Lacks "whump"

[Mark Wolfe]

Kan Wan said:

Nice try 'Mark Wolfe' to make a HDR, but it lacks that whump in the clouds that really makes it look like a HDR...

Shame I do not have that original photo to show you what Kan be done.

Using only Photomatrix, what more "whump" in the clouds could you achieve? And why? It seems to me about as surreal as you could want.

The Whale under Stormy Skies

[The Vulcan]

This appeal?

Just a quick rough job

Edited April 18, 2009 by The Vulcan

[Kan Win]

Thank you 'The Vulcan' very good work indeed

To 'Mark Wolfe' nice of you to join us. You have been a Photographer for many years, as I have read on Thai Visa.

Thank you also for posting a larger photo as it does give us a bit to work around with.

As for 'Photomatrix' just got the latest up-date 3.1.3 will try it as one did pay for it.

Will see if the 'grain' like in your photo has been sorted out, as that is/was the biggest bug-bear that I found.

Good luck and please do not hesitate to post your photos, comments and views in this forum, they only bark a wee bit

Yours truly,

and thank you once again 'The Vulcan' and 'Mark Wolfe' live and learn, I do each and every day.

Kan Win (aka Kan Wan)

[Mark Wolfe]

The Vulcan -

Using only Photomatrix, what did you do?

[The Vulcan]

I took your basic image and firstly applied Neat Image to address the noise issue. I then despeckled it using Noise>dust scratches>history brush

In CS3 I then "pulled back" the colours using "Threshold" in the layers pallette. This enabled me to see the dynamic range. Utilising this information in "levels" I arrived at the colours shown.

Contrast was then "clawed back" in "Photokit Colour" by using "Contrast Mask"

A few tweaks in curves, PK sharpener and that was it.

Hope this was of some help.

p.s. I NEVER use Photomatix for HDR. I "fiddle about"with my own configurations using CS3 and either merge to hdr/photomerge and then apply the above actions . I haven't really got the hang of it yet but it's coming together slowly.

[Mark Wolfe]

Thanks.

Considering I don't know the first thing, really, about Photoshop, I'd need someone to stand over my shoulder to show me this stuff. I can't even figure out how to get a layer going. I am sure it is easy if someone shows you, but I am not very good at reading stuff in manuals and then applying it.

But you certainly have more photo treatment software than I do...

The end result is that I will probably give up this HDR thing; clearly I haven't the skill or the tools for it.

[Mark Wolfe]

OK, what can be done with this one? It's a bigger file. I know the clouds don't match exactly and it is crooked, but hey, it me.

[Kan Win]

OK, what can be done with this one? It's a bigger file. I know the clouds don't match exactly and it is crooked, but hey, it me.

Have a look, tried to keep it dark as you have, to keep it in the same sort of theme and

used ACDSee Pro 2.5 to correct the horizon and lightend it up a bit, like you should also do in your posts

Nice depth of field in your photo BTW.

What camera/s do you use?

Yours truly,

Kan Win

P.S. Still (pun intended as well) waiting for your photos on e-mail as per your request on the Koh Samui forum

[The Vulcan]

Modified "Kans" - can't download 5+mb!

[katana]

Very interesting to see how a photo can be improved with software!

Edited April 22, 2009 by katana

[Mark Wolfe]

The series with the whale rock and clouds are RAW files and huge. I can send them via a filesharing site if I have email addresses.

The wooden dock is only three. Here they are. The camera is a Nikon 5100. I am not very happy with this camera. The flash failed and was repaired in Japan and failed again. I only bought it as a stopgap until I bought a "good" camera, but never found anything that I thought was suitable.

Looking at reviews and such of decent digital SLR cameras is like trying to decide which bottled water tastes "good."

So I have not done anything.

The whale rock photos were taken with an Olympus 8080 that works sometimes and sometimes not. It got wet, was repaired in Bangkok, failed again, and now does what it wants -- turns on and off (sometimes), functions flip back and forth (sometimes) and sometimes it won't turn on. Currently, however, it is in its, "I'm fine, really; don't throw me away!" mode. Everything works. For now.

[The Vulcan]

Take a look at these links

http://tutorialblog.org/hdr-tutorials-roundup/

http://www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-tutorial/

Might be of interest