Help With Sunsets

I may have hit a plateau in my learning curve and could use a nudge or push. Here’s what I like about the photo below: composition and sunset colors.
What I think could be better is the mountain and foreground shadow detail
I’m not sure if it’s an initial capture issue or a post processing thing. Capture info is:
7 auto bracketed exposures f 5.6 at 0.7 interval from 1/15 to 1/250 iso 320. Focal length 44mm
HDR processed in Photomatix.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I am going to try this again tonight. Feel free to downlad and tweak.



Best Regards

Is this what you are looking for?

What about this version? Any better? I cropped it just a little.

It won't help for tonight but you can achieve what you want using a graduated neutral density filter. Cokin P size in a 1, 2, or 3 stop ND depending on how much shadow detail you want to bring out. You can get a Cokin filter set for around $70 on the internet, Ebay or Amazon. You can get a a Cokin round CPL which will help with other shots where you bring out the color and dodge light and burn shadows at the same time. (A CPL dosen't work on a sunset or sunrise with the light coming directly into the lens.) Cokin P size filters come in a hugh variety of graduated, solid, density colors, and special effects. Hope this helps.

Before


After

Sky is more dramatic. Details in mountains and homes enhanced.

Pete, what did you use to make the difference there?
Joseph, I'm shopping for filters today.
Jack, that's an interesting crop. it looks like a pano.
Anthony, really great. Can you share what you did?

Any tweaking I tried to do added more noise.
And I didn't sunset shots last night . . . not a cloud in the sky!

Thank you all for your suggestions and help.

Best Regards

(Pete, what did you use to make the difference there?)

Just a quickie in iPhoto.

Pete

ohkphoto said:

Anthony, really great. Can you share what you did?

Click to expand...

More HDR, plain and simple. You have the makings of something great here, it just needs more detail and depth. I would love to play with the RAW files on this one...7 exposures, wow! Play with it a bit more, you should really be able to to make this one shine, Helene.

Helene, you might also try making combinations of the seven bracketed exposures. Combine two, three, four, the different combinations will give you different effects. You can also change the exposure, contrast, etc. on individual shots, and make new combinations. Take a look at the very red sunset in my gallery that it was done with a three shot bracket. (Use the graduated filters to bring out more detail in the usually very dark foreground.) The variations here are near endless. Hope this helps.

I may have gone over the top with this one. Per your suggestions, I re-processed using different combinations. I also had another group of seven where the starting point was a slower shutter speed. I also tried the combinations in several softwares (it should be apparent that I have no social life!): Photoshop, Photomatix, Oloneo, and HDR Efex Pro.
Oloneo gives the most control . . . love this software and surprisingly, the worst results were with Photomatix. The most "automated" with best noise control was HDR Efex Pro (which is the image below). The noise was absolutely unmanageable in the others.

I have to say this is not too far off from what I actually saw . . . the whole sky was magnificent that evening (while I was waiting for the moon to rise)!

I think it's better than the first one I posted, but would like to know what you all think.

I like this one a lot more than the first one. A lot more color and detail especially in the foreground. It still needs more detail in the foreground to give it depth. A neutral density graduated filter over the sky should give you the detail you are looking for in the foreground.

You're absolutely right, Joseph. After spending so much time on this, it's clear that the range of exposures was just too much without a filter. I think I've gotten all I'm going to get out of this one.

Thank you all for your feedback.

Best Regards

I love this one, Helene. It's vibrant, it's alive, it's dramatic. It's a keeper. This one has what I call "the wow factor". Suitable for framing, in my humble opinion.

Thanks, Jack. I ordered a set of filters and have decided to add the NIK hdr software to my arsenal.

Best Regards