HDR is fucking terrible 99.9% of the time it's used. Including in pretty much every photo of that link.

And who the fuck are you?

HDR imaging is as valid of a photographic style as - say - black and white, but it needs to be done tastefully... which I agree most of the time it is not. Also many amateurs make the mistake of taking otherwise boring scenes or poorly composed shots and trying to make them look cool via tonal compression. They're missing the point.

David Hill does some of the most brilliant HDR imaging work I've ever seen... though I think he also composites some of his images as well. Here's a taste:







Love love love his work. David Hill's website.

A friend showed me these photos a while back... what fascinating people... what great captures.
Here are a few to entice you to click link (NSFW ads).

David Hill

yeah I wasn't saying HDR doesn't have a use, those pictures definitely use it the right way but like I said it reminds me of auto-tune, when it is used properly in advertisements and stuff you probably wouldn't be able to pick it out, and when the technology is obvious enough to recognize it it's fucking annoying, and makes you kind of wish the technology wasn't available

And who the fuck are you?

HDR imaging is as valid of a photographic style as - say - black and white, but it needs to be done tastefully... which I agree most of the time it is not. Also many amateurs make the mistake of taking otherwise boring scenes or poorly composed shots and trying to make them look cool via tonal compression. They're missing the point.

David Hill does some of the most brilliant HDR imaging work I've ever seen... though I think he also composites some of his images as well. Here's a taste:

if some of the earlier photos in this thread were garbage then these are dung. *strolls in thread* "yeah, well who who the fuck are you to say HDR photos suck most of the time, you worthless subhuman fecal stillborn baby? HDR is fucking magnificent when done tastefully... check these babes out ​" *posts hollywood movie poster shit*
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gSUnvB1aFR0/SvJRVWy5hwI/AAAAAAAAELI/Xgb4O2WQrgs/s400/spagettPoster.jpg

yeah all his stuff is cheesy as hell. is the point of HDR to make everything look airbrushed and fake??

HDR looks like mostly every expensive company advertisement I've seen around here.
I like how it looks, so vibrant, but I guess most of its use is for commercial purposes...

it looks like 300.

those HDR photos are some of the worst shit ever. lol ragnar is pretty spot on in comparing it to auto-tune, except it's more like lil wayne, kanye, or someone else obnoxious using autotune as opposed to someone fun like T-Pain.

man I really really really dislike that HDR style. It's like if Michael Bay was an photographer. Absolutely no class, I would prefer to look at a well rendered painting.

http://www.joeyl.com/

this guy is really good, too. it's kind of mind-blowing that he's only 19 years old and already working with companies like warner bros to take images for twilight. his older stuff in his portfolio isn't that good, but his photos have been getting exponentially better as he posts more things.

lol I thought the Twilight posters were even worse than the movie. It's so 'ooo look I can use light and shadow for dramatic effect'. I mean I don't hate it but I consider it the most middle-of-the-road thing ever. Reminds me of every CSI-type show where they have an ad with the whole cast standing dramatically in super-sleek crime lab. I did like the ATV picture though, it has a sense of adventure without feeling like a huge cliche like how many car ads have there been over the years I do think it's an accomplishment to feel even slightly original with things like that

uh a lot of this is realistic paintings but some of it is composites of photos and stuff

http://www.as1projects.com/

some of it is just stupid/gross (otto von shirach) but I like how others have that URBAN feel (I mean the style that's popular now, I don't know what else to call it, more specifically think like Scion commercials) but doesn't feel cheesy at all and is pretty striking, would probably catch your eye even if it's just generic hip-hop album or something

I really don't know what to call that style at all, like urban scenes mixed with pop art/surreal feel but it's in every commercial at the moment/or at least recently. Also I see it on a lot of clothing

Edit: I'm really confused how much of it is realistic art vs. heavily altered photographs. Also most the photography is in flyers/albums

yeah all his stuff is cheesy as hell. is the point of HDR to make everything look airbrushed and fake??

if you're talking about david hill i have to disagree with you. Mama Luigi posted some pieces from the advertising section of david hills website. check out his other stuff Im pretty sure you wont like it but at least you wont find everything cheesy

i was trying to find a good comparison like metal music but this is perfect.

@ragnar: the only reason i like joey L is because i've been trying to get into studio lighting recently and it's pretty hard. it's impressive he's only 19 and so successful. i have no desire to take photos like him, though.

I was checking out the personal photos but I still don't like it. Some of them seemed like they could be in National Geographic/etc. but nothing really seemed very good other than people who'd be interesting people anyway. He manages to make real life look like a Tomb Raider movie or something

not that all photos have to be STARK but like every person on this page is so idealized you get the impression they think about movies/etc. constantly

if you're talking about david hill i have to disagree with you. Mama Luigi posted some pieces from the advertising section of david hills website. check out his other stuff Im pretty sure you wont like it but at least you wont find everything cheesy

it's all cheesy. When he's not doing ridiculous HDR advertisement photos, he's doing boring B&W portraits and landscapes. Artistically, it's the equivalent of a painting of a mountain or snowy forest you'd see hanging above a bed in a hotel room or in some kind of lobby.

anybody else like the as1projects stuff or am I being blinded by my love of weird techno

Edit: I don't think David Hill is exactly like 300. I think it's more like Lost/CSI-vision

Edit: The word Lost looks so weird when you see it by itself/in big letters

Edit: lol this is pretty great though

http://mapsandlegends.dreamhosters.com/images/csi-nighthawks.jpg

If you hate HDR, then you hate these rapper dogs smoking pre-embargo Cubans and shuffling huge stacks of money and gold dubloons around a table. The line is drawn. It's time to choose your side.

Whoa I leave for a day and this place turns into a shitstorm about HDR, haha. Okay, let's have a serious discussion about it then.

What is it that people don't like about HDR imaging? Is it only when it is fake looking/overcontrasty? I could easily understand distaste in that; but then I would argue coming from that perspective any photo modified to be an inaccurate representation of what really was should be equally scoffed at (ergo: black and white, sepia tone, etc). But I do not share this view: historically, we've always created artistic interpretations of our reality that include our emotions and feelings towards the subject matter.

The point of HDR in it's purest form is - yes - to reconcile the enormous range of light that our eye can see but the camera cannot capture in one shot. To capture the large range of light in a scene which contains bright brights and dark darks, it may be necessary to take 3 photos in succession which capture a different exposure. These photos are then merged to create the raw HDR image. A raw HDR photo should look no different than a LDR photo other than a better representation of light... closer to what our eyes can see (ergo less blown highlights and more detailed shadows). The problem? HDR displays are expensive... I think even a 37 inch HDR display is like $40,000... so we can't even currently look at these photos in their purest form in any meaningful way. HDR images contain far more detail that can't be seen on our screens!
The fanciful and unrealistic images we short-handedly call HDR are actually not HDR images. They are the result of an HDR photo being compressed to display properly on our LDR screens - and this compression process is where the creative liberty comes in regarding how the artist wants their photo to look. Some choose to make unrealistic representations of what they saw... some chose to make very accurate representations of what they saw in their viewfinder.


I accept that people have different tastes, but it disturbs me how some people act downright elitist and in my opinion it's rather deplorable.


It's aesthetically pleasing and dream-like - the colors are vivid and beautiful, and it reminds me of Legend of Zelda or something (I think someone pointed it out earlier). This photo isn't created by snapping a picture and auto-tuning it. I assure you a bit of work went into the creation of this light-art, having done some successful (and unsuccessful) HDR work myself. Is it a realistic representation of wherever that is? Of course not! Is this guy the next Leonardo Da Vinci? Hell no. I guess it just goes to show how wide availability of the tools have allowed your average person to create beautiful art.

I think that colour correction and tweaking in photoshop or whatever is fine, I just don't like the style that makes the photograph look like a painting.