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This image is on the Clark Memorial Bridge approach from Louisville looking north into Indiana. I chose this composition because I like the way the bridge railing and sidewalk lead the viewer’s eye into the image. The afternoon glow of the “Golden Hour” on the bridge and in the sky is a nice contrast to the coolness of the shadows in the lower third of the image.
I processed this image in NIK HDR Efex pro using the Realistic (Strong) preset as my base point. After the six images were merged I applied the anti-ghosting at the high setting which cleaned up the cars on the bridge and reduced the ghosting they were exhibiting. I then slightly adjusted the shadows and highlights sliders before saving the image back into Aperture 3. I then reopened the photo in Aperture 3 where I did some further enhancement to the colors and vibrancy before the final sharpening.
A nice example of HDR without the “extreme HDR look.” I’m not necessarily opposed to that look in every case but I think it’s often overdone. Here, you’ve used HDR to extract all the detail in the scene without going over the top.
Thanks that was my goal for this image. I agree that some images benefit from extreme application of tone mapping and saturation but I’m seeing way too many images that the photographers are trying to salvage by extreme processing. I’m moving more toward a realistic interpretation of the scenes I shoot.