Stormy Skies Threaten River City

[robonrome]

OK it's HDR, I admit it, but I wanted to really bring out the texture and gloom of the heavy clouds so it seemed the way to go. Also a first for me trying HDR using a compact camera - the s90. Worked pretty well with a simple bracketed sequence.

C&C welcome as always.

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/8969/s9008123tonemapped.jpg (http://img21.imageshack.us/i/s9008123tonemapped.jpg/)

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/1859/s9007567tonemapped.jpg (http://img214.imageshack.us/i/s9007567tonemapped.jpg/)

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/8011/s9006678tonemapped.jpg (http://img210.imageshack.us/i/s9006678tonemapped.jpg/)

[cheewai_m6]

the clouds look great. but i find the wood texture to be too strong. this is just my opinion, others might like it a lot.

[robonrome]

Thanks, I know the HDR effect is not for everyone. I kinda like the highlighted wood texture unrealistic though it is :-)

[OldNick]

Nicely taken to the edge! Not always like this, but these are not that blobby OTT version and I like them.

Only thing for me is the middle shot looks just not straight. The others look more like perspective distortion, but that building leans the wrong way for that IMO.

[OldNick]

Here's one I did with a TM plugin, working only on the sky. Hope the edit's OK.

35432

[robonrome]

Here's one I did with a TM plugin, working only on the sky. Hope the edit's OK.

35432

Nick that's absolutely spot on!!! what's the TM plugin?

[OldNick]

It's called ReDynamix (http://www.mediachance.com/plugins/redynamix.html). US$16! It's a slightly dumbed down version of the TM part of their HDR programme

It works as a plugin and can work on only selected bits. Its one disadvantage is that it does not distinguish or show only the selected bit, so you have to ignore the non-selected bits when working on it. A nuisance, but not a killer once you get used to it..

[OldNick]

I might add that it can be used on the whole image, and if used carefully, works with most images to avoid having to do saturation, contrast, Levels etc.