Woo! Comment explosion! Thanks all, I really appreciate the feedback -- it's quite encouraging.
Mike -- You're quite right. I went out to the lake without a tripod to shoot a camping event for an organization I was in while in college so I had to hand hold the three exposures. In doing that, I had to set the camera for high speed burst and hope for the best.
I think it's a fine balance between getting the HDR wow factor and taking it too far to where it looks a bit too intense and gaudy. I think you've crossed over into the latter territory. To my eye, a good HDR is one where you almost can't tell it's HDR - it's the sort of picure then that sells to a whole bunch of people who go "whoah" instead of limiting yourself to a smaller market of people who like things on the garish side. Mabe a slight desaturation? Just my tuppence.
Haha thanks for the comments. I totally agree with Flibble that a great HDR is one you can't really tell is HDR, but then I also look at that and wonder about the nature of HDR. One side of it is that HDR is a fantastic way to get full tonal range and preserve data you can't preserve with a single RAW. The other side of HDR is the controversial 'that's not photography' side. Sure, it's not photography in it's raw form, but it's an art form based on photography never-the-less. When I was composing this shot, the sunset was awe-inspiring and really struck me as beautiful. I was kicking myself for not having a tripod and having nothing around to attach my faithful gorillapod to and keep the same height for the shot. So because I couldn't get a crystal clear shot of the firey sunset in in it's raw, beautiful form, I decided to focus on composition and create an HDR image that sort of transcends the medium of photography. Desaturating is a good idea, since I wanted to focus more on composition for this shot, and believe me, I've made many renditions of the trio, but I liked this one the best. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I'll stand proudly in the smaller group of people who have an eye for things on the garish side. Cheers!
I really like the comp here very nice but for me the HDR is just a tad strong I enjoy HDR but for me there are images made and not made for HDR. I think a manual blend here may work real well. Just my thoughts
Hello,
A great first entry, the colors are lovely. I like HDR too especially when it isn't over done, and it's quite easy to over do it. I find your image a little dark, but it might just be my monitor. It is still a lovely scene. Nice work.
-Nick
The road draws you to the sunset.