eli lucas Loc: New Orleans

Thanks for the photo workout stuff. Some of those photos are stunning. I finally kinda' sorta' got the hang of Luminance HDR with only two subroutines... the infinite combinations that are obtainable through manipulation of mathematical derivatives boggle my simple mind.
The big snail is an example of a resultant photo with colors that are too saturated vs the trees and grass. I'm certain the problem is operator error.

Do you have a preferred app for HDR?

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Think of the product of the HDR merge as just a starting point. If you think it's oversaturated, desaturate it a bit. Better still, use the HSL tool (or whatever your equivalent is) to target specific colours. HDR also has a tendency to leave an image with an overall flatness contrast-wise, which you can counter by adding contrast. And if your darks go too dark and solid, use the Blacks and/or the Shadows slider to lighten them a bit. In your posted examples the subjects are clear and vivid but some of the backgrounds have a wishy-washy look to them, plus they may be a little on the dark side. It's nothing that a bit of tweaking won't fix.

PS - If you click on "Quote Reply" under the post that you want to respond to, we'll know whose comments you're replying to.

eli lucas Loc: New Orleans

Thank you very much for the suggestions. I purposely darken backgrounds, in addition to using gausian blur. Are my post-processing efforts wasted? I agree the HDR is the starting place.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

You're welcome. Do you think you're achieving the look that you want? That's what decides if your efforts are wasted or not.

It's possible to de-emphasise a background and still keep a natural look, if that's what you want. Instead of Gaussian blur, try a little negative Clarity (going left with the Clarity slider) - I'm assuming that you select the background to add the blur. And if you like that direction, try doing the same with the Contrast slider, although with a merge of bracketed shots it's probably low on contrast already. You can also soften a background by giving it extra denoise and desaturation.

Warm colours advance and cool colours retreat, so you can add a subtle sense of depth by giving the background a slight white balance shift towards blue.

If you're trying to reproduce the DOF effect that you get from a lens, remember that it's only the distant background that's softened by being out of focus. And often a subject's surroundings provide context and added visual interest, so you don't want to overkill everything that's not the main subject.