HDR Mountains: Before and after....

reddeathdrinker · 7 Aug 2007 at 23:27

I've been sorting through some of my more insipid pics of the last few months, trying to see if I could squeeze some life out of some of them. I think I managed with this one... I know some don't like HDR, that it's over-processed, but it HAS brought a rather uninspiring image back from the Recycle Bin of Death. I'd like your thoughts, wondering if I should do more....

So, original:

And HDR'd: (note - altered since originally posted, thanks to Pete! Taken out the tint, and toned the colours back towards the original a bit)

If anyone's interested, it's taken partway round the Fisherfield Six

iGiDK · 7 Aug 2007 at 23:35

It certainly has made a significant improvement to the image overall, was this a photomatix job or photoshop?

I wouldn't say you've gone OTT with the processing either so it has a much more natural feel than some of the more artistic HDRs I've seen recently

reddeathdrinker · 7 Aug 2007 at 23:45

It was from a single RAW file in Photomatix

Jotun · 8 Aug 2007 at 00:02

To me the processed image looks like it has a bit of a purple tint to it and the colours don't quite look natural.

To me, I think something like the following would look most natural:

Obviously I wasn't there but it seems more natural to me. Also I haven't quite brought out the same details from the clouds.

Helium_Junkie · 8 Aug 2007 at 09:25

reddeathdrinker said:
It was from a single RAW file in Photomatix

Any chance you could save the settings you used and upload them somewhere/send them to me?

a1ex2001 · 8 Aug 2007 at 17:08

definately one of the best uses of HDR I've seen lately subtle and it improves on the origional rather than being a gimmik. very impressive.

Arkanoid · 11 Aug 2007 at 00:04

Superb. No2 has so much life

SilverPenguin · 11 Aug 2007 at 00:18

One of the better examples I've seen on here although I'd love to have a play with original RAW to see what could be done without setting the HDR demons on it...