# Bike on a porch HDR



## vipgraphx (Dec 8, 2011)

So my father gave my son this pretty expensive bike. My father is a bike collector and so he passes his collection down to his grandkids. I thought it would be a cool idea to do an HDR photo of it and frame it for him but I wanted to make it interesting so I added clutter around to give it more of an interesting mood.




bike by VIPGraphX, on Flickr


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## o hey tyler (Dec 8, 2011)

To me, there's too much clutter. Kind of makes the bike stand out less. The skateboard draws my eye more than the bike because it has more light falling on it. You also chopped off the rear wheel, which makes the bike seem less important in the photo.

The background is also very visually messy. You should do some reading on composition, rule of thirds, and background control.


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## Dillard (Dec 8, 2011)

For me, in this instance, I like the clutter. Also the toms logo in the back! :thumbup: haha

I've never been a huge fan of HDR but I like this one.


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## vipgraphx (Dec 8, 2011)

o hey tyler said:


> You also chopped off the rear wheel, which makes the bike seem less important in the photo.



Yeah I was bummed when I saw I chopped the rear tire....should have redone it.

oh yeah it took me a while to set up and position all that clutter....


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## shootermcgavin (Dec 8, 2011)

Yeah the over the top cartoon HDR seems to work in this photo...


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## jake337 (Dec 8, 2011)

So, what is the dynamic range of this image?

Or perhaps, what was the dynamic range of this scene?


A nice post from another forum on the subject:
About "high dynamic range" - Open Photography Forums







Dillard said:


> For me, in this instance, I like the clutter. Also the toms logo in the back! :thumbup: haha
> 
> I've never been a huge fan of HDR but I like this one.



You mean you've never been a fan of grunge processing on bracketed photos.

HDR is not a style.


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## jake337 (Dec 9, 2011)

vipgraphx said:


> o hey tyler said:
> 
> 
> > You also chopped off the rear wheel, which makes the bike seem less important in the photo.
> ...



I don't mind the clutter, but you have too much of it stacked on the left side of the frame in my opinion. Maybe if the skateboard was in the right corner, in shadow, it may balance the photo out a bit more.


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## rokvi (Dec 9, 2011)

Looks like what you would see on a young boys birthday card.


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## o hey tyler (Dec 9, 2011)

Another side note: 

You cropped this to an odd dimension. Therefore, printing is going to be a challenge and possibly more expensive.


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## Omofo (Dec 9, 2011)

I agree w/ Tyler, too much clutter and I'm not digging the square crop.


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## MatteoSaeed (Dec 22, 2011)

Nice,


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## pemaleso (Dec 23, 2011)

I like it!

Sent from my iPhone using PhotoForum


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## Joel_W (Dec 23, 2011)

I'm on the fence with this one. Already mentioned is the chopped rear tire which grabbed my eye. I like the clutter as it reminds me of my son's overly cluttered room. But just a tad too much contrast and saturation for my tastes. That doesn't make it right nor wrong, just what I prefer. Guess you could call me an old fashion realist.


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## vipgraphx (Dec 23, 2011)

I may retry this shot without the clutter and making sure I don't chop any of the bike out. I used Nik HDR pro for this and not photomatix.


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## Joel_W (Dec 23, 2011)

I only have Photmatix Essentials 3. How is Nik different, and does it pay to have more then one HDR program?


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## vipgraphx (Dec 23, 2011)

I am using the latest version of photomatix. The nik Hdr pro is very different and hasanynpresets along with being able to add or minus controlPoints. Also has a method tab that can take your image even further. I personally thinkIt pays to have more than just one program but that is just me. I like having tools just like when in the garage, it's nice to have more tools at your disposal to fix an appliance or something that break. For the price of the software it's not a bad price but I will say this, just the little I know of you , you seem to really like photorealistic and I think nik HDR pro would not take your photographs in that direction so, it might not be worth the money in your case. If you like the painterly look than yeah great software. You can download a 15 day trial and se r how you like it. Not to say that you can not getRealistic results from it but it just seemsLike its more for the grunge saturated cartoony look.


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## Joel_W (Dec 23, 2011)

vipgraphx said:


> I am using the latest version of photomatix. The nik Hdr pro is very different and hasanynpresets along with being able to add or minus controlPoints. Also has a method tab that can take your image even further. I personally thinkIt pays to have more than just one program but that is just me. I like having tools just like when in the garage, it's nice to have more tools at your disposal to fix an appliance or something that break. For the price of the software it's not a bad price but I will say this, just the little I know of you , you seem to really like photorealistic and I think nik HDR pro would not take your photographs in that direction so, it might not be worth the money in your case. If you like the painterly look than yeah great software. You can download a 15 day trial and se r how you like it. Not to say that you can not getRealistic results from it but it just seemsLike its more for the grunge saturated cartoony look.



Thanks for the info. And you're certainly right about me being in the Photorealistic camp. Guess when you get to my age, you're pretty set what you like and what you don't.  Although I haven't tried any of those Cartoonish looks yet. Just haven't taken any pictures that I thought would be worth the effort.


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