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Lou Tingle
All-Pro
- Location
- Louisville, Kentucky USA
Lou Tingle
All-Pro
- Location
- Louisville, Kentucky USA
Lightmancer
Legend
- Location
- Sunny Frimley
- Name
- Bill Palmer
Call me a curmudgeon, but I have a real issue with HDR. It makes my eyeballs itch. It is unreal in the same way that the pictures on shortbread tins are unreal. A form of cartoonish hyper-reality that bruises the retinas. Like salt in a dish, it should inform, not overwhelm and render the end result unpalatable. Nothing in real life ever looks like this. I think I had best stay out of this thread, for my own sanity. 
At the risk of splitting hairs: it's not HDR that you have issues with, but with the results of the tone mapping process that follows it. HDR is just a means to capture a broader dynamic range, it doesn't have any aesthetic qualities in and of itself.
Like with many things related to photography (and life in general), less is more. Too often, tone mapping is taken to a point where the result becomes an overbearing feature, rather than supporting/enhancing the image content that is already there.
Saying that you dislike HDR or tone mapping is like saying that you hate sharpening. It's just a tool and like any tool, you can take it to a point where most people feel that the result is over the top. Where the transition area between pleasing and garish lies is, as always, in the eye of the beholder.
It might be interesting to examine why tone mapping seems to be particularly prone to overindulgence.
Like with many things related to photography (and life in general), less is more. Too often, tone mapping is taken to a point where the result becomes an overbearing feature, rather than supporting/enhancing the image content that is already there.
Saying that you dislike HDR or tone mapping is like saying that you hate sharpening. It's just a tool and like any tool, you can take it to a point where most people feel that the result is over the top. Where the transition area between pleasing and garish lies is, as always, in the eye of the beholder.
It might be interesting to examine why tone mapping seems to be particularly prone to overindulgence.
SAPUDDY
New Member
- Name
- Jeff Prutzman
First, there is a difference between HDR done right, and what a lot of people think is HDR. I have taken a lot of time to get the results I do. I won't judge other's work, I just push myself to go farther than most. I find my pictures to be more realistic than a lot of over processed shots posted by many photographers.Call me a curmudgeon, but I have a real issue with HDR. It makes my eyeballs itch. It is unreal in the same way that the pictures on shortbread tins are unreal. A form of cartoonish hyper-reality that bruises the retinas. Like salt in a dish, it should inform, not overwhelm and render the end result unpalatable. Nothing in real life ever looks like this. I think I had best stay out of this thread, for my own sanity.
Amin
Hall of Famer
I like these a lot! Haven't done a lot of HDR myself, but I've seen lots of examples "done right"
Beautiful!
Amin
Hall of Famer
Call me a curmudgeon, but I have a real issue with HDR. It makes my eyeballs itch. It is unreal in the same way that the pictures on shortbread tins are unreal. A form of cartoonish hyper-reality that bruises the retinas. Like salt in a dish, it should inform, not overwhelm and render the end result unpalatable. Nothing in real life ever looks like this. I think I had best stay out of this thread, for my own sanity.
Where's that curmudgeon button when I need it
.Call me a curmudgeon, but I have a real issue with HDR. It makes my eyeballs itch. It is unreal in the same way that the pictures on shortbread tins are unreal. A form of cartoonish hyper-reality that bruises the retinas. Like salt in a dish, it should inform, not overwhelm and render the end result unpalatable. Nothing in real life ever looks like this. I think I had best stay out of this thread, for my own sanity.
Lightmancer
Legend
- Location
- Sunny Frimley
- Name
- Bill Palmer
Of course an image doesn't have to look like real life - I shoot a lot of mono and that doesn't for one moment profess to resemble reality. What bothers me with 99.9999% of HDR is that it takes on a crisp "hyper-reality" that is proudly presented as an "improvement". To me it just looks wrong in the same way that a slightly off-centre vase on a mantelshelf sets one's teeth to grinding.
Lightmancer
Legend
- Location
- Sunny Frimley
- Name
- Bill Palmer
If you quote me I cannot help but respond - a bit like saying Beetlegoose three times...
I use HDR but carefully. I agree it can provide a very phony look to photos that turns me off. But when I come upon a scenario where I have two exposure settings I use HDR. By "Two Exposure" settings I am referring to the situation where half the view is dark and the other half light. I see this a lot in landscape where using one exposure the Land is black and sky looks great or using another exposure the Sky is Totally Blown out and the land looks great.
In this case I take two shots - one exposed for the land and the other exposed for the sky. Once I combine the two exposures I can usually get a photo that provides exposure for both land and sky that I can process to look very natural. I find any more than two exposures just does not work to my advantage - I start to get that phony HDR look when there is too much combined into one.
In this case I take two shots - one exposed for the land and the other exposed for the sky. Once I combine the two exposures I can usually get a photo that provides exposure for both land and sky that I can process to look very natural. I find any more than two exposures just does not work to my advantage - I start to get that phony HDR look when there is too much combined into one.
I propose this... Good HDR captures what the eye would see but a sensor/film cannot capture. Once it goes much beyond what the eye would see, then it's usually, but not always, overdone.
Like any good Photoshop or darkroom work, it shouldn't scream that it is there.
CapoDave
Top Veteran
- Location
- Mission Viejo Ca
- Name
- Dave Kavlich
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