Grand Tetons Reflections

[klompen914]

Date: 20Aug2019
Sony NEX-6 with Metabones Speedbooster adapter and Canon FD 35mm lens
f16
3 exposure HDR in 1/3 stop increments

Processed with Aurora HDR 2018 with the "Realistic Detailed" preset (with slight contrast increase).

As much as I like this image, I am sure there are ways it can be improved and look forward to seeing your comments.

[Wavelength]

It is a wonderful shot; what i post here is 100% your image; i just levelled the shoreline and eliminated this end shore to give a vast and a bit more majestic look; actually this is not a modification or improvement, but only another possible version of your own image.

[DanK]

I agree--a nice capture. And I agree with Nandakumar's suggesitons.

My main suggestion is to dial it back. The sky shows the typical HDR "grunge" look, which is unnatural and in this case distracting from the main subject by placing high-contrast areas, which naturally attract the viewer's eye, far from the main subject, which is the mountains and reflections.

You didn't say whether you shot raw, which is relevant in this case because it gives you more latitude in terms of dynamic range, via highlight recovery. However, leaving that aside, there is no reason to use 3 shots 1/3 of a stop apart. that's adding only 2/3 stop of dynamic range, and if you really needed that, a single additional shot 1 stop off would do the trick. When I bracket exposures, I rarely use intervals less than 2 stops and never less than 1 stop, and I only merge as many images as I need. My camera is set to default to three shots, but I most often use only two of them.

Re the grunge look: I have no experience with Aurora, but there are numerous ways to merge bracketed exposures without the grunge look. The merge-to-HDR function in Lightroom does not create it. I think some HDR software allows you to dial it back, but I don't use any, so I can't say. You can use what's called exposure fusion, which simply takes well-exposed areas from each of the shots and merges them, without tone mapping. Or you can blend manually.

[Manfred M]

+1 to what Nandakumar and Dan have written.

While the NEX-6 is certainly not the most modern camera, still it sports a good, solid 13+ stop dynamic range, so I question if HDR was even required given the very small difference (1/3 stop) in exposure between the shots. Back when sensors were only capable of delivering a 9 or 10 stop dynamic range, HDR was a far more important tool than it is today.

I still merge multiple exposures on occasion and use exposure brackets along the lines of what Dan suggests; my default is 3 shots at +2, 0, +2. I tend to use Photoshop / Lightroom's built in HDR functionality if I go that route; I do own Enfuse, which is an exposure fusion product for Lightroom, but most often I hand blend my images in Photoshop, using layers and layer masks to build up the image.

In a scene like this one, I generally go with a single exposure and use dodging and burning to open up the shadows and tone down the highlights. While it is a slow process, it gives me a high level of control.

[pschlute]

Lovely image. I too agree with Nandakumar's suggestion about losing the bush extreme left.

Spectacular place which I was able to visit once thankfully.

[lovelife65]

Agree with other comments, and what Nanda has done. I do feel it has that over processed look without needing to push it that hard, as the scene is beautiful wo doing that. (I'm not a huge fan of HDR for this reason, although I know many people love to use it).

[xpatUSA]

The softness makes the first image look quite painterly. Awesome scene of course.

I'd crop the bottom to remove the bright bit at bottom-left and to widen the aspect ratio a little.

Undecided about the bush ... maybe blur it up after the crop so that it looks OOF and draws the eye less ...

[klompen914]

Thank you to all for your input! I particularly like Nanda's crop of my original.

I did shoot raw for the original photos. I shot with 1/3 stop brackets because this was the default setting for brackets on the NEX-6 and I totally missed that I could change it to full stop increments.

My goal with HDR (normally) is to have scenes that are rich, with no blown out skies, but that still look natural. I admit that this one stretches that idea, but it still appeals to me because of the drama that it introduces.