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Harold Davis
01-24-2009, 08:07 PM
taken this morning on Jupiter Island. couldnt find the area i was looking for and saw this so i got the wife to dump me off on the side of the road and told her to come back in ten minutes. luckily she did!:)

six image HDR generated and tone mapped in Photomatix. curious as to whether or not you find the foreground elements strong enough to hold this one. or anything else you guys can come up with!

D300, 18-200VR at 18mm, 20s to 1.3s, that's +2 to -3EV, ISO 200.

thanks for looking and comments and critiques are appreciated!!

there's another from this spot in Eager to Learn that i think is a tad bit stronger.

Jackie Schuknecht
01-24-2009, 09:09 PM
Really like it harold. Looks like a very lonely beach. If it were me I don't think I would change anything.

Roman Kurywczak
01-24-2009, 09:20 PM
Hey Harold,
Looked at both but like this one better......with a catch.....a crop off the bottom. I also lightened the image overall as it looked a tad dark on my monitor (yes... it's calibrated)....then I darkened the grass line back to a silhouette. This basically trashes most of the HDR work (sorry)....but gives you another idea to go with. I don't mind the FG lighter as you presented it but i would still crop somewhere near the area i showed and use the green curve as the base. Let me know what you think.

Harold Davis
01-25-2009, 06:59 AM
i think i understand why you like this one better. the sky? it dominates this one whereas the other just has the strip of color down low? i do like the crop suggestion. and the darkening of the foreground. it's just confusing sometimes cause i could have gotten this with one shot and no filters! and the horizon line is dead center now.

i'm done with the rule book!!:D

Roman Kurywczak
01-25-2009, 08:22 AM
i think i understand why you like this one better. the sky? .......Yep, it is the most dramatic and after I looked at the one in ETL......I'm glad you minimized it here! If the color spread higher.....then the palm tree in ETL would be off the charts.......so IMO.......you made the correct call here!

......... it's just confusing sometimes cause i could have gotten this with one shot and no filters! and the horizon line is dead center now.
...Remember 1 thing above all others......when people look at the image....they don't give a spit about rules...they care what it looks like!

i'm done with the rule book!!:D

Don't throw away the rule book Harold.......just keep it in the back pocket (or back of your mind ). Remember to go with what you see.......if it breaks the rules.......so be it......if it will fit into them.....then great! The rules don't always work! ......go with your gut and what grabs you! More succesful and fun that way!

Robert Amoruso
01-25-2009, 10:01 AM
I am going to confuse you more Harold. I like the better tonal separation in the clouds of Roman's repost but I find myself wanting the FG not dark. In my repost I used a curves adjustment pulling the curve up and left at the 2/5 point (that is about 2/5 up on the linear curve from the shadow side to raise the shadow gamma) to open up the lower tones. I then masked the sky and ocean at 50% gray. Cropped to include some of the sea grapes.

Harold Davis
01-25-2009, 10:06 AM
quite all right, robert! i have that range in the foreground in the original. will give it another go. i like the lighter fg myself. but i also know there are lots of ways to look at it and it seems subjective to me now.

thanks!!! i appreciate everyone's time.

Roman Kurywczak
01-25-2009, 10:52 AM
Hey Harold,
I like Robert's too......maybe even more than my version! More confusion!

Harold Davis
01-25-2009, 10:54 AM
lmao!!! already fixed and on the website!! both versions!!!!! they are two totally different images.

Paul Marcellini
01-25-2009, 07:35 PM
Great sky Harold. I'm going with Roman's version. To me the foreground doesn't hold enough to have half the image. I have centered horizon shots, and I have had people comment on both sides as far as that but i think for a centered horizon to work you need equally important subjects in each half. Robert's version just seems too unnatural to my eye, the light levels just seem too dim for that foreground. BTW, great job on the original hdr, looked very good.