Backlighting approach/workflow (1 Viewer)

nigelblake said:

Highlight/shadow or 'fill in flash' tools in software do have some use if used carefully, however they are prone to increasing chroma noise, the PSP tool is very prone to adding red and green speckles in yellows.

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Thanks for the further tips Nigel. Regarding the shadows/highlight tool, I was delighted by this when I first found it but I hardly ever use it now because of the noise issues.

I find that this sort of tool and techniques to increase the exposure range generally can make for a somewhat pale and artificial looking image if you get it wrong or push the technique too far. Some of the images on the Photomatix website look more like paintings than photographs because of this and I think applying these techniques to wildlife pictures has to be rather more subtly done if they are still to look natural. Still, the more tools we have in our armoury the better as far as I'm concerned - more power to make things look good and of course more power to make a complete hash of things! 3

Tim Taylor said:

Still, the more tools we have in our armoury the better as far as I'm concerned - more power to make things look good and of course more power to make a complete hash of things! 3

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Indeed, and we see quite alot of that!, ultimately its down to the techniques of the person using it, and there are some very bad examples of HDR images.
Self critisism and a properly calibrated monitor make a big difference though!

Tim, all post processing should be done subtly, no matter what it is. Ernie