To go HDR ... or Not?

Please see LARGE.

Further to the discussions which took place about HDR a couple of blips ago, I thought I'd publish a comparison between a standard shot of some local scrub and a 5 image HDR composite of the same scene. The version on the left has received mild output sharpening but is otherwise sooc. The one on the right is a blended imagefile direct from Photomatix Pro ("enhanced" preset) with the same output sharpening. As per two days ago, the five component frames were set 1 stop apart.

I'd encourage you to examine the highlights and shadow areas carefully for any loss of detail and for whether some potentially important information has actually gone completely missing in one image or the other.

The bugbear of all Australian photographers is the harsh summer light which always manages to underscore the narrow dynamic range of our sensors. Perhaps some judicious HDR can help overcome the problem.

YESTERDAY'S MM PUZZLE

Regarding the puzzle I set for you in yesterday's MonoMonday blip, may I thank all of those photographers who indulged me by taking the time to participate. It was much appreciated. The exercise was just a bit of fun and hardly rigorous but a great many of you came close to my own total. It is entirely possible that I have missed something obvious but for what it is worth I have listed my "frames" below. I did not count any of the tile or brick borders or any perceived borders from within the wall painting composition as frames. Architraves were counted as frames and I also counted frames within frames:

One blip image frame which I had installed myself = 1
+ one frame surrounding and supporting the footpath advertising sign = 2
+ one frame surrounding the wall painting = 3
+ two frames holding glass panels in the small lantern = 5
+ one overall frame surrounding the double doors and window = 6
+ one frame surrounding the double panel window = 7
+ two frames surrounding the separate window panels = 9
+ one frame surrounding the double door = 10
+ two frames for each of the two doors = 12
+ twelve frames for the individual glass panels in the double doors = 24

Now there was a frame system supporting the shop awning. You couldn't see all of it and it was integrated in order to support the awning as a whole. I counted that as ONE frame in all, making a grand total (so far as I could see) of 25!! There was a glimpse of another wall painting frame edge on but unless you were a local I could not have expected you to know it was a frame. I didn't count that one.

You might well have omitted the awning frame and/or the overall blip image frame. You may have counted the edge-on picture frame and you may well have counted several of the awning frame components as separate frames. So far as I am concerned therefore, anyone with a total of between 23 and 32 deserves to be called a winner. Thank you once again for joining in the fun. Incidentally if I missed any obvious frames I'd love for you to tell me.