Antique Shop

5 exposure HDR using photomatrix, fotosketcher pencil, added a texture from Shadowhouse.

I know this is very busy. The antique shop isn't very busy though :bg3:

I don't know if taking this beyond the original (very bright orange) HDR helped or not. All of my HDRs seem to look like circus posters or jigsaw puzzles, neither of which I'm particularly fond of. Denise, I wonder if you might consider adding a few hints on HDR processing to the workflow thread here?

Maureen, First let me say I love the look here! The filtering works very well here for me and suits the scene nicely. I might take a small slice off the top if it were mine just to clean up the edge.
For the processing -this grunge style look is nice, if you are choosing the preset "grunge" in Photomatix you sometimes(almost always)need to adjust the sliders to get a pleasing look but even then it may seem a bit brassy. I think you tamed it well here w/ the texture and the fotosketcher. Sometimes the "structure" which controls the details can make the image appear a little like a jigsaw puzzle. If you start off w/ the natural or painterly preset in the tonemap area you can eliminate the circus color tones. But again I think you did a great job here w/ the finished image. I usually take my images from Photomatix into Nik Color Efex or Topaz Adjust or add a texture overlay and/or go into Photoshop and make some more controlled adjustments. I never tried fotosketcher but will add it to my workflow-thanks.

Maureen,

I like the image as presented as well. It is busy though not in a negative way as there is so much interesting detail to explore. Well done.

And thanks Denise for the added HDR grunge tips. That's an area I've yet to explore though would like to in the future.

Richard

Great image, Maureen! Interesting subject and processing. Thanks to you and Denise for the HDR tips. :S3:

Thanks Denise and Richard and Steve :S3:

Denise, I'll try some of your suggestions. Thanks so much for the help!

Maureen, no need to apologize - I like the "busy-ness" of this image. It fits in with the texture of the image and helps to tell the story. The colors are great! Have you tried building your own presets in Photomatix?

Kerry, I'm really just starting to play around with Photomatrix. So, I haven't tried any of the presets or made any of my own just yet!

Thanks for your comments :S3:

Maureen..not busy at all..like the fact that the more you look, the more things you see. Very colorful, nicely done.

Maureen, this is wonderful. I love everything to look at and the colors and the story it tells. I don't like a lot of HDR but I love this!:S3:

Cool and funky. I like the colors. You did a good job with Photomatix and keeping the "circus" look in check.

Thank you for the comments!