To HDR or not to HDR?
I did not fully understand the the term “the tail is wagging the dog” when I first heard that saying years ago. Now, with photography I fully do realize its meaning. And I have HDR to thank for that. High Dynamic Range image processing results in a wider range of light *and* higher intensity levels throughout that expanded range in the image.
The problem is, that I believe every scene that nature presents to us and resulting image has a best way to process it to communicate what I was seeing in me the artist. That process might include monochrome, “dark”, heavier saturation or not, Orton, HDR, cropping decisions, etc., etc. More and more the process of HDR is coming before the image realized. I already have changed the way I shoot, with bracketing three shots now whether or not I plan HDR processing later. Below is a good example. I shot this and the available light and the histogram showed that I really did not need to bracket shots to capture the light on the scene. But I did anyway and when I got back and processed the normal single exposure I could not get the same color, detail and effect versus the HDR process of the 3 images. The HDR image better communicated what I experienced on the Pedernales River that day. Flip side though, of my stock, not one HDR image has sold and I am not too happy with large size prints of HDR images too.
End result: I will keep struggling with HDR or not as its just a small microcosm of the larger struggle in me as a photographer and artist.
