Today's POTD contest entry comes from Tom Davidson
"The setting sun casts its rays of light through the thick clouds over a ship on the Schelde river. I just love how the sunrays shine from the heavens, through the clouds and make the ship 'shine'.
This was a manual blend of more than 3 shot (-3...+3EV), RAW, Canon 5DmkIII, Canon 250mm, near Zeeland, Netherlands"
pffffhhhhhhh........
The ship doesn't shine, in fact, it's completely in shadow. Not only is the HDR uninspired, it's completely pointless, as the image appears to be completely within the dynamic range of a single exposure. The shadows are muddy, and so is most of the sky. The golden rays are cool, but the photographic technique and superfluous processing are letting down what could have been a very pleasing scene.
When will people learn that HDR is a tool, to be used sparingly and with purpose, not a crutch to bouy a boring image? Or ruin a perfectly good one?
I would very much like to see this image without the processing, as I believe it does have potential.
Thanks for your feedback. If you pm me (tom.davidson@skynet.be), I can send you an unprocessed raw.
As someone who takes ship pictures (http://blog.halifaxshippingnews.ca/) this one is disappointing. The light effect in the sky is gorgeous, but everything else is dark. Given it is a blend of exposures I would have liked to see the foreground brighter.
I looked at your 500px page. I feel this is one of the weaker shots on it.
Thanks for your feedback. I'll give it a try re-processing.