HDR or not ?

[dje]

Hello

Here are a couple of shots of the Brisbane River at sunset taken with a Nikon P300. The first is a normal shot with a little bit of shadow enhancement post camera whilst the second is an HDR image processed within the camera. (It takes several shots in quick succession and processes them internally presumably in a similar way to HDR software).

Which is best ?





Cheers Dave

[MiniChris]

Take # 2 and place it over #1 and lower the opacity to 45-50% and you'll be closer to what you want. The in-camera HDR looks like it is no more than very simple tone mapping (IMO). I think #2 loses some of the sharpness of #1 and becomes like a cake 10 minutes too long in the oven; not enough to burn it, but too long to be "just right."

I might also do a layer gradient on soft light to draw in the sky a bit more.

[Skitalez]

The first picture is much more attractive! The second too empty and not completed
Method not for this photo (((((

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Hi,
Always pp is needed.So I took the second and smart fix around 80%,then levels-red and blue channels - from 250 to 230,then crop tool only a few.Total time 7min.

worked for You in PSE

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Now I took the first and transformed it using more layers

[dje]

Thank you very much Chris, Yegor and Radu for taking the trouble to reply with your very helpful suggestions.

I don't own PhotoShop at the moment so I can't try your suggestions Chris. It's starting to look like I should have it. Would the Elements version suffice or would it be better to go for CS5. I'm not sure I can afford or justify the price of CS5 in my very amateur situation although it might be possible to get an educational version at a much better price. And yes the in-camera HDR facility is quite basic and is available in the backlight mode primarily for bringing out more detail in the shadows.

Yegor I think you are right in saying that this is not a particularly good application of HDR for this photo.

Radu I personally like your first enhanced image. It seems to "bring my image to life".

Cheers Dave