Yep, the first one looks better imo. Especially the air makes it more comfortable to look at. Though, there is a lot more noise in that HDR image...
I tried some "Fighter HDRs" myself these days, but often I also end up with way too much noise. Already in Photomatix so that I dont even process it...
I have been working with HDR landscape photos for some time now and there the noise doesnt become that obvious as soon as with "figther hdr" pics. For my landscapes I make 5 different exposures at the moment itself already so I end up mixing 5 RAW shots in Photomatix. Is it the problem of using JPEG files to create these complex HDR images that makes noise to appear more clearly?
I can show two of my HDRs I tried today, though not real fighters but anyways...
I included the pics as they would appear to me when just editing as 1 photo too, so you can see the difference.
For the HDRs I processed the raw file and made two extra images of it, from -1 EV and +1EV. Than combined the three in Photomatix Pro and back to PS for the final touch.
#A1 -HDR
#A2 - normally processed
#B1 - HDR
#B2 - normally processed
What do you think??!!
Personally, in the Iceland Air HDR pic, something is a bit strange.... haha. Though the shadows come out quite nice here.
Hälsningar,
Corné Uittenbogaard