Texas Ranch HDR

[Paul Wolf]

This is my first serious attempt at HDR. I used Photomatix Pro Tone Mapping on four images. Shot was taken on a ranch in the Texas Hill Country near Concan, Texas. It was a bit windy, too, that morning, which helped get the clouds as you see, here.

Canon 1D Mark III
Canon 14mm L II, f/2.8
ISO 400, f/11, Shutter speeds: 1/160 - 1/20.

Paul

[Chris Starbuck]

Paul,
I like your composition - the FG bush on the right balances the tree on the left nicely, there's a good sense of depth from the FG bush to middle trees to distant hills, and of course a beautifully dramatic sky. The yellow channel looks over-saturated -- it makes some of the greens look almost fluorescent. I tried just reducing the yellow saturation (about -30) and that got the greens looking more real, but it also lost a fair bit of contrast, so that would need to be readjusted after the color tweak. I do like the composition as presented, but think it would also look good in a pano format, with about the top half of the sky cropped off -- it makes the left side tree more dominant.

[Robert Amoruso]

Paul,

I agree with Chris' comments. I would have like to see better separation or the right FG bushes and the trees behind them (being able to see the trunks). A higher elevation would be needed and maybe not possible. OR walking right the put the FG bush more left. That might have ruined the placement of the left BG tree and its relationship to the mountain but something to consider.

[Paul Wolf]

Chris, Robert:
Thank you very much for the detailed comments. I'll do some more processing as suggested and next time I'm there, I'll try different angles to get the elements to line up better. You guys are a great help, and I appreciate it.

Thanks, again!
Paul

[David Kennedy]

Paul,
I would have to agree that it is too yellow for my taste. It is, however, very dramatic and I'm not entirely certain that a crop from the top is necessary, but again, it's all a matter of taste.

Robert is absolutely right that some separation between the bushes would make this a much stronger image (compositionally), as what makes it powerful right now is more the effect of HDR.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Paul, I like it. Great sky. Were the images created while working on a triipod?

[Paul Wolf]

David, Artie:
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I'll ease up on the yellow a bit to see what happens. Artie, yes all the shots were on a tripod. It was a bit breezy that morning, so I wasn't sure I could get enough shots during calm periods. I wish it was a bit more still because I think the foliage would have benefited from being sharper. Regardless, I think I like this HDR stuff.

Paul

[Arthur Morris]

YAW and thanks for the info.