Upper Falls at Old Man's Cave

[Don Chesnut]

One of the instructors of a workshop I went to commented that most of my photos have a grunge or un-natural HDR look to them. I am submitting this photo for review and am asking if you think that my photos have a un-natural HDR look to them?

[Mike Buckley]

I don't remember that your photos have an overly cooked HDR appearance and I am certain that this photo does not give me that impression. Perhaps it would be a good idea to show us an image that he or she explicitly felt is overly cooked.

[John 2]

Don, this doesn't look to have an HDR appearance to me either but it does look slightly over sharp. Has it been sharpened at all? It's a very nice composition by the way.

[Karm Redland]

I agree with Mike.

karm

[Andrew1]

To me it appears a bit over-saturated but to tell the truth, I'd need to be standing there with a print to be able to say for sure. A bit more light would help for me but it looks just fine as it is.

[Don Chesnut]

Thanks for your comments. I appreciate them very much.

[Don Chesnut]

Yes, it was sharpened using the High Pass Filter option with the Blend Mode of Overlay.

[Don Chesnut]

He said all of mine are that way except for the photo of the sunrise at Hocking Hills. My photos are on my flickr website:
www.flickr.com/photos/60974478@N03

Thanks.

[Don Chesnut]

I was a Pharmacist for over 40 years. In that profession you have to pay attention to every detail all the time. I guess that has carried over into my photography. That's why I like HDR photography. I can get details in the light and dark areas of the same photo. I try to keep everything as natural as possible. Because of my attention to detail, my photos are not flat like so many older photos. I try to stay away from the grunge effect.
Thanks for your opinions. They are appreciated.

[arith]

I think it is a really nice image but missing slightly because of unfortunate lighting causing a flatness. It would be improved somewhat by distancing the rock from the foliage.

Too difficult for me with this tiny size but, use a mask on the rock and adjust sharpening, colour and black point and the rest to separate the bridge from the background.

[Polar01]

Don: two things I was wondering, with the high pass filter (I also use it) what was you setting, I may self use a setting of 1 if I know that I am printing on gloss and 3 if on matt. I also never use it on the hold image only on what I feel is the most important part of the image. On Steve's post #10 of your image I myself would apply it to the arch, the wet rocks caused by the flowing water along with that water. I know that it will soften the rest of the image, but that area above is the main focus of the image and should be sharpened.

Cheers:

Allan

[Geoff F]

I would agree with the instructor, Don, and say that generally speaking your images have too much HDR for my tastes. But this one is more subdued and works OK for me.

But it is a matter of personal taste, some people like the stronger HDR effects and those photos usually do well in our competitions.

[Mike Buckley]

Now that I have reviewed your images as a collection, the stronger use of HDR seems to be applied to the architectural images. I had remembered that but didn't mention it because I assumed we were discussing your landscapes.

Considering that you always want to retain a natural look, your use of HDR on the architectural images might have crossed that line just a tad. But none of them that I noticed in my quick perusal had the cartoon-like look that is clearly beyond the realm of appearing natural.

[Steve S]

I think the image is a little flat.

Without highlights, there is no shadow.....................without shadow , there are no highlights. I think the shadow and highlights are too even.(kind of like HDR)

When playing with the curves tool, if you decrease the highlights, there is a point where you kill the light. If you keep a watchfull eye, you will see that point and know where to stop. (if there are still a few places, that you want darker, you'll have to find another way, or you will kill the highlights)

I had a quick play with your image(hope you don't mind) , to see if i could increase the highlights enough to make an impact, also i added some contrast and saturation to pick it up a bit.(not with the contrast slider).........................

[Don Chesnut]

Thanks, I'll work on that in the future photos.

[Downrigger]

I like this very much. Has a moist saturated look that I find evocative and entirely believable (i.e. not overcooked) to me. I looked at your site. Lots of nice work. Is he jealous?