HDR - Katherine Cove at Sunset

[Andrew McLachlan]

A 5 image (-2, -1, 0, +1 & +2) HDR of a sunset at Katherine Cove on Lake Superior in Ontario's Lake Superior Provincial Park processed using Oloneo Photo Engine. I recently became aware of this software and have been very pleased with the results for natural looking landscapes. I am going to start doing a lot more HDR from now on. Check out the software here (http://www.oloneo.com/).

Self critique...I should have raised the tripod about 2 inches so that the one rock didn`t merge with the horizon.

Nikon D200
Nikon 12-24mm lens at 12mm
ISO 100
f16

Look forward to comments

101138

[Jay Gould]

Hi Andrew, I like this a lot.

However, there is a white halo line around the large rock, the horizon line, and a few of the other rocks.

When I opened in PS and simply sized "fit to screen" the halo is very prominent.

I have played with it a bit; just another view: I straightened the horizon and did a crop from the bottom. And a 5 minute clone tool to lower the rock from the horizon. More time can be spent to give the rock a different shape too.

Hope you don't mind.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Jay, I don't mind at all. I saw the slight tilt to the horizon after posting. I have also contemplated playing around with the rock that you did the quick clone with. I am a rookie with HDR so the halo may be in the processing...will take another look.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Andrew, great work on the HDR, it looks natural while increasing the dynamic range considerably. I like the threatening sky. I was going to suggest to crop a little of the bottom, before I saw Jays repost. I would crop a little less. Great work on lowering that rock, Jay! Good compositional elements, with the one large rock standing out and being balanced by the light in the clouds. I would have prefered a little more sky above the large rock.

[dankearl]

Andrew, just fantastic looking, makes me think about giving HDR a try.
You hit it perfectly for me though, it does not really look contrived or overdone as most HDR looks to me.
It just looks like you brought out the best in the scene.
I think Jay's crop did improve it, but your comp is superb.
I love the mist around the rocks on the left.
Colors are also very nice, and the processing looks very smooth.
Congrats on this one.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Lovely scene here Andrew and the HDR is nicely done...interesting about the Oloneo software, never even heard of it. Your image is good enough to have made me click on the link :bg3:.

(I do still believe the best - read "most natural" - results can be obtained by manual layer blending using luminosity masks, though this is a much more time-consuming process.)

Here is my take - not sure of how it looked to you who were standing there, but the image overall seems a bit too 'magenta'. Here's a repost with some color balance tweaks and also some burning/dodging to add local contrast to the rocks and sky.
I adjusted the color balance away from magenta towards green and away from cyan towards red for shadows, midtones and highlights.

WDYT?

[Robert Amoruso]

I would leave the rock touching the horizon alone and next time be watchful for such interactions Andrew.

I like this software and have used it in the past. I reposted with a version tweaked using Shadows/Highlights in PS to open shadows and reduce highlights - to me this is more what the eye sees as it peers in the shadows and adjusts the brightness of the sky so we see all the detail in the scene.

I also reduced magenta in the image in the Neutral channel using Selective Color. I like the affect on the rock though the water got a bit green. Selective tweaking of colors may be in order.

I like the comp with the large FG rock and lines in the rocks leading to it.

[Rachel Hollander]

Andrew - I like this scene a lot and you did a good job with an HDR that still looks natural. The tweaks by Jay, Morkel and Robert have improved an already excellent image. I also clicked on the link to see the software. Thanks for that.

TFS,
Rachel

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks folks for the comments and reposts. I will implement the tweaks suggested, but leave the rock alone as Robert mentions. Never noticed the color cast, sometimes I have trouble picking up on those.Thanks again for all the kind words and suggestions.

[Jay Gould]

Robert's RP Rocks!

[Morkel Erasmus]

Robert's RP Rocks!

+1 here! love how the water came out...:5