[KevinT]

Sleeping Bear Dunes, Glen Haven, Northern Lower Peninsula, Michigan

D7100, Tamron 18 - 270mm f/3.5 - 6.3 @ 18mm

f/9 1/320 ISO 100

PP in Oloneo HDR Engine

   

[EdMak]

Bit overcooked on my Monitor? Ed.

[KevinT]

I know it's subjective, but looks OK on mine (ViewSonic VX2239wm). I wanted to bring out the texture in the foreground planking.

This one's toned down a bit.

   

[EdMak]

Post the original? Ed.

[KevinT]

Original

   

[Jeffbridge]

Very cool shot! Great job!

[MrB]

I know it's subjective, but looks OK on mine (ViewSonic VX2239wm). I wanted to bring out the texture in the foreground planking.

It is subjective and, for me, the original is much the best of the three posted here.

HDR software isn't needed for this image, but the original does have the potential for enhancement relevant to the title.

Firstly, regarding the composition, it would benefit to crop so that the edges of the path flow out at the bottom corners of the frame, and so that the image roughly complies with the "rule of thirds" - i.e. approx. one third sky and two thirds land. Cropping like this would confirm the importance of the pathway in the photograph.

Secondly, careful and selective adjustments of colour, brightness, contrast and sharpness would then help to enhance the detail and textures in the image as a whole, and in the wooden planks in particular.

Cheers.
Philip

[EdMak]

If this is out of the camera, untouched, it is well over exposed, and, the DPI seems a bit high, there is a pic here. Ed.

[MrB]

The original image was recorded on a bright sunny day, so one would expect to see white clouds, and their RGB values are up around the 240s (255 being the maximum) which indicates that the exposure is almost correct.

However, the middle-of-day timing has produced flat lighting, so the image contrast requires a boost - preferably by lowering the mid-range tones in Curves or Levels, to preserve the whites and blacks as they are.

That is one of the problems with the HDR images above - the processing has made them generally too dark for those daytime conditions, so their "white" clouds are now shades of grey.

Cheers.
Philip

[EdMak]

Adjusted this P/S, Exposure, and a touch of sharpening, could still be improved. Ed.

[MrB]

And this is the original, processed for the bright sunny day, cropped and resized to illustrate the composition suggested in post #7:

   

Cheers.
Philip

[KevinT]

I came up with a similar crop based on your suggestion. Did some sharpening and colour adjustment to come up with this:

   

[MrB]

Kevin,

You won't be surprised to read that I think your latest edit is your best one! However, the important point is that it is your image - so what do you think of it?

Cheers.
Philip

[KevinT]

Thanks to the suggestions in this thread, I think it's greatly improved.

I'm still learning Lightroom, so it was easier at first to use Oloneo to bring out the wood grain.

However the final product is a great improvement.

Thanks!

[Phil J]

Frankly I believe they ALL have merits and d-merits. The composition is right and the exposure retains enough detail to work with. The rest is down to personal preference and perception. All the differing interpretations are pleasing, but, in different ways. So in the final analysis it's very much a case of 'each to their own'.

Regards.

Phil.