HDR?

[chakalakasp]

Just curious — is HDR photography allowed in Farktography contests? I only ask because it’s a budding new type of photography and is quite cool, but generally it involves algorithmic spot toning (since obviously a non HDR monitor can’t display all 32 bits of color!) 🙂 I posted an HDR photo once and nobody objected, but I don’t want to make a habit of it if it’s not allowed.

[monkeybort]

i think we’ve discussed it before but i can’t remember what came of it. i lean towards no, just because it is a significant alteration of the original photo.

if there is a strong sentiment for letting it in, i’m cool with that too.

[veruca]

i think HDR done right produces a beautiful piece of art. the only issue i had with it with regards to farktography is that you’re combining more than one photo into the contents of a single. that could be interpreted as being against the rules. and i echo what monkeybort said about significant alteration.

but did love your HDR photos chakalakasp, they’re very well done.

[CaptainJim]

I see no problem with it. Think of it this way, all the images to be combined are the same except for exposure. The rules state that any filter put over the entire image is acceptable and that you can use the curves feature in photoshop which is very powerful. By using curves you can take a flat sky and bring out all the clouds that were otherwise overexposed and not hurt the other parts of the photo.
We let digital in with its huge raw format advantage(exposure not right, just change it). We let roll film into the contest that has the advantage over making a daguerreotype of not having to breath mercury vapors.
All that HDR does is to make it very easy to get shadow detail and highlight detail that are outstanding. Think of it as the zone system in an algorithm.

[chakalakasp]

i think HDR done right produces a beautiful piece of art. the only issue i had with it with regards to farktography is that you’re combining more than one photo into the contents of a single. that could be interpreted as being against the rules. and i echo what monkeybort said about significant alteration.

but did love your HDR photos chakalakasp, they’re very well done.

Thanks veruca! The thing about HDR is that there really *is* no original photo — the HDR image is an algorithmic blend of several exposures of the same scene. The scene is still a temporally whole event, though; if anything changes in between frames, it shows up in the final (much like things that move during a long exposure show up during the final.) It’s a bit of a nuanced topic, as it boils down to the philosophy of photography and sorta forces you to see the medium in regards to the end, not the means. Most people agree that Ansel Adams was pretty awesome-sauce and few would call him a trickster with his photography, but much of what Ansel Adams shot would be disqualified from Farktography strictly because of the darkroom methods that he used. Ansel often attempted his own “HDR” by splicing togather multiple exposures of the same scene. If Ansel were around today, I shudder to think of the insanely awesome things he’d be doing with digital photography right now.

So, what’s the final word? No HDR? HDR? If I don’t hear anything, I’ll post an HDR photo tomorrow night but clearly label it so and then let the mods kill it or remove voting if you guys want. It’s one of the portraits that I’m more fond of. Thanks!

[Klahanie]

I’m with veruca and Monkeybort in feeling that there is a significant amount of alteration. No matter how you might try to justify it it is not a straight forward photograph. Maybe you could post one of the exposures for this contest and save the HDR for an anything goes sort of theme.

[chakalakasp]

I’m with veruca and Monkeybort in feeling that there is a significant amount of alteration. No matter how you might try to justify it it is not a straight forward photograph. Maybe you could post one of the exposures for this contest and save the HDR for an anything goes sort of theme.

Nah, I’ll just skip that HDR portrait shot for this next contest — for the most part, things I shoot in HDR only work in HDR, as I had the HDR process in mind during the shoot. Besides, I’ve got a bajillion non-HDR portraits, it’s just that one of my favs happens to be HDR. 🙂

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