to play with HDR in this way. Here's a couple of examples from yesteryear (I won't post them as photos in here because it's your thread mate)

This one is totally devoid of shadows almost... something I thought cool at the time. However, shadows, and their lack of detail are actually as much of a scene as that which you can see. By removing the contrast in this fashion, we lose reality and our eyes know something is not right. For me, this is not a photo anymore... it's an image, a representation of a scene I once photographed.
Stony Creek

If you are keen, theres a heap in here from Western Australia a few years back, and there's many in here I'm embarrassed about these days. All but 1 or 2 I want to redo. Halo's and dirty looking skies abound. Shadows are lacking.
Fly with me ... across Australia

In these I'd gotten a bit better I think at HDR and started to allow the shadows to remain to a point and started playing with softening effects. Closer to being a photo but still an image in my eyes.
Samford Creek Crossing

Many of the shots I post currently are actually HDR composites but most people don't pick it, or perhaps wonder in silence. A few, may be used to my style and are aware maybe. Not sure. In my latest post, The Carlotta Arch I think all the photos are composites but all are manually created without any HDR software. More time consuming often but the result is a more realistic to the eye scene I think.

Anyhow, I hope that helps to show I'm not against HDR as such, and I've been where you are right with it too.

[Runmonty]

I prefer the 2nd shot here. I like the look of the rocks

I will confess to wavering on strong HDR. I used to be a fan, but I think strong HDR needs to be done for a purpose rather than for an effect for me appreciate it these days.

Comes back to personal preference I think.

I do know from personal experience that it is very easy to unintentionally go overboard with the process, and only when you look at it a week of so later you realise it.

[ewaizel]

Very much appreciated MA! Agreed, some tools can be used but not to the extreme. I'm not offended at all. The opposite, I'm happy to get some good comments about my images. Keep the same spirit.

[ewaizel]

Just to finish this thread, I'm including here two final images in BW. The 1st went through HDR (merged 3 images with different exposure). The second is just a single image processed to include some contrast. You can be the judge.
I'm open for more comments.



Coquitlam River3 bw hdr by Enrique Waizel, on Flickr

Coquitlam River3 bw by Enrique Waizel, on Flickr