Yosemite - 2 HDRs

Hikin' Mike

We took the kids to Yosemite for the afternoon so we could have a picnic at Mirror Lake. When the kids were done swimming, we took a "hike" around the area.

It was late afternoon and I couldn't resist photographing the reflection off of Mount Watkins. I photographed this spot before, but the water was much lower this time then two years ago. Also the water had some type of film (oil or suntan lotion?) on top of it, so it looks a bit “muddy” as far as the reflection goes, but it’s still like it.

My question is: Do the colors look "good" (i.e natural) and which one do you prefer (if any or both). Thanks...


Mount Watkins ~ Yosemite NP
Canon 300D, 17-40 f/4 @ 26mm
ISO 200, 3 exposure HDR (1/250, 1/60, 1/15), f/16


A Log, A Big Rock And A Reflection ~ Yosemite NP
Canon 300D, 17-40 f/4 @ 21mm
ISO 200, 3 exposure HDR (1/250, 1/60, 1/15), f/16

Richard

Nice work, Mike. Good use of HDR. The colors look pretty good to me in both shots. I prefer the composition of the first shot. In the second, there is a big rock right in the center of the frame, which attracts too much attention, and the rocks at the bottom don't really add anything.

Cheers,

Skippy

Hikin' Mike wrote:

We took the kids to Yosemite for the afternoon so we could have a picnic at Mirror Lake. When the kids were done swimming, we took a "hike" around the area.

It was late afternoon and I couldn't resist photographing the reflection off of Mount Watkins. I photographed this spot before, but the water was much lower this time then two years ago. Also the water had some type of film (oil or suntan lotion?) on top of it, so it looks a bit “muddy” as far as the reflection goes, but it’s still like it.

My question is: Do the colors look "good" (i.e natural) and which one do you prefer (if any or both). Thanks...

Mount Watkins ~ Yosemite NP
Canon 300D, 17-40 f/4 @ 26mm
ISO 200, 3 exposure HDR (1/250, 1/60, 1/15), f/16
A Log, A Big Rock And A Reflection ~ Yosemite NP
Canon 300D, 17-40 f/4 @ 21mm
ISO 200, 3 exposure HDR (1/250, 1/60, 1/15), f/16

Beautiful Mike ... Skippy
.

LilleG

I prefer the richer greens of the first one.

Hikin' Mike

Thanks everybody for your comments and feedback!

Hikin' Mike

Here's a update.

The first one I lightened up the mid-ground a bit, still using a HDR.


The second is using the same 3 different exposures, but this time using hand-blending using CS2...

salazar

Hey Mike, I've seen a few HDR's I've really liked but this time I much prefer the non HDR in your last post (with the hand blending in CS2). There is much more contrast in the individual areas of the photograph which looks much better to my eye and the reflection of the blue of the sky in the water is much richer too.

On the other hand, it's interesting the soft (glowing?) quality the HDR gives to the greens in the center of the other images. It may work well in another type of shot...

Mikko

Nice shots Mike, Mirror lake is a can't miss. I like the second one better, the foreground has more pop. Once again nice shot, hope to see some more.

MK