I went for a walk in the woods at lunch and decided to try some HDR. The sky was not very exciting and it was overcast. But I figure the only way to learn is to try.
I exposed at -2, 0, +2, HDR in Photomatix, tonemapped. I adjusted curves & levels, then created a new layer, used channel mixer to boost green & blue and reduce red, set blend mode to luminosity (I read that you can increase contrast this way, and it indeed works!). More playing around with hue/sat and more curves. I then created a mask for noisy clouds and did heavy NI twice and increased contrast on clouds. I finally applied Nik Efex Varitone filter, a bit more hue/sat and a bit of dodging & burning of clouds. Resize, sharpen, save for web.
I guess my experiment paid off since I do like it, even if it's a bit unnatural. I saved at 720 so you can enjoy it's gaudiness.
Good shot. I don't think HDR is allowed in challenges, but it's great for these mini-challenges. Nice colors and good clarity around the trees and water. The sky looks less natural to me. I also notice it has a bit of the "fish eye" look, so im assuming you shot this at full wide-angle (sorry if I'm not saying that right, I'm still learning the concepts and the lingo).
I think this is actually a bit more natural looking than a lot of the HDR that I've seen. At least if I were voting this in a challenge, my first thought isn't, "yeesh, more HDR." Nice work.
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