must have been an HDR weekend

went around Gloucester Docks with the 15 yesterday ,all old warehouses converted to expensive apartments, certainly did nothing for Gloucester these are a tad stronger than Ralph,s. one looking to the Cathedral from multi strorey car park
all are 5 exposure hand held then processed in Photomatix and Elements

Like the 4th one - but would prefer to see them with some space in between- really confuses the eye with them joined together

Carl

+ 1

Carl took the words from my fingers

#4 is my favourite of these

+ 2

the inner mooring area Gloucester Docks


warehouses turned to apartments


mono version


Swing bridge between Gloucester/Sharpness canal and inner dock moorings


Cathedral from 4th floor of car park


mono version



learned how to leave gaps, i see what you all mean without them
comments appreciated ,know hdr is not everybodies cup of tea but thought the subjects lent their selves to it, so had a play.
don,t know how to delete original photo,s though.

Nicely done.

I love 1 and 2 in your second posting. The colour version (2) just beats the B&W version (3) IMHO..

I think the post spoils the overall effect of 4 and would be better if it was cropped above this to give an uncluttered 'lead in'.

5&6 don't do anything for me I'm afraid.

I do like the minimal HDR effect as this still leaves a good degree of 'realism' in the image.

I think the HDR spoils these pics.

I do like judicious processing of images ( and I'm no purist in terms of photography ) but in a manner that's individual to the editor and shows the personality of the photographer/editor.

HDR images are 'cookie cutter' and all look pretty much the same and show no originality or imagination in the editing process. Bores me to tears frankly.

Rant over [ ] , I do really like the mono version of the symmetrical Warehouse apartment alley shot ...






... becuase the mono rendition gets rid of the Acid trip sugar coated HDR and simply presents it as a well composed inspired, high contrast shot that appeals. Nice shot


This shot ...





... could have been processed to give the same impact without the HDR and been much more classy.


yes, I hate HDR and no personal offence

Mini Rant warning

In magazines and forums I read comments like this and I feel that the term HDR is in danger of being 'hijacked' to always refer to an image that has been manipulated to the extremes.

An HDR 'enhanced' image can mean everything from a subtle modifications to lighten shadows and reduce blown out highlights to the full 'cartoon' style, brightly coloured style that (I think) Smeggy is referring to. The mono version of the alleyway is still an HDR image it's just in greyscale rather than colour.

Looking at this image from the HDR Wikipedia page:




It is colour and it also covers a high dynamic range but I wouldn't refer to it as overly done.

Mini rant over

The inner docks photo has been pushed a bit but still gives a pleasant image to look at. Just making it mono would not reduce the dynamic range it would just remove the colour. Whether it would be a better image or not is 'in the eye of the beholder'. Personnally I like the colour version, a B&W version would add a 'classy' edge (as Smeggy suggests).

The colour alleyway image has used 'just enough' enhancement (IMHO) to add to its grittyness and show the contrast between the dark walls and bright sky whilst still retaining a feeling of reality.

like this Smeggy, this is the mid point of the 5 exposures with just minimal touch up.




like this Ralph,had to distort and crop to get it to balance


none taken Smeggy, thanks to all for your comments. the view to the Cathedral was more about the fact that the buildings that were there employed people and what goes back,after the build, do not, all short term.

I am interested and like these shots as my work is based just 2 mins away, have been wanting to come down here and take some pictures for a while but just never get round to it. I just wondered if you managed to get up by the new bridge where there are still some old warehouses that have not been touched yet, could make some nice before and after type shots. As I only emigrated to Gloucestershire from Narfolk about 7 years ago I don't remember what the docks area used to look like, but my wife tells me it was a dump, and I am sure that did nothing for Gloucesters image, at least now the buildings are being put to good use and there is obviously no shortage of people wanting to live in them. I know there are also several offices there, lots of shops (expensive I know)and lots of cafe's catering to the tourist trade,also the national waterways museum and the council offices.
I like the hdr treatment of these shots it's not to over the top and brings them to life. Not sure about hdr being "cookie cutter" I guess that term could be applied to all sorts of pp styles.

I like that much better. Could perhaps be a tad brighter on my monitor.

Jim, you would be quite brave to wander around there even now at night i think,especially with your camera. would be alright in a group. daytime is ok. virtually all the offices that were in that end of Southgate have been turned into student lets, a lot of the small shops have gone because the flow of people has not been directed up through Southgate to the city.

thanks for the comments, another reason for trying it was the dull overcast weather, but that in itself was a blessing as not many people were about

While a reduction in dynamic range is applied to many styles of editing, I disagree the term HDR has been hijacked. IMO 'HDR' is a term for a specific style of editing in which multiple images are combined to produce a recognisable acid trip effect. As can be seen in Redbus's green canal boat pic.

Just boosting the shadows on a single image isn't "HDR"

Then we shall have to agree to disagree then

No probs




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