Dreadnought

[domdib]

Thanks for the info. I'm now actively considering buying Photomatix  . (and if anyone else is interested in doing so, there's a discount coupon available if you go the www.beforethecoffee.com and click on his Photomatix tutorial)

[Zairyn Arsyn]

Insanely awesome clouds...
good terrain too,

[JimAward]

Man, these clouds are almost frightening.
They don't contain ordinary water, do they?
Stunning image, very impressive.

[MrHooper]

Yes, tonemapping is a very powerful tool.  Photomatix has a particularly nice local tonemapping operator.  This is a really cool image.  Thanks for posting.  One thing to be aware of though... the photomatix tonemapper has been pushed to some extreme levels by many users, so that super dynamic contrast, deep blues, and enhanced edges is starting to become the unfortunate definition of "hdr" images...   That is NOT a comment on this image, which I think has been tonemapped appropriately, and looks great.  Just be careful with pushing photomatix too far;) it's becoming the "lens flare" of today;)

That said, even gamma adjustments can bring out a lot of detail in a flat (subdued) exr, which is the most basic form of tonemapping.  I generally render pretty bland images so I don't blow anything out, then use gamma, gain, etc in fusion to adjust the image in post as you did with photomatix.

Good stuff.  Any info on the cloud setup would be nice to know;)

Andrew

[PorcupineFloyd]

Yes, tonemapping is a very powerful tool.  Photomatix has a particularly nice local tonemapping operator.  This is a really cool image.  Thanks for posting.  One thing to be aware of though... the photomatix tonemapper has been pushed to some extreme levels by many users, so that super dynamic contrast, deep blues, and enhanced edges is starting to become the unfortunate definition of "hdr" images...   That is NOT a comment on this image, which I think has been tonemapped appropriately, and looks great.  Just be careful with pushing photomatix too far;) it's becoming the "lens flare" of today;)

That said, even gamma adjustments can bring out a lot of detail in a flat (subdued) exr, which is the most basic form of tonemapping.  I generally render pretty bland images so I don't blow anything out, then use gamma, gain, etc in fusion to adjust the image in post as you did with photomatix.

Good stuff.  Any info on the cloud setup would be nice to know;)

Andrew

Tone mapping can be very spectacular but it can be overused as every technique - there's no doubt for that. I've learned so far that there are some types of scenes that work good with tone mapping and some that don't. There are scenes which don't look tone mapped at all, there are some which are flat after tone mapping and some that are simply weird. After all - it's just a technique. You can use it or not but yes - I agree that it may suddenly become a "lens flare" of today. Good comparison by the way

As for cloud setup - I've attached a .tgd for everyone willing to take a look.
You can use this file freely under the CC BY-NC-SA license :-)

[efflux]

Excellent. Great clouds.