Lydstep Beach No.1

[taffy]

This was taken on a beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales just after sunrise one morning. It is 5 exposures processed through Photomatix and Elements 6. Comments welcome.

Thanks Taffy

[tirediron]

I'm of mixed opinion on this. This seems to be a growing trend in the HDR world. The effect is interesting, but it seems to me to rather more art than photography proper because of the degree of post-processing.

[Marko]

Tirediron echoes my thoughts on this....and we have has this conversation before on this site, and even done a podcast on it.

Basically there are 2 camps it seems.
1 - too much PS leaves people wondering if this is photography.
2 - All photography is manipulation anyway so of course this is photography.

Personally, I'm from camp 1.

I like this image and find it has a very strong composition. To my eye there a few foreground spots in the sand that could use a bit of burning in and perhaps the very white cloud at the top right. I'd LOVE to see a pure black and white version of this shot. Even if it's 5 layered images in B/W that has all of the tones. I would bet that this image stands firmly on its own without the HDR.

what do you think taffy and others?


Hope that helps,

Marko

[tegan]

Tirediron echoes my thoughts on this....and we have has this conversation before on this site, and even done a podcast on it.

Basically there are 2 camps it seems.
1 - too much PS leaves people wondering if this is photography.
2 - All photography is manipulation anyway so of course this is photography.

Personally, I'm from camp 1.

what do you think taffy and others?


Hope that helps,

Marko

Basically if there are 2 camps, then I am in camp 3:

3. All photography involves manipulation and sometimes artistry, BUT the particular technique or manipulation MUST contribute to the overall shot and its visual impact. It must also be seen by the average, non photo enthusiast as a possibly natural shot without manipulation.

Anyone who has studied and done television and film production as well as photography has learned the above concept/guideline. It is in the "textbooks" and used by the experienced producers/course teachers in evaluation.

In that regard, you have produced a very visually dramatic composition that is very effective and I wonder whether the average viewer would be distracted by or even recognize the presence of manipulation. Probably not.

Tegan

[taffy]

An interesting and will no doubt be an ongoing debate.

On balance I am with Tegan on this one. I think most photography involves manipulation of some kind, both in camera and in post production. I think all the tools available to photographers are valid as long as they add value and the impact on the final image is considered. HDR imaging is no different in this respect and I accept it needs to be used with care. While the final image is perhaps not a "traditional" image, I suppose I still consider it photography because I sat on a beach for 2 hours at dawn taking photos tryng (and hopefully succeeding!) to ensure that I got all the right elements (technical and compositional) to produce an impactful final image. The final image is photograph based and is result of how I chose to process it but I could easily have taken any number of different approaches to the processing.

At the end of the day photography is a broad church, as seen by the variety of images on this website alone, and I do not think all images will appeal to all viewers all the time, irrespective of how technically and compositionally good they are - that is human nature - but that is not a reason to give up experimenting, as long as we accept that it may not always work.

The debate generated by my image has certainly made me think about how I use these various techniques in the future.

Cheers Taffy

[Marko]

Thanks for that explanation Taffy - I think you added some good reasoning why this still should still be considered a photograph. :)

Marko

[tomorrowstreasures]

Surreal feel. :)