Photography as Art

Z&I

Hi osbornsm ... Thanks for your input!

Yes, you are right. You can get pretty good results most of the time with the basic adjustments : Levels or Curves, Brightness and Contrast, and Saturation to your liking if needed.

And I also agree, you don't need HDR for every situation and it can easily be overdone ... I've seen a ton of busy and garish HDR images that are too unreal and actually irritating to look at.

However, there are times when HDR comes in very handy, especially when there is a huge dynamic range that needs to be tamed.

HDR programs [and Topaz effect] can give you the options of really going radical with your images.
Not to everybody's taste including mine.

Personally, I use HDR sparingly and then only to flatten the tonal range to include detail in the highlights and shadows.
It can be a technical asset and allow for better technical/creative images when done right.

Ansel Adams used his zone system to 'Push' and 'Pull' his negatives and prints to retain detail and contrast in situations that exceeded the limits of film and paper.
He was doing with film what we can now do with HDR.

Out of all the images I've posted so far there are only 2 that have been in HDR [and then out of absolute necessity] The DC Motor Switch was a single shot using a Hasselblad Digital Back - which does have the capabliltity to record a greater dynamic range in a single capture]

'Eastern State Penitentiary Barber Shop'
This was an extremely dark area - with only the soft light from the overhead skylight entering the area.
There was almost no detail to be had as seen by the naked eye.
HDR came to the rescue, but even though the HDR brought the detials in it was still a long way from being a finished image.

'Madam Toussads Wax Museum NYC'
Another image that was a tremendous technical challenge to record detail in both the shadows and the highlights.
So I bracketed the shot and used HDR to bring it to life.
Without HDR there wouldn't have been much detail either in the shadows or the highlights depending on the choice of exposure.
Either the highlights would have been blown out, or the shadows would have gone blank.


I've worked on these 2 images these last few days - both taken in difficult [but different] lighting situations in the fall season in Maine last year.

'Up the Tree without a Paddle' very low light level, flat and overcast, almost no dynamic range.
This needed to be 'toned up'.

'Tuna Chasers at Perkins Cove' very bright scene with extremely high dynamic range and contrast.
This needed to be 'toned down' to include detail in both the shadows and highlights while still retaining proper mid tones.
I was able to recover detail and balance the image using only Photoshop tools.
'Tuna Chasers' refers to the type of boat used to chase tuna ... notice the extended bowsprits ... imagine a ride at high speed standing out over the ocean with the safety of the boat way behind you !!!

Neither was shot in HDR and both were shot as Jpg's.

Your thoughts ?

'Up a Tree without a Paddle' & 'Tuna Chasers'

Attached Images

	small_Up a Tree without a Paddle.jpg (649.8 KB, 8 views)
	small_Tuna Chasers.jpg (577.8 KB, 9 views)

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