USS New Jersey

[Viridian]

Went to visit the battleship New Jersey last week and this is my favorite shot from the day. Usually I don't like hdr but I ended up liking this a whole lot. Please let me know what you guys think!
EDIT: Updated image is located on page 2!

[John 2]

A nice image under any circumstances but I agree, HDR suits it quite well.

[Viridian]

Thank you! I couldn't agree more about the HDR

[Polar01]

Perfect angle and what a sky to work with. With any other sky is would have been an ordinary picture.

Cheers: Allan

[FootLoose]

I think people generally use HDR in a way that sucks, but you have shown it can be used to really good effect here, Zach. You didn't happen to notice Cher anywhere around there did you?

[NorthernFocus]

Great composition. The lighting seems to shift unnaturally from really bright between the gun barrels to much darker outboard. The sky at top of frame also seems a bit dark. With as much as you've tweaked the lighting, B/W might be a consideration.

But I'm just babbling. Not my genre by any stretch of the imagination...

[Mike Buckley]

Wonderful perspective! Consider cropping at the bottom to eliminate the distracting horizontal item.

[Viridian]

Thank you everyone! I wasn't expecting this many good things about it honestly!

[Viridian]

I also managed to snag a nice panorama of the Philadelphia skyline while I was there.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done, both composition and post-processing treatment.

[Viridian]

Thank you, John!

[flashback]

Great shot, I agree with Dan about the lighting difference as well as converting to B&W. I think this image cries out to be converted to B&W.

[Viridian]

So I think I fixed the lighting, I brightened the sky on the outside of the barrels and brightened up the darker clouds a tiny bit to match the tones of the other clouds better. I also converted it into black and white let me know what you guys think!

[Viridian]

Except for maybe that one dark cloud on the right, I must have missed that one. Its getting late

[bnnrcn]

Hi Zach B&W is nice but I actually prefer the colour. Blue-grey clouds add to the image.

[Mike Buckley]

I've looked at both versions several times and I'm going to take a view that seems to be contrary to the thread, that the clouds are so busy that they compete with the subject. I would probably use a square crop for this image.

[Viridian]

I have to agree I like the colored version better and I definitely like the adjustments on the lighting

[Paniaa]

Ditto with the colour and the lighting adjustments. Not sure about the square crop, but maybe I'd have to see it first. I would wonder if the subject would 'feel' squashed

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Zach,

I prefer the colour version and I like the composition.

I think this is a good image that could be great.

My personal views (on the original, part colour version) are that I feel;

a) it is a shame the clouds between the barrels are not treated the same as those 'outside'
b) the overall effect is just a bit too much for me
c) the line of overhead flags going to the bow are a distraction from the composition of barrels

Is a) just down to a lack of time/effort in applying hand corrected exposure, or the effect of radius setting in some automatically applied 'HDR' treatment?
b) could the effect have been reigned in a bit? particularly, as some have mentioned, the sky at the top is just a bit too dark - it is 'competing' with the underside of the barrels
c) I appreciate you couldn't take the flags down, but they could perhaps be cloned out (not everyone will agree).
If not, I wonder what they would look like if not treated as one with the 'sky', but given their correct foreground exposure (as used on turret front)? I appreciate this may entail some fiddly masking though - and I/you might not like the result - it may actually increase the 'distraction factor'.

Just my thoughts, for what they're worth.

[nikon66]

Well seen and captured.