Avalon Pier Sunrise

[Dave Woeller]

This is a further adventure into HDR techniques. This is a 5 shot hdr with brackets from -2 stops to + 2 stops. I am trying to keep the tone mapping subtle so as not to get too far onto the illustration look. I cropped a touch from the bottom to eliminate some distracting tire prints. One pass of noise reduction with Topaz denoise was used. As I am still learning the process, all thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Canon 50d, 24-105 lens @ 80MM

[Fabs Forns]

Tone mapping looks good to me, does not have the "fake" HDR look. You may want to try some more micro smoothing to see if it helps the clouds.
I do have a couple of problems with the composition, though. The sun is almost merging with the light poles and the pier's perspective seems to get bigger at the end instead of the soothing vanishing point that would makes smaller and further into the right of the frame. I'd love to see what Roman has to say :)

[Dave Phillips]

Really a nice HDR blend Dave........sun position mentioned and I see need for about 1º cw rotation
to level the horizon. The short distance perspective looks fine to me, as you are near parallel
to the pier.......colors are wonderful.

cw rotation and slight darkening of shadow....just as an option
http://i40.tinypic.com/25077ea.jpg

[Dave Woeller]

Thanks you so much Fabs and Dave for the thoughts. The cw rotation really makes a difference. The comments do however confirm a fear that I had before posting the shot. The light in the picture is not the sun, but a light mounted on the pier. You can barely see the arc of the mounting pole just to the right of the light itself. The sun has not broken the horizon yet. As nice as the colors are in this, I may need to move on to other shots from this series, unless I can get that light down to a level where you can actually tell what it is. :( I appreciate that you feel the tone mapping is acceptable. The over worked hdr shots sometimes have their place, but I did not want it here. Thanks again

[Dave Phillips]

good morning Dave.....now I feel so "non" observant re the light. Now in hindsight, it
looks like nothing but a light and could not possibly be the sun. Our built in perception
is a funny trick player.

I would still work with the images and try to define that light just a bit more

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Dave,
Interesting observations here. Before I read the comments I had an idea it was a light post as the light reflection in the water gave it away for me.....but still a valid and good observation by Fabs.....as the other lights aren't on. She also wanted the fade off to the pier and IMO Dave's re-post with the CW rotation adressed that. I was also going to say add a bit back to the blacks in selective color....and it appears he also did that. Overall, I like the way you used the HDR here but am not totally sold on the one light.....part of me want all of them lit....giving the pier more depth....but all in all the light placement is good and it is pleasing overall with the few tweaks suggested.

[David Thomasson]

Thanks you so much Fabs and Dave for the thoughts. The cw rotation really makes a difference. The comments do however confirm a fear that I had before posting the shot. The light in the picture is not the sun, but a light mounted on the pier. You can barely see the arc of the mounting pole just to the right of the light itself. The sun has not broken the horizon yet.

That was my first impression; I didn't see how it could be the sun. But when others commented on "the sun," I persuaded myself that I was mistaken. I had even retouched it to make the light look more like it would in reality. I think it's a nice touch to the red dawn on the horizon.

It's a beautiful image. Here's what I had come up with based on my first impressions ...

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/6863/sunrisepil.jpg

[Dave Woeller]

Great stuff from everyone. More than worth the price of admission :) Roman, your thoughts are always on the money and I appreciate the guideance. Dave, I like what you have done with toning down the light and also the highlight on the water. I may try to go somewhere in between to see how it looks. The time you guys have spent to help is greatly appreciated.

[Robert Amoruso]

Dave,

One way to deal with something like the issue with the light is to take one of the images where it is much dimmer and copy it in as a layer. Then you mask out everything except the area near the light and the water reflection.

[Dave Mills]

IMO David T really strengthened the image. The main focus now comes off the light and brings the eye more to the pier itself and then one moves to the backround. I like the mood the image emanates....