To HDR or to not HDR….That is the question. Since I’ve been intrigued by other people’s work with their HDR photography, I thought some night photography with the Tall Ships in Baltimore would be a great place to experiment.
Here is the original with no processing
Second photo processed with Lightroom 3.5 adjustments
Downloading a trial version of Photomatix 4.2, it was easy enough to select, upload and merge the three bracketed photos that I took of this ship. Stumbling through the creative section of the software was fun. However I could easily see how one could spend some time in this section trying to find the perfect combination for one’s preferences. I got the general idea of how this works, but clearly I need more practice in figuring out how to really make the photo “pop” with appropriate colors.
It took me a few moments to figure out how to save the image to a .jpeg file, and here is the final result. Let me know what you think!
Categories: Foot Prints
Emily Carter ~ Nature as Art 
follows my thoughts nicely. So far I haven’t seen more than a good handful of HDR pictures. The one at the top is nice. The one ‘developed’ with Lightroom is awesome. The colors, the contrast is shown realistically. Just the way, I like pictures to be. HDR though adds this artificial glow to the picture. the lights are glowing like mad and the canvas is looking like it is radioactively enhanced.
I can understand, why people like HDR. It adds life to the pictures. It is more colorful, just like a picture out of a Hollywood-flick. But life is hardly that way. HDR should only support huge differences in dark and bright areas, not overcompensate colors and turn the whole picture into something from Mars.
But that’s just my two cents 🙂 As written above, the second picture is great! Your work with HDR is amazing, too. It is just the concept of using HDR this way I do not really support.
Cheers and keep up your excellent work!
Andreas
Thanks for your comments Andreas. I also do not gravitate to HDR, but in learning photography I figured it would be a good exercise to play with and have an understanding of. I also prefer the lightroom adjusted photo. The original RAW image are usually a little flat and dark. Like you, I prefer my photos to display things as I experienced them with my own eye. Not something out of Disney World. 🙂 Have a wonderful day and thanks again for your feedback.
Bella
I hear you. One should always try out stuff. That is what I like about the wordpress-blogosphere. So many styles and experiments to use as an inspiration.
And I should think before I write my first sentences … wanted to write that I haven’t seen more than a handful of good HDR pictures … Maybe that will change, once combining the bracketed picture can be done with better software … who knows 🙂
Have a good day and weekend too 🙂
Now to practice with some high contrast photos and see how that turns out. After second review in the evening, wasn’t a fan. I agree, there are some out there that do wonderfully creative and attractive work with HDR, but I can only imagine how much time was put into it.
Thanks again and may you have as wonderful weather as we are.
Great post! I used to be a mega user of HDR but later realised I was overdoing it. I still use on occasion for challenging exposures but I’m gradually weaning myself from the addiction!
Very funny Aaron ! I can see how it can be addictive as you just want to see what you can do with it. I love lightroom, quick, easy and to-the-point. Any more than 10 minutes on a photo then I quickly lose interest. The idea is to get the shot in the field.
Have a great weekend!
You’re a magician or a witch (? ‘big smile’) as you conjure up – fun to watch from a view of an amateur like me… 😉
Hehehe I will never tell Drake! I am also an amateur, and know that one learns by extending yourself. Even the night photography was a new challenge to me. Add moving ships in the water to slow shutter speeds and eeh Gads…
Hope you’re doing something fun this weekend, and look forward to your next post!
I’m not a big fan of HDR. It’s amazing in ways, but mostly it is just too bright and ends up looking like an ad rather than art.
I agree – I messed up the color with this one, too light blue. I do like the three-dimensional look it adds though. Look forward to seeing you this week!
Can I just hit the “like” button?
I like the Lightroom edit, maybe because the wind was blowing and by putting the HDR together is blurred the flags. But like many people above I like the realism of “this is the way my eye saw it” rather than over processed.
I’m not totally against effects, HDR has it’s place, in photo manipulation, fine art work etc. but in “true” photography, I like to see what I see.
I’m in agreement with you. It was the first time I had tried it and with this subject it didn’t work. Next time I’ve got a bright sky and a dark foreground with time to play ill try it again.
Looking forward to seeing it.