its in front of the Bean.....Ba.....Ga..........
hehehehe
Erik, i do remember you now, it was nice chatting with you. anyhow, i have "disagreements" with other photographers on the use of HDR. the fact of the matter is that HDR is simply a tool of the photographer, no different than a lens, a flash, or anything else that you use to "affect" a photograph. personally, like flash, or another lens, i only use it when i think it calls for it, such as indoors where the variances in light are way too big to capture on camera in any way, or if i have to make a composite image, such as one i did for a restaurant where i had to maintain the exposure of the outside sunshine as well as all of the details under a huge tent that had a pub under it. HDR can be miss used, or not done properly, and i think that this gives it a bad name. in fact, i have made it a personal mission to do HDRs that people cant tell are HDRs. i have taught myself not to shoot in bracket mode but to shoot by histogram, i have also learned that the software that you are using can have a negative impact on the outcome as well. much like everyone else, i used PhotoMatix and utilized the details enhancer method of processing but the outcome was often cartoonish, and over cooked, so i did two things, i toned down all of the sliders in that particular method and i got closer to what i wanted. i also utilized the the tone compressor method of processing which def made a more natural look, but it achieved this by not utilizing the extreme highlights, and shadows, and thats what HDR is all about. so i tried another software called HDR PhotoStudio 2 and i loved it, its way more complicated, but because it lets you have control over the entire image and everything therein. it is not a free program but it is free to try for a month, and all the features are enabled so you can really get into it to see if its what you like. i might actually purchase it, it is that good. but you can get good results in Photomatix, you just have to work with it, ALOT !!!!
at the end of the day, its your photography, and wether or not people like it, in my mind, doesnt matter. its all about what makes you happy. but i hate when people say that HDR is a gimmick method and that it is a fad. the fact is that photographers since the dawn of photography have been doing techniques that mimmick HDR, in fact, the great ansel adams used to utilize a similar method when shooting his landscapes because he realized that he couldnt get the darks of the valleys and the highlights of the mountain tops, so he lightened and darkened them in the dark room to achieve the results that we all see and admire today. here is a perfect example, at least, i feel, of an HDR that i bet you wouldnt have though it was if i hadnt said it..............
