If you\u2019re a digital photographer you can use the HDR technique \u2013 capture two or more images with bracketed exposures that span the dynamic range and then blend them together using software like PhotoMatix Pro<\/a>.\u00a0 So where\u2019s the problem?\u00a0 I mean, doesn\u2019t that sound like a good thing, taking photographs we weren\u2019t able to do at all with color film or with great difficulty with black and white?<\/p>\n But somehow HDR has become a four letter word in some circles.\u00a0 It\u2019s become synonymous with that word that is so offensive to some \u2013 MANIPULATION.\u00a0 HDR images are manipulated images.\u00a0 Never mind that HDR can be used to create photographs that are a lot more like what our eyes see than what our cameras are even remotely capable of capturing.<\/p>\n Many of these same people that think that HDR is a four letter word are also prone to look down their noses and ask, \u201cDid you PHOTOSHOP that picture.\u201d\u00a0 Yes, with Photoshop we can easily drop in moons that weren\u2019t there.\u00a0 And our photographs are cheap because of that.\u00a0 But it was OK in the days of film when the masters that we so admire did it.\u00a0 What\u2019s the difference?\u00a0 Is it that it was hard when you did it with film and therefore to be admired but it\u2019s easy with Photoshop?\u00a0 Don\u2019t know.\u00a0 Could be.<\/p>\n And with HDR a similar thing might be happening.\u00a0 With the software tools that are available you don\u2019t have to settle for recreating what our eyes saw, you can take your images over the top, give them that grunge look.\u00a0 Or that painterly look.\u00a0 It\u2019s up to you and your vision.<\/p>\n Now, for the record (not that it\u2019s important) I choose not to go for the grunge or painterly look in PhotoMatix Pro.\u00a0 I prefer to control the dynamic range, remove highlight clipping and return an image to Lightroom that I can continue to work on.\u00a0 And when it comes to moons in my\u00a0 photographs I prefer to be there when the full moon comes up behind my\u00a0 favorite bristlecone pine.\u00a0 It\u2019s a lot more fun that way.<\/p>\n But I have no argument with those that drop moons or cloudy skies or whatnot in their photographs.\u00a0 And I have no argument with those that choose to express themselves with grunge HDR images.\u00a0 I readily confess that some of them are extremely effective with the grunge look.\u00a0 That\u2019s just not my style, not my personality.<\/p>\n The only thing I think we all owe our viewers is to be honest about it.\u00a0 When people come into my booth at an art festival and ask if I manipulate or Photoshop my photographs I\u00a0 answer, \u201cOf course.\u201d\u00a0 I often go on to say, \u201cLet me put it this way.\u00a0 I approach photography from the mindset of a painter.\u00a0 I want to have all the creative freedom a painter would have.’\u201d\u00a0 And more than once, they have responded, \u201cOh, I get it.\u00a0 You\u2019re an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n Love it when that happens.<\/p>\n What do you think of HDR?\u00a0 What do you think of manipulation in Photoshop?\u00a0 Leave a comment.\u00a0 We’d love to hear your opinion.<\/p>\n If you found this post interesting or relevant please feel free to share it on Facebook, Twitter or the like.<\/p>\n Join me on an upcoming workshop.\u00a0 Click here for more details.<\/a><\/p>\n To see more of my photographs click here.<\/a><\/p>\n WordPress Tags: Four<\/a>,Letter<\/a>,Word<\/a>,Many<\/a>,images<\/a>,photography<\/a>,MANIPULATION<\/a>,exposure<\/a>,judges<\/a>,image<\/a>,category<\/a>,High<\/a>,Dynamic<\/a>,Range<\/a>,situation<\/a>,difference<\/a>,sensor<\/a>,highlights<\/a>,shadows<\/a>,Move<\/a>,Ansel<\/a>,Adams<\/a>,development<\/a>,Read<\/a>,technique<\/a>,PhotoMatix<\/a>,PHOTOSHOP<\/a>,Could<\/a>,tools<\/a>,grunge<\/a>,vision<\/a>,Lightroom<\/a>,argument<\/a>,viewers<\/a>,booth<\/a>,festival<\/a>,mindset<\/a>,painter<\/a>,freedom<\/a>,artist<\/a>,Love<\/a>,competitions<\/a>,chemicals<\/a>,exposures<\/a>,digital<\/a>,camera<\/a>,black<\/a>,software<\/a>,were<\/a>,moons<\/a><\/p>\n (2058)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Is HDR really a four letter word or is it a powerful technique that let’s capture images we would have had to pass up in the past?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[589,588,841,37,669,842,183,835,847,846,840,639,419,36,836,266,551,131,832,845,658,633,635,543,376,834,833,47,519,350,556,843,849,838,844,13,72,48,837,839,86,473,637,324,52,664,735,507,848,657],"class_list":["post-2718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal","tag-adams","tag-ansel","tag-argument","tag-artist","tag-black","tag-booth","tag-camera","tag-category","tag-chemicals","tag-competitions","tag-could","tag-development","tag-difference","tag-digital","tag-dynamic","tag-exposure","tag-exposures","tag-festival","tag-four","tag-freedom","tag-grunge","tag-high","tag-highlights","tag-image","tag-images","tag-judges","tag-letter","tag-lightroom","tag-love","tag-manipulation","tag-many","tag-mindset","tag-moons","tag-move","tag-painter","tag-photography","tag-photomatix","tag-photoshop","tag-range","tag-read","tag-sensor","tag-shadows","tag-situation","tag-software","tag-technique","tag-tools","tag-viewers","tag-vision","tag-weren","tag-word"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Nl7-HQ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2718"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4699,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718\/revisions\/4699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Smile\"](\"http:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/wlEmoticon-smile.png\")
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