HDR - is it too much?
Discussion
Is it just me, or does HDR processing tend to make everything look a bit 'fairy-tale'?
I've watched quite a few tutorials on YT and initially I'm always amazed at the results. There is no doubting the power of the process; details and textures pop out of every part of the photo. I've seen lots of fantastic photos posted here and elsewhere. Enough to make me want to grab my camera and go and try it myself. But if I look a little longer, the feeling wears off, and the image loses its appeal.
For me, it's somehow in that "uncanny valley", where reality looks unsettling. Almost like a film set where the CGI effort went on the showing off the tech and not on the art. (Compare Hollywood and Japan animation, for example.)
I suppose HDR is a technology-led fashion. But on an artistic level, it tends to leave me cold. Maybe there's a more interesting application of HDR that I haven't come across yet?
(Apologies for the newbie-sounds-like-troll opinion. Next week, I'll whine about how the pursuit of the ultimate bokeh-ed portrait is surely the most obvious cart-before-the-horse set of priorities ever.)
I've watched quite a few tutorials on YT and initially I'm always amazed at the results. There is no doubting the power of the process; details and textures pop out of every part of the photo. I've seen lots of fantastic photos posted here and elsewhere. Enough to make me want to grab my camera and go and try it myself. But if I look a little longer, the feeling wears off, and the image loses its appeal.
For me, it's somehow in that "uncanny valley", where reality looks unsettling. Almost like a film set where the CGI effort went on the showing off the tech and not on the art. (Compare Hollywood and Japan animation, for example.)
I suppose HDR is a technology-led fashion. But on an artistic level, it tends to leave me cold. Maybe there's a more interesting application of HDR that I haven't come across yet?
(Apologies for the newbie-sounds-like-troll opinion. Next week, I'll whine about how the pursuit of the ultimate bokeh-ed portrait is surely the most obvious cart-before-the-horse set of priorities ever.)
As noted, it's a matter of how it is done.
I shoot a lot with bracketed exposures which I may / may not use to create a HDR image. I'm frequently taking images in high contrast situations and often find that the HDR gives me a bit more opportunity to create the image that I remember seeing.
Here are a couple of examples:
this one wasn't an HDR image.
This one, shot in the same location a few months later was:
In most instances I'm trying to control a bright sky or sun-touched mountain. Arguably you could get a similar result using a graduated ND filter but given I'm rarely working with a flat horizon I prefer to bracket and use an HDR.
I shoot a lot with bracketed exposures which I may / may not use to create a HDR image. I'm frequently taking images in high contrast situations and often find that the HDR gives me a bit more opportunity to create the image that I remember seeing.
Here are a couple of examples:
this one wasn't an HDR image.
This one, shot in the same location a few months later was:
In most instances I'm trying to control a bright sky or sun-touched mountain. Arguably you could get a similar result using a graduated ND filter but given I'm rarely working with a flat horizon I prefer to bracket and use an HDR.
Like any effect, it's easy to over do it, just because you can.
In my view, the quality of adjustment in Lightroom coupled with a decent RAW image have rendered the original intent of HDR largely (but not totally) redundant. For example.... took the following photo in Sweden, was just passing over a bridge. Tipping with rain and dark so only time for a quick 'point and shoot' photo.
But managed to get this from Lightroom (not exactly the same image but may as well have been). It's not a perfect shot by any means but the effect is HDR like extracted from the various tools on Lightroom.
In my view, the quality of adjustment in Lightroom coupled with a decent RAW image have rendered the original intent of HDR largely (but not totally) redundant. For example.... took the following photo in Sweden, was just passing over a bridge. Tipping with rain and dark so only time for a quick 'point and shoot' photo.
But managed to get this from Lightroom (not exactly the same image but may as well have been). It's not a perfect shot by any means but the effect is HDR like extracted from the various tools on Lightroom.
StevieBee said:
Like any effect, it's easy to over do it, just because you can.
In my view, the quality of adjustment in Lightroom coupled with a decent RAW image have rendered the original intent of HDR largely (but not totally) redundant. For example.... took the following photo in Sweden, was just passing over a bridge. Tipping with rain and dark so only time for a quick 'point and shoot' photo.
But managed to get this from Lightroom (not exactly the same image but may as well have been). It's not a perfect shot by any means but the effect is HDR like extracted from the various tools on Lightroom.
Sorry StevieBee but for me that processing has been taken too far and now looks unnatural.
In my view, the quality of adjustment in Lightroom coupled with a decent RAW image have rendered the original intent of HDR largely (but not totally) redundant. For example.... took the following photo in Sweden, was just passing over a bridge. Tipping with rain and dark so only time for a quick 'point and shoot' photo.
But managed to get this from Lightroom (not exactly the same image but may as well have been). It's not a perfect shot by any means but the effect is HDR like extracted from the various tools on Lightroom.
Sorry StevieBee but for me that processing has been taken too far and now looks unnatural.
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