SA Photoblog

I realized that many people actually prefer HDR art. From my observation, almost all of my most faved artwork on DeviantArt are HDR work. Whilst it’s a good thing knowing that people appreciate my art, it also brings me back to the question: is HDR overused?

Depending on how the artist goes about creating their HDR work, some made their work look unrealistic, and others stick to the traditional HDR post processing. In either case, HDR photos are created to show a lot more detail in both shadow and light areas than one-shot images. Let’s face it: we just don’t have the technology yet to provide such convenience for consumer photographers yet. But as HDR becomes popular among post processors, I think it’s also worth pondering whether HDR post processing is considered original work, or a post processing technique in itself.

Personally, I think HDR is both. The merged image gives you so much more control over your image while retaining a high degree of detail, and the best of it all? Lighting. You gain such a high dynamic range of lighting with HDR that you can post processing it in many ways, and for most of my HDR work, I tend to go a little toward that “unrealistic” retouching realm. I have done it so many times, that I am starting to feel that I have overused the effect too much, and it may very well hinder my personal growth in photography.

Nevertheless, I would recommend all photographers to try out HDR sometime. It’s a wonderful way to give you a whole different outlook toward your photos, and so many more ways to express them in ways you like.

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