Monument HDR - Sun Shot

[fotugraphy]

Hi, going forward on my photography venture I stopped and clicked another shot. Can you please review it and let me know what exactly is missing for it to make it much better?

It is an image of a monument named "Bada Gumbad" situated in New Delhi. I really liked the backlit leaves. Wanted to use bright vibrant leaves and flowers as my foreground.

It is an HDR processed in Photoshop with EV Range:
For Monument : 0 +2
For Sky : F22, 1/2000 1/500 1/250

It was clicked from my kit lens Sony 18-55mm, and tried my best to get the details even though i was shooting into bright sun in the afternoon.

Thank you

[chauncey]

Raj, IMHO, ya done good.

[Wavelength]

So Beautiful

[fotugraphy]

Raj, IMHO, ya done good.

Thanks for the review & Appreciation.

[fotugraphy]

So Beautiful

Thanks for the review & appreciation. M glad you like it.

[Sergio M.]

I'll chirp in and agree with the others. Wonderfully executed, Raj.

Sergio

[fotugraphy]

I'll chirp in and agree with the others. Wonderfully executed, Raj.

Sergio

Thanks a lot for your review & Appreciation.

[Ken Curtis]

Nicely done, Raj. You might making shadows and highlights adjustments to see if you like the image better. Lighting up the shadows will bring out more detail in the buildings. Slightly reducing the brightness of the highlights will give you more of a starburst effect on the sun.

[Polar01]

Raj: like the image very much, if it were me, I think I might dial back those flower as lovely as they are them are competing for my attention of Bada Gumbad. When I say dial back darken down so my eye goes to the monument are not want to be drawn back to the flowers all the time.

Cheers: Allan

[Nancy Moran G]

Aaaarrrggghh. You just joined a few months ago and you are posting such a great photo?!
Just beautiful. Any more detail as to how you took and PP this is appreciated. I have taken some photos in anticipation of blending them, but have not ventured there yet...
Thanks for the incentive to get going in learning this technique!

Nancy

[fotugraphy]

Nicely done, Raj. You might making shadows and highlights adjustments to see if you like the image better. Lighting up the shadows will bring out more detail in the buildings. Slightly reducing the brightness of the highlights will give you more of a starburst effect on the sun.

Thanks a lot for your valuable review. Will surely work on the shadows & highlights adjustments with the final image as suggested.

[fotugraphy]

Raj: like the image very much, if it were me, I think I might dial back those flower as lovely as they are them are competing for my attention of Bada Gumbad. When I say dial back darken down so my eye goes to the monument are not want to be drawn back to the flowers all the time.

Cheers: Allan

Thanks for your kind review. You are right on this part about me brightening up the backlit leaves & flowers. Don't know why i brighten them up & made them a dominant element in the image. When i was searching a good element for the monument, i saw them and i was like "Wow", may be i got carried away with the lovely backlit. lol

Will surely try to tone them down as suggested.

[fotugraphy]

Aaaarrrggghh. You just joined a few months ago and you are posting such a great photo?!
Just beautiful. Any more detail as to how you took and PP this is appreciated. I have taken some photos in anticipation of blending them, but have not ventured there yet...
Thanks for the incentive to get going in learning this technique!

Nancy

Thanks for the appreciation. I bought my first camera in June, 2013 and m on a learning stage right now.

It is an HDR processed in Photoshop with EV Range: (Focal Length 18mm as on that time I only had my Kit lens)
For Monument in Aperture Priority Mode at F11 : 0 +2
For Sky in Manual Mode : F22, 1/2000 1/500 1/250 (Only to get starburst effect of the sun).

It took almost 2.5 hours to process this image in photoshop and i blended them using luminance mask in photoshop. Then did some local & global adjustments (Majorly levels & curves adjustments) to the final image.

[pnodrog]

Nice shot and thankfully it does not look like HDR but obviously it has to be to get the detail on the walls.

The plants are what we call ginger plant with either yellow or orange flowers has been declared a noxious weed here so if it was here I would be asked to spray it with 3-Amino-1,2,4-triazole (Amitrol) or get a hefty fine.

On closer look I think I have miss identified the plant - no need to spray. I have seen the plant here but cannot think of its name.

P.S. I think it maybe a type of Canna.

[Downrigger]

A real achievement - I suppose you could dial back the leaves but I'd worry that the illuminated walls of the monument that would be expected to be in shadow would lose their balance - so it wouldn't surprise me if the leaves were best as is.

[deetheturk]

Lovely shot Raj,well done!

[Stagecoach]

Raj,

Superb effort and the foreground works great, leave it as it is, it's what makes this shot.


Grahame

[fotugraphy]

Nice shot and thankfully it does not look like HDR but obviously it has to be to get the detail on the walls.

The plants are what we call ginger plant with either yellow or orange flowers has been declared a noxious weed here so if it was here I would be asked to spray it with 3-Amino-1,2,4-triazole (Amitrol) or get a hefty fine.

On closer look I think I have miss identified the plant - no need to spray. I have seen the plant here but cannot think of its name.

P.S. I think it maybe a type of Canna.

Thanks for your kind review and information on the plant. I really have no idea about what type of plant is this

[fotugraphy]

A real achievement - I suppose you could dial back the leaves but I'd worry that the illuminated walls of the monument that would be expected to be in shadow would lose their balance - so it wouldn't surprise me if the leaves were best as is.

Thanks for your valuable review and suggestion, this is how i tried to balance the tones of walls and leaves in the first place. Don't know if the shot will be out of balance if i tone down the leaves.

[fotugraphy]

Lovely shot Raj,well done!

Thanks for the appreciation.