HDR critique needed

[jonypatterson]

Trying to improve my HDR photos.. any advice?

Thanks in advance

Jony

[matt wilson]

some may say a strange choice of subject .Having said that I like the shot and in terms of technique it works .

I too have done some recently ,some you would not recognise as HDR at first glance others I have perhaps overdone .To me it is so dependent on the subject and in this instance the different textures i.e tiles ,wood all work.

[donoreo]

I say it looks overdone. I say that a lot about HDR though. To me, it seems so many people manipulate the shots until it looks like it was painted rather than photographed. This is what yours looks like to me.

[chris-p]

I like the subject in this shot. It's different and unusual. It's slightly wonky and the shot might benefit from being straightened up.

With regards to the HDR technique, I'm generally a fan. I shoot a lot of HDR and it's down to personal tastes as to how far you go with the processing. Personally, I prefer a more subtle effect. There is a lot of shadow clipping in this shot and that sort of defeats the main point of HDR. How many exposures did you use (it looks like you used the auto-bracketing feature as the tonal range isn't huge)?

[jonypatterson]

Yeah Chris it is the auto-bracketing feature that I used... what would you recommend to increase my tonal range etc?

[chris-p]

Hi Jony

The only way to expand tonal range is use more exposures. I've written a lot about HDR and I'll be honest and say that the +/- 2 or 3 EV bracketing is rubbish.

I've got an HDR hints, tips and FAQs tutorial here but in essence you need lots more exposures.

My usual range is -5 to +5 in 1 EV stops so thats -5, -4, -3, -2, -1, 0, +1, -+2, +3, +4 and +5 (11 exposures). If you think each shot is capturing a particular dynamic and tonal range then having -3, 0 and +3 leaves "gaps" where there could be more data. In reality what this means is that you don't get as good a tonal gradient.

[nickanderson]

Hey there, I too like the strange choice of subject and with regard to technique I think Chris has that about covered. I think approaching from a slightly higher view point from the right of the image would have perhaps made better of the effect - more depth to the image and more opportunity to play with tone in the shadows.
It is still a nice shot though. I take it your house has more than one bathroom : )