The Photography Thread

[danielpholt]

I guess so, but i'm no expert on it.

High Dynamic Range photography creates an image from multiple exposures that are combined to overcome the limitations of automatic exposure control in cameras. The technique can recover details that would be lost in shadows, and keep bright areas, like the sky from blowing out.

[Lillehamring]

I'v read up on HDR in some of the photography mags i read, and from what i understand, its basically taking the image, and then drastically enhancing various aspects of the lighting, shading, etc etc. A lot of people don't consider it 'true' photography because you are really manipulating the RAW image. That being said, when its done well it can look stunning.

there is an element of that to the majority of photographic images - whether it is extreme digital manipulation, or making simple adjustments developing a negative....

Is it as simple as saying you're taking two images of the same picture, one (slightly) overexposed, the other (slightly) underexposed, then putting both on top of each other?

that's more or less what i did, except i repeated the process.

[Houdini Logic]

I'v read up on HDR in some of the photography mags i read, and from what i understand, its basically taking the image, and then drastically enhancing various aspects of the lighting, shading, etc etc. A lot of people don't consider it 'true' photography because you are really manipulating the RAW image. That being said, when its done well it can look stunning.

But when does true photography start to become 'fake' photography? *deep philosophical question alert*

You could argue that the f64 group were not real photographers because they made special cameras with tiny pinholes to allow them to get a depth of field that is simply not possible for the human eye. For me - just because the result is something we don't/can't see in everyday life doesn't make it any less of a photograph.

The approach I have is to make the image look as good as I can, by whatever means.

If that means I'm not a real photographer, then I'll be an artist instead.

[danielpholt]

I'm not saying i agree, and i myself manipulate the image to get a better result, however in my understanding HDR is taking the image, and then REALLY going to town on it, we're not talking tweeking the image a little or messing around with the levels here.

[Lillehamring]

I'm not saying i agree, and i myself manipulate the image to get a better result, however in my understanding HDR is taking the image, and then REALLY going to town on it, we're not talking tweeking the image a little or messing around with the levels here.

it would be like saying cubism or impressionism isn't real painting....

[Phube]

I like untouched images... personally if they are 'touched up' they lose their wow factor...

But that's just me.

[Anish]

I like untouched images... personally if they are 'touched up' they lose their wow factor...

But that's just me.

Completely agree.

It's not really about your photography skills or your camera if you photoshop or edit the photo on your PC.

[Phube]

Completely agree.

It's not really about your photography skills or your camera if you photoshop or edit the photo on your PC.

Quite, although we probably all fall foul of the digital camera cheat... we all keep taking photos until we get one we like. In the old days we took one or two (imagine how much it would cost to print you entire digital photograph collection... )

[Lillehamring]

Completely agree.

It's not really about your photography skills or your camera if you photoshop or edit the photo on your PC.

yeah, but there's still artistry in digital editing. it's like saying the beatles weren't real musicians because they used compression and reverb...

[AoWW]

yeah, but there's still artistry in digital editing. it's like saying the beatles weren't real musicians because they used compression and reverb...

Well they weren't proper, then.

Edited 21 August 2010 by anotherofwalshieswomen

[Phube]

yeah, but there's still artistry in digital editing. it's like saying the beatles weren't real musicians because they used compression and reverb...

Artistry - Yes.

Photography - No.

[Ozwin]

Freaky reflection baby.

[danielpholt]

I don't see anything wrong with using the photo editing software to finish off an image, it can help give it that little bit more life.

[Lillehamring]

I don't see anything wrong with using the photo editing software to finish off an image, it can help give it that little bit more life.

i think the question the purists are asking, is when does a photo cease to be a 'photo'?

for me, the camera is only one tool in the process of photography, developing tools are another. i don't buy into the whole 'preciousness of the art' theory - photographers have been manipulating images, shifting contrasts and exposure since the very first days of photography. digital editing, admittedly makes it easier to corrupt a source image and techniques are now much more extreme, but then it's much easier to take photos these days because of digital cameras, where all the exposure correction can be done for the photographer.

for most of my pictures, i tend to just use contrast adjustment in digital softwear, simply because it's easier than doing it at the time of taking the picture, does that make me less of a photographer?

[smallpauldj]

some great pics on here peeps!

all my efforts are just from phone cams and i think it was the toco.

1st pic is a sunset at Newquay

2nd is a sunset at whitstable

3rd is Torquay harbour

4th is the snow at swithy woods

and the last a small wave down near Penzance risking my phone

[Brainy]

[danielpholt]

Pretty sun shots

[Mee]

Made the colours come out in the sky a little more.

[MrLuke]

Saw a couple of peeps talking about HDR, I played around with my old Lumix and came up with this. Over done a little but I'm one for the dramatic.

[danielpholt]

What software did you use to do it?

[MrLuke]

I used a program called Silkypix, though recently I've started using the options available in Photoshop CS5

[danielpholt]

I can't afford CS5....

So i use either a program called Pixelmator for mac, or Lightroom/Apature. I'v not decided which one i like more yet.

[MrLuke]

Lightroom is my preference, don't use Aperture too much to be honest. My advice is head over to Flickr and take a butchers at what other people are doing, there are loads of topics on there about which applications work best for HDR.

[Lillehamring]

Saw a couple of peeps talking about HDR, I played around with my old Lumix and came up with this. Over done a little but I'm one for the dramatic.

nice

[danielpholt]

I'm a bit of an Apple fanboy, but i might go go cheep and buy Elements instead