El Malpais Nat'l Mon./HDR Critique

I went down to New Mexico a few weeks ago and made a brief stop at El Malpais (Spanish for Badlands) National Monument. It is an area encompassing a large lava flow from the Bandera Volcano. One of the highlights of the park is the Collapsed Caterpillar, a lava tube that has collapsed over time and now is basically a big trench. Part of the lava tube is still intact and forms the Big Skylight Lava Tube, which is named for a circular hole in the roof of the cave. The lava tube is between 35 and 50 feet in diameter. The horizontal lines you see are gouges left in the wall of the lava tube by boulders being pushed through the tube.

I posted this mostly for a critique on the image blending, which I did using the tone-mapping feature in Photomatrix. This image was my most complex to date, having to use 8 images. I originally tried with 3, 5, and 7 images, but needed 8 to get all the different areas rendered correctly. I would love to get some feedback on this. Edit: This was another in my series of Fisheye lens shots (Canon 15mm Fisheye), it was shot with the lens level so not much distortion coming from the lens.

#2 I ran into the cave to give some scale, this is a 3 image blend. EDIT: This is taken from right underneath the skylight so it gets a lot of natural light.

This is truly excellent! You may very well be the only person who has ever photographed this tube with an overall correct exposure. Feels like I'm in a lens aperture looking out.
Can't tell by looking at this small version, but you might have some HDR type artifacts in the big cloud. You'll know if you do looking at the full res. version.
A unique and stunning capture, Scott! You should post this one at ES&S.

The first one is spectacular. I think it's obvious that it is an HDR, but it works very well. My suggestion for improvement is to darken the back end of the tunnel a bit, and brighten the spot under the opening a bit. To me, those two places look the most unnatural. Thanks for sharing this. I need to head down that way soon.

Scott, I really liked #2. You in the shot gives it perspective and the colors are really nice. I struggle to get anything from HDR so I have nothing to contribute on #1. I do like it, however, but #2 is my favorirte. I am heading south toward the end of October. I may try to visit that place. It looks great! Thanks for sharing it.

That first one is a very, very cool shot. Can I tell its HDR? Yes, for all the reasons that Momo stated. Still, I really like the outcome of what you've attempted and with Momo's suggestions (and also increasing the contrast of the mid and darker tones in the opening), it'll get even better.

Thanks for all the comments so far. Momo/Guy, you touched on one of the areas I struggled with, the area around the opening. EDITED: Totally misread your comments the first time around Momo, I agree with the areas you mentioned and will work on it in the morning.

This looks extremely cool, Scott! Great job. I dont know if id have the patience for an 8 image blend, more power to ya!

Wow, really cool. Great job processing, IMHO. I agree that mid-tone contrast might be bumped a smidge, but its really cool, as is. Did I say this is really cool?! Every time I return back to the image for another look, I say to myself, "Whoa, really cool!"

These are both fabulous! Great comps on both. If I had to pick one, I'd say #1, but that's because it's so unique. Momo makes some good points, but I think #1 works as is too. Great job, Scott.

John mentioned it "Feels like I'm in a lens aperture looking out." I wanted to point out this was another in my series of Fisheye lens shots (Canon 15mm Fisheye), it was shot with the lens level so not much distortion coming from the lens.

Very cool shot, nice job on the HDR

Nice job with the HDR. If you make the suggested adjustments this will be over the top.

I think the HDR in these images is excellent...It shows you can do a good job when you dont over process. I like the detail, especially in number 1.

Nice work. Guess Photomatix has some virtues for those with patience. Like both. For some reason, I would like to see the blue in the sky in number 1 darkened a little bit.

Bill Brennan

Super shot, Scott. Love the composition and seeing a spot not often photographed. I've never stopped there even though I've been by it a couple of times. That must have taken some real quality time with the computer to blend 8 exposures! Wonderful result though!