Tone Mapped Ghost Ship. (A77)

Messed around with the HDR Painting function today, and thought I would compare it to a manual attempt.

Here is the Original photo (middle exposure of 5):





This is the same subject using the built in "HDR Painting" function:





Here are 2 versions I tone mapped myself using Photomatix. (from 5 exposures)









While the built in, does an OK job, IMO it isn't anywhere near as good as manual painting.

Thanks for looking!

Indeed, manual painting would be much better.
But manual painting would cost you days/weeks and lots of experience.

The versions that you tone mapped yourself are better than the in-camera one. But it's a matter of taste of how much painting effect you would like to have applied, and the camera just cannot know your personal preference.

Great subject for HDR painting and great results.

TomvL said:

Indeed, manual painting would be much better.
But manual painting would cost you days/weeks and lots of experience.

The versions that you tone mapped yourself are better than the in-camera one. But it's a matter of taste of how much painting effect you would like to have applied, and the camera just cannot know your personal preference.

Great subject for HDR painting and great results.

Click to expand...

Yes Tom, you are very right.

Though, the HDR software out there these days, I think the time is a lot quicker.

Thanks for the comments too!

Hokkaido Jan said:

Messed around with the HDR Painting function today, and thought I would compare it to a manual attempt.

While the built in, does an OK job, IMO it isn't anywhere near as good as manual painting.

Thanks for looking!

Click to expand...

It all depends on what you are trying to achieve. I am one of those who doesn't really like the extreme HDR/Tone Mapping exemplified by your last example. Of all your examples I like the one done in camera best because it looks most natural. Your first manual one isn't too bad but the last one IMO is awful. Some people like the extreme stuff but I'm not one of them.

--
Tom

Look at the picture, not the pixels

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63683676@N07/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25301400@N00/

tbcass said:

Hokkaido Jan said:

Messed around with the HDR Painting function today, and thought I would compare it to a manual attempt.

While the built in, does an OK job, IMO it isn't anywhere near as good as manual painting.

Thanks for looking!

Click to expand...

It all depends on what you are trying to achieve. I am one of those who doesn't really like the extreme HDR/Tone Mapping exemplified by your last example. Of all your examples I like the one done in camera best because it looks most natural. Your first manual one isn't too bad but the last one IMO is awful. Some people like the extreme stuff but I'm not one of them.

--
Tom

Look at the picture, not the pixels

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63683676@N07/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25301400@N00/

Click to expand...

Thanks.

The out of camera is my worst of those 4 pictures.

If I were trying to create a natural looking subtle HDR, then I might agree with you.
Fact is, I was making a "painting".

The idea was to make this broken old ship have a haunted appearance, and IMO I did just that.
Thanks for your comments.

Hokkaido Jan said:

tbcass said:

Hokkaido Jan said:

Messed around with the HDR Painting function today, and thought I would compare it to a manual attempt.

While the built in, does an OK job, IMO it isn't anywhere near as good as manual painting.

Thanks for looking!

Click to expand...

It all depends on what you are trying to achieve. I am one of those who doesn't really like the extreme HDR/Tone Mapping exemplified by your last example. Of all your examples I like the one done in camera best because it looks most natural. Your first manual one isn't too bad but the last one IMO is awful. Some people like the extreme stuff but I'm not one of them.

--
Tom

Look at the picture, not the pixels

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63683676@N07/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25301400@N00/

Click to expand...

Thanks.

The out of camera is my worst of those 4 pictures.

If I were trying to create a natural looking subtle HDR, then I might agree with you.
Fact is, I was making a "painting".

The idea was to make this broken old ship have a haunted appearance, and IMO I did just that.
Thanks for your comments.

Click to expand...

I like subtle HDR, but if that's your style then I have no problems with that. However if you were going for the "haunted" look, the atmosphere and color tones need to be adjusted. When I think haunted, I think gloomy, dark, and mystifying.

I would recommend either changing your color palette or do B&W. Also, smooth out that foreground or add some mist for atmosphere.

Hokkaido Jan said:

tbcass said:

Hokkaido Jan said:

Messed around with the HDR Painting function today, and thought I would compare it to a manual attempt.

While the built in, does an OK job, IMO it isn't anywhere near as good as manual painting.

Thanks for looking!

Click to expand...

It all depends on what you are trying to achieve. I am one of those who doesn't really like the extreme HDR/Tone Mapping exemplified by your last example. Of all your examples I like the one done in camera best because it looks most natural. Your first manual one isn't too bad but the last one IMO is awful. Some people like the extreme stuff but I'm not one of them.

--
Tom

Look at the picture, not the pixels

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63683676@N07/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25301400@N00/

Click to expand...

Thanks.

The out of camera is my worst of those 4 pictures.

If I were trying to create a natural looking subtle HDR, then I might agree with you.
Fact is, I was making a "painting".

The idea was to make this broken old ship have a haunted appearance, and IMO I did just that.
Thanks for your comments.

Click to expand...

Hokkaido, I've seen a lot of HDR painting over the years, with "ghost-like" effects being ones that really appeal to me. I think your last image is one of the best I've seen. Hats-off the the job you did on that one- I would have titled it "Ghost Ship" without even knowing what you were going for with the shot. Well done, sir.

Landon

...is IMHO the best. The in-camera version has a messed up sky and the last one that you seem to like best is indeed very nice, and yes it gives the impression of "ghost" ship but I do not like the halo around the ship. What I do regularly is combining differently processed images into a final version. NOthing wrong with taking the sky of the first self-processed image and combining it with the last one, or in fact just overlaying it and blending it.

Stef.
--
http://stefaniekappel.tumblr.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15931938@N05/

I like your first manual attempt best of the three. The second photo is very cool for a very specific 'look'. Definitely not a natural attempt, but in the right context, I think it's excellent. I do think the 'halo' around the ship is not good. It looks to me like you applied an adjustment to the sky but did not blend it successfully between the sky and the ship. It looks accidental.

What I would really like to see is using the in-camera as a starting point, and then adjusting basic settings in PP, just as you would a single-exposure photograph. Spending the few minutes to post process that file as you would any other may get you much closer to the manual version in much less time than the manual took.

Thanks for doing this comparison. Nice work...and great photograph.\

adam
--



http://www.adamfarber.com

Thanks for all the discussion and advice!
(See profile for my gear)

Did you try autoHDR? I always pump it up in Lightroom or Photoshop but it's a good start. 5 shots would require a tripod and I hate tripods.

I don't care for the last one, unless you masked the sky -- don't care for the sky in that one. Too bad you didn't have more clouds... With HDR you really begin to appreciate clouds!

--
Judy
http://nichollsphoto.com/

Wrathoftheolives said:

I like subtle HDR, but if that's your style then I have no problems with that. However if you were going for the "haunted" look, the atmosphere and color tones need to be adjusted. When I think haunted, I think gloomy, dark, and mystifying.

I would recommend either changing your color palette or do B&W. Also, smooth out that foreground or add some mist for atmosphere.

Click to expand...

Agreed with Wrathoftheolives. None of the pics are bad by any means, but I think that a bit more "atmosphere" could enhance things. Some simple levels adjustments should be enough to add more punch and up the blacks a bit to "gloomify" things a little. Then either B&W or partly desaturate and add a filter - maybe sepia or dark grey.