I took my Tokina 11-16 UWA lens up to the Syracuse University hill last night for the Big East game between Syracuse and Villanova. Here's a 7 image HDR showing about 90% of the crowd. ; Really could have used a fish-eye lens for this one. I used a gorillapod (tripods are not allowed in the Dome) and remote to steady the camera where the TV camera is behind the goalpost for football games. Expand for bigger view. [expando]http://www.sthomasphotos.com/photos/798896587_JRVmV-XL.jpg[/expando]
I far prefer the first image (I really like the layered composition of the first image). ; Obviously I haven't seen the original 0 EV of the second shot, but (in light of the first image) I just can't imagine there being enough dynamic range in this scene to necessitate 7 exposure HDR; I also think the blacks and contrast in the second are way too low.
The first image does better at telling the story of the night from a fans point of view and is my favorite. The 7 images was used to keep the noise down. ; There was a more dynamic range because of where I was shooting from the end zone with the light concentrated over the court which falls off on either side and the blue area in front of me. ; Will work on getting more contrast in creating the HDR image and post which is the weakest part of my workflow. ;
Gotcha. ; Well, hey, don't take my word as the gospel. ; I think the flat/lacking blacks/contrast-less look is somewhat endemic to multiple exposure HDR. ; I will admit, I don't care for the look. ; Others may (lord knows Trey Ratcliff is popular and I think a lot of his images suffer from this problem), so it may not be worth messing with. ; I like my images to pop with dark blacks and bright colors; that's just my personal preference. ; My opinions very well could be unrepresentative of the general population...
Thanks, Paul! I attended the St. John's game this week and did a quick grab shot from the opposite end zone platform (no railings on this one) as I was leaving the game.
