GeneB Loc: Chattanooga Tennessee

[quote=JimH123]There has been no cropping at all. I did try making vortual copies of the middle exposure and adjusting EV to -1 and +2 so that I had 5 images. But there was no change.

I have also tried every slider in both Photomatix and NIK HDR Efex and the halos never go away unless I leave the foreground so dark it is black.

I don't have Photoshop, so perhaps there is no solution.

Thanks[/

Try downloading GIMP a free substitute for PS.

TheDman Loc: USA

They don't look bright to me at all. They look dark, like there's a drop shadow behind the branches.

Hacksaw Loc: Pacific Northwest

Looks like mist from the river to my untrained eye.

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

The Photoshop Unsharp Mask filter has three sliders that adjust the image alteration. In OP's situation, what would you recommend?

mdcoram Loc: Kansas City, Missouri

Seems to be two camps here: Some can see the brightness around the branches and some can't. I can't see it myself but I love the images!

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Hi

It is easy to see once you know what to look for. You will need to hit the download button to download a bigger version of the file.

Then look at the hillside immediately on the other side of the long lake. Follow that hillside to the right and it eventually goes behind the branches of the tree on tje right. If you look among those branches, note how much brighter the hillside is in close proximity to the branches. This is the blooming or halo effect that is being discussed.

TheDman Loc: USA

Here's a screenshot of the full resolution. Looks like shadowing to me. No bright halos.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

You're looking too high. Where the closer hill side goes behind the tree branches. The distant hills have some bright clouds. But further down, the nearer hillside should not be getting brighter.

TheDman Loc: USA

Even lower, I'm still seeing shadowing and not bright halos.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

I have cropped the 1st picture, one with the tree on the right. If you look through the tree branches, you will see the glow or halo effect coming from the HDR process. And again, I got this using both Photomatix and NIK HDR Efix. Both were done using Tone Mapping. It was suggested I try Fusion (and there several options under Fusion) and I did find the halos are less. But also the saturation of the colors is less too. The picture did have the same appeal.

See if you can see the halos now.

After uploading this, I looked at it on both my monitors. My desk is not large enough for two large monitors. So I have one large 27" monitor that I do all my photo editing, and the halos are extremely evident on that monitor. And I had room to add a much smaller monitor beside it that I use only for text but never pictures since they do not look as good, and I never use it for editing. And when I looked at the cropped picture on that cheap monitor, the halos were almost gone. The quality of the monitor can make all the difference.

Crop of the shot with tree on the right

(Download)

TheDman Loc: USA

That's not haloing. The hills in the background of that area are just brighter, and in some cases there are white houses back there. If you look at 100% you can still see the shadowing going on around the branches, even in that area.