RobertB
SteveStrummerUK
'Vintage' processing treatment I gave to an image I took at the local Severn Valley Railway heritage line:
I'm not sure I'm totally sold on the 'vintage' look, but it does seem to add a little something to this image. By way of comparision, here's the original, unprocessed (RAW to .jpeg converted) photo:
I love it, Steve. Yes, a bit over the top in places, but overall it has that wonderfully saturated look of silver iodide. And the detail. Look at the running gear here, as opposed to the color shot.
Inspiring stuff. Now my camera is talking to me.
Thanks Bob.
I've learned a lot since I first started using the Photomatix Pro 5 HDR software. When you first start 'developing' sets of images, the temptation is to throw everything at it, often the 'surreal' results are pleasing, but after a while, overuse of this 'effect' can tend to lose its appeal.
What I've found has definitely helped is to run each set of images (or single image) through the three different HDR software programs I now have. In addition to Photomatix Pro, I also have the Nik Collection's HDR Efex Pro, and since I upgraded to Photoshop CC (from my beloved Photoshop Elements), I can also use Adobe's Merge to HDR Pro. For even more control over the final result, I'm also learning more and more about combining the images together (as layers) using different masking techniques in Photoshop.
What is maybe a little unsurprising is how different the various methods of creating the merged HDR image are from program to program, and subsequently how different the results when processing identical source images in each. To me, Photomatix seems to offer the greatest overall control, although the other two are certainly fully featured. I find HDR Efex and Photoshop produce more 'natural' results, although the parameters are there if you want to get really surreal.
Although I do like the slightly surreal or other-worldly effect achievable with HDR (like the image of Kidderminster platform above), what I'd like to be able to do is to create an image that gives an impression of how I actually remember it. In other words, to do away with the faithful/sterile/flat appearance that a camera 'sees', and add back into the final photograph all the 'processes' and aspects of a view that the human brain automatically adds, such as rich colours and perfect exposure in the shadows as well as the highlights. We take it for granted that a camera will record a scene exactly the way we perceive it, but obviously that's not the case; the more I learn and practise, the more 'natural-looking' I want my HDR images to become, while still taking advantage of the massive exposure latitude the technique offers.
It's an interesting journey I'm on, but hopefully it'll be well worth it in the end
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Thanks to everyone else for the kind words too!