The Loudness War

Jeff Stevensen: HDR – The Web’s Loudness War?

After reading this article I don’t feel so bad about not jumping into HDR with two feet. Personally, I’m more interested in developing my photography than playing with all the bells and whistles. Composition. Lighting. Post-processing. These are where I want to develop my skills. I realize that HDR is a type of post-processing, but it’s not one I’m particularly interested in at this time. This isn’t to say that in the future I may push myself to get a handle on HDR, but now? Not so much.

As this author points out, HDR should just be another tool in one’s photographic toolbox, not an end in itself.

The web today is engaged in a visual “loudness war.” You’ve the barest fraction of a second to catch a page surfer’s interest and keep him from clicking away. More contrast! Pump up the color! Grunge it! Make the detail pop! Hold that viewer a fraction of a second longer.

I don’t think a processing technique should call attention to itself as the end product of a photograph, and that’s what most HDR or other effects-driven photos are about. Neither HDR nor any other filter can make an inherently boring picture into an interesting one. It can, however, make an inherently boring photograph into one marginally intriguing for a half-second or so — until, like my art director friend, you’ve simply had enough. Then you tune it out with the other hype.

Day 160 – Roses and Mended Hearts

Same rose, different treatment.

HDR:

Black and White:

On another note, Sweetie and I will be hitting the road for the Bay Area this afternoon to be in Oakland for the Congenital Heart Walk. As many of you know, I have a congenital heart defect and am doing my part to bring awareness and dollars for research and care. It’s not too late to make a donation to support me and this worthwhile cause. In case you didn’t know, congenital heart defects are the #1 birth defect in the United States, affecting more than 40,000 babies a year, yet we hardly ever hear about it. Thanks to medical advances, those of us who may have been condemned to an early demise are living well into adulthood and living pretty normal lives but CHD requires a lifetime of care, and so I walk.

Day 102 – A little bit of this, a little bit of that

I tried to find some interesting things around the grounds this afternoon. Someone neatly arranged these rocks atop the storm drain.

And I can’t seem to get enough of these dried flowers.

I’ve been wanting to play with HDR some more, so I shot this looking across the lot that is kitty-cornered to our property.

And before I processed these, I had to do my homework: finishing up the models’ photos and getting them emailed off to them. Here is a sampling.

Day 29 – Playing with HDR

I’ve been hearing a lot about HDR and wondering if I might start incorporating it into some of my photography. From what I can see, HDR is an effective tool when you are dealing with wildly different exposed areas in a photograph. In northern Nevada it is quite easy to blow out the sky when trying to shoot a landscape. Anyway, I experimented a bit today. First I did a quick bit of research on the intertubes, just to figure out the mechanics of it in Photoshop, and then I went out into the front yard and took photos. Using a tripod, I set my f-stop to 22, ISO to 100 and took multiple shots adjusting shutter speed each time to properly expose for the sky, the mountains, foreground, etc. I also did the same thing looking out through our front door. Here are the results.

Normally to get this kind of definition in the colorless landscape I would have to blow out the sky, so I kind of like how the sky looks here.

I really like the sky in this one.

Finally, I shot this in our living room looking out on our front yard through our storm door (I live in the desert…we only have lawn in the backyard). Shots like this are really where HDR appears to provide the greatest assist. In order to get any blue from the sky and still properly expose the interior of the house, HDR is a nice tool. I am not that happy with this particular photo, but I wanted to share it anyway.