Category Archives: From the Author
Topaz Pro Insight
I wrote a Pro Insight article for Topaz Labs blog. It is featured on their page today. This company is awesome, I love what they do for artists around the world.
What are you waiting for, go check it out!
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HDR, Digital Art Form or Legitimate Photography?
Due to some technical difficulties with my PC (by difficulties I mean a fried motherboard among possibly other things), I will not be posting a tutorial today, rather proposing a question. Is an HDR image a legitimate form of photography or is it a digital art form?
I ask this question due to an internal struggle I am facing with HDR. I love it, don’t get me wrong, I will more than likely do it for the rest of my life as I have an inexplicable love for the process. However, I get the same reaction from my photographs all the time from the typical non-photographer viewer, “That looks like a painting..”, “That does not look real at all, where was that…” ”Why does this look over processed?” Those who follow EverydayHDR know that I try to keep my HDR images looking as close to reality as possible without going over the edge because I want my HDR’s to look as close to the scene as I saw it. When I get these reactions I get kind of flustered and sometimes depending on my mood respond “No that is not a painting, it is the truest form of photography”, “Of course it looks real, you take a picture of that place and you will be distraught by your poor representation of it” and “No it is not over processed, I put the saturation slider below 75!!”
Why am I so bothered by this question? Is it a digital art form, or a legitimate form of photography? I constantly ask myself that question while I am on my way home from work. I have a 35 minute commute, while it is not that far, 35 minutes every afternoon asking myself the same question trying to attack it from different angles gets extremely nerve racking over the course of the last 8 months. My initiail response is, of course it is photography. But then I think about a photo and the impossibility of capturing an HDR image with a single exposure and no tone mapping. If you think about it in that respect it is not a legitimate form of photography, more like a digital art form that relies solely on a computer and computer software to make it.
Then I think about Ansel Adams who spent so many hours in a dark room dodging an burning multiple exposures to achieve an HDR photo many years ahead of his time. When I justify Photomatix and Photoshop as my digital dark room I start to see the HDR process as a legitimate form of photography. I am doing what Ansel did many years ago, just in a simpler more convenient way.
Do you see my struggle, either way I look at HDR as a legitimate photograph or as a digital art form ,I still love it I just want to be able to categorize it appropriately. It is clearly the way of the future of photography, so does it matter whether it is a legit photo or another form of digital art? Think about it.
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Last Call: Worldwide Photo Walk 2011
This weekend is it! Make sure you check the website for a local walk near you. Even if you have to travel 45 minutes to an hour or even three, this is a photo day you will not want to miss. You will learn from others, make photo friends for life, and have the opportunity to compete head to head for Scott Kelby’s new book “Light It, Shoot It, Retouch It”. If it is looking like a lazy weekend, you may want to breath in some fresh air with fellow photographers and join the other 12,000+ photog’s walking this weekend.
I started a flickr group for those who participated in my walk, but I will leave it open for anyone who walked around the world so we can see some awesome HDR work from all over the globe.
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EverydayHDR Flickr Group
If you have a Flickr account, or are looking for a good excuse to start one, you should join EverydayHDR’s group. Post your HDR pics and comment on others, constructive criticism is encouraged to help continue the artistic growth of the groups members.
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EverydayHDR Approved Flickr Group
I have recently started a Flickr group, EverydayHDR Approved. I highly encourage everyone who is a fan of EverydayHDR to upload their HDRs to the group. Lets critique each other, make tonemapping suggestions, give each other kudos, and most importantly socialize! Us HDRtists are few and far between, let’s support the cause of good old everyday HDR images!
Those of you who are following me on G+ heard about this before it hit the streets. To get some HDR news before it hits the blog, make sure you add me to your circles on G+!
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Happy Birthday EverydayHDR!!!
One year ago today I started everydayHDR after going to Photoshop World 2010. This year I celebrate the 1 year anniversary of everydayHDR at Photoshop World 2011! It has been a great year with 168 posts, 53 of which were tutorials. I will continue to keep everydayHDR in perpetual motion. Thank you everyone for keeping me inspired!
These amazing cupcakes were made by my wife. While they were made for the sake of her baking practice, I will pretend she made them for everydayHDR’s birthday! Check out her blog: Sticky Marshmallows to see how she makes these amazing cupcakes… yes, that is Oreo Butter Cream Frosting…. no you cannot have one.
