U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: R.I.P. HDR

Re: R.I.P. HDR



Argon wrote:
Funny how thing change...we used to go to extremes to tame the contrast inherent in the early incarnations of Cibachrome!
I wouldn't know about that, having never worked much with Cibachrome, but Burkett's Cibachromes are reminiscent of Ellliot Porter's dye- transfer landscapes in subtlety of color and contrast.
kt



On Sep 18, 2009, at 10:11 AM, Paul Viapiano wrote:

Well, Eric, I think you hit it on the head with the subtlety issue. This has been my "soapbox" theme for a long time, but I always feel a bit guilty among my digital friends because who's to say what artistry is. However, I really dislike the over-processed hyper- reality and hyper-contrast look that is so popular these days, even if it's not HDR-related...makes my teeth hurt. It's all in the subtlety...hell, some analog/darkroom photographers have taken things to extremes as well in the past, but I respect the hand work that's required to get there as opposed to just applying a software filter. Does that make me a Luddite? I don't think so. The hand made image is our connection not only to art but also a deeper calling within us.

The first few ultra-dodge-burn-hyper local contrast photos you see are very impressive, but now that it's commonplace (and a "look") everyone's photographs are starting to look the same and it's numbing, which I think is bad for photography in general.

Have you read the Richard Benson interview in the new Lenswork? He makes sense in so many ways but then takes a detour and contradicts himself. Most folks on this list will not like it. Although this is another subject, he makes the case for inkjet prints over all other forms of image-making in terms of quality, but I have a big problem with that. If photography has always been "art's" ugly stepchild and devalued for the repeatability of the negative, what kind of de- valuing can be ultimately realized when a file is loaded and a button pushed, no matter how much work has gone into the creation of that file? It takes the artist's hand one or more steps away from the final work, and I can't see how that can be a good thing.

I realize that the above is an oversimplification but these thoughts have been with me for some time.

Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: eric nelson
To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 9:20 AM
Subject: Re: R.I.P. HDR

True enough. In a melding of the 2, I can scan a piece of film and pull more from it than I can in the darkroom. Maybe I'm a poopy printer, but there's no easy way I know of that would allow me to duplicate those results.
So I don't have much issue w/digital, my issue w/the majority of HDR images that I have seen is that that they look so bloody fake and affected. It's a look, and if it's someone's look who is reading this, don't take offense. This was the first article I'd seen that finally addressed this out-of-control-sophmoric-use of the effect. One could counter with 'all photographs lie' so then we'd be differentiating between a small fib and a whopper.

Skill in HDR, heck PS in general, comes from using it with subtlety and my issue (which was addressed nicely in the article) is that it's use has been anything but.


On Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 7:20 AM, BOB KISS <bobkiss@caribsurf.com> wrote:
DEAR ERIC,

I read it and agree. I was “dissed” in the past for posting a statement that all HDR really did was compensate for the limited dynamic range of the digital image capture process. It was a corrective solution to a problem that doesn’t exist for the b&w photographer who has made a few tests and has a basic knowledge of the zone system Further, color neg has a dynamic range nearly as good as some b&w films and, though it is difficult to push/pull process without risking crossed curves, scanning the color neg can either:

1) Capture the large density range created in a color neg shot of a high scene brightness scene or…

2) Fix the crossed curves in a color neg that has been pushed or pulled.

Sooooooooooooo, as I said, HDR image processing is a crutch for digital capture’s limited dynamic

range. Of course, as western art is all about “impact”, the article makes a good point that everyone jumped on the “saturation” band wagon and created scenes either reminiscent of Agfa Velvia or perceptions resulting from the 70s use of psychedelic drugs.

What ever happened to subtlety? I tremble to even mention shibui. ;-))

CHEERS!

BOB



From: eric nelson [mailto:emanphoto@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 2:49 AM
To: Alt Photo
Subject: R.I.P. HDR


Finally someone has put onto a page what I've been thinking all along!


http://www.pmpnonline.com/apps/blog/show/1626055-r-i-p-hdr



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