The last sunset of summer

bryanj87

I ventured out to Jamestown, Rhode Island this past weekend to capture the last official sunset of summer. Comments and suggestions welcomed. Thanks for looking!

1. Single exposure with a .6 gnd. I did not place the feather there.

2. A four exposure HDR

summerz

Very nice, looks peaceful.:D

Awais Yaqub

Amazing photography ! weldone

dlplumer

Nice shots

Bryan, I always get banding artifacts on my clear skys when using Photomatix for HDRs. How did you avoid this? Did you use Photomatix?

bryanj87

Thanks for the comments folks!

Dan, I did indeed use Photomatix for this image. I don't know specifically how to avoid banding, but I always find that if I try to be gentle with the tone mapping the end results are a lot better looking. I did make further adjustments to this image in CS3, such as an overlay mask on the sky to darken it a bit further, and selective brightening and warmth with the Viveza plugin.

dlplumer

bryanj87 wrote:

Thanks for the comments folks!

Dan, I did indeed use Photomatix for this image. I don't know specifically how to avoid banding, but I always find that if I try to be gentle with the tone mapping the end results are a lot better looking. I did make further adjustments to this image in CS3, such as an overlay mask on the sky to darken it a bit further, and selective brightening and warmth with the Viveza plugin.

Thanks Bryan. I have been using Viveza as well. I use it in Aperture. Do you like it?

schmoo

Great tonal range! I think you had the right touch with the HDR because I wouldn't have guessed this was worked like that. However knowing how difficult it is to expose a scene with a full sunstar like that...

I love the placement of the feather. I would like to have seen some silky water since beaches like this lend themselves for smoothness between the rocks, but I still love these two. Thanks for sharing!

bryanj87

Dan-Yes, I love Viveza. What a handy plugin that has been proving to be.

Thanks, Schmoo. I had wanted to get silky water too, but I need some more ND filters to make it easier, or that "silky water" plugin!

Travis

Gorgeous photos and great HDR work.

hawkeye978

These are truly what we should strive for in HDR. Beautiful full tonal range but still realistic. Love the first one.

jeffmeyers

Great photos. I like the second one better.