Some First Attempts at HDR

Hi Guys and Gals,

Just joined today (see the welcome thread for my introduction post), and thought I would get some thoughts on a few of my first HDRs. Please excuse the watermarks, I am a fairly poor student at the moment and can't ante up for a software liscence just yet.

http://i31.tinypic.com/1250zkk.jpg
This is the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal, Canada. This was PP'd using a single Raw image.

http://i29.tinypic.com/2urmjpy.jpg
This is my family's dog Tori posing for shot - she has done a lot of that! Again, from a single Raw.

http://i32.tinypic.com/2u7oojl.jpg
Finally, some tomato plants that my roommate is growing. This is a "true" HDR composition from three exposures (0, +2, -2, using my D5000's auto bracketing). It turned out not as sharp as I was hoping because I was too focussed on the auto-bracketing function that I kind of disregarded my aperture setting. Anyways, I like the colours.

One question I have for everyone is what techniques are best for reducing noise in HDR images? I have been getting a lot of that lately. I now have access to PS CS4 so any reference to that and general workflow considerations would be great.

Thanks!

Matthew,

1. Basilica-Dazzling colors, nice composition, but the HDR lacks depth and contrast. There is little separation between the pewes and the background.

2. Tori-Subtle HDR if any and the shot looks fine.

3. Tomatoes-Subtle HDR, image clarity is excellent, composition is fine but angle of shot and direction of lines (floor panels and bannister) are distracting.