High Dynamic Range (HDR) has been a hot buzz phrase in the world of photo geeks for at least two years now. For the most part I don’t mind it, I usually just ignore the over-saturated mess and go on about my business. However, the other day I uploaded this photo taken from my KTM 990 Adventure on Flickr. Afterwards I decided to browse photos other people had taken of that motorcycle. First I came across this photo. It’s wonderfully done, has a beautiful back drop, and the photographer used off camera strobes to light the subject. All-in-all a class A photo. Then I came upon this HDR photo of a KTM 990 Adventure. Holy crikey, WTF is that I thought. I was about to shrub it off then I noticed it had over 20 favs in only 120 views! For those that don’t use Flickr, that’s an extremely high percentage. That made me curious so I went back and looked at the stats of the nicely done photo; only 160 views and 2 favs!

I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, and I know art is subjective, but good grief. It’s as if people are totally ignorant as to what actually requires skill. You can put all the dynamic range you want into a photo and it won’t help a bit if the photo is boring or poorly composed to begin with. I’ve seen NASCAR t-shirts with more artistic integrity than this, this, or this. For god sake, some of these look like airbrushed license plates from the county fair. This reminds me of the early days of Photoshop when graphic designers started doing things because they could, not because they should.

The sad part is I wouldn’t classify any of those pics as true HDR. The term HDR has been hijacked by people that either don’t know how to do it properly, or intentionally choose to make photos that look like a bad LSD trip. True HDR is actually really useful tool. In short, your camera can’t see the full spectrum range your eyes can. You can look out of a window and see blue sky then glance down and see the interior walls are yellow. Unfortunately, most digital cameras can’t do the same. In situations like that HDR can sometimes be the best solution. Here is a sample HDR shot I made showing how HDR can be useful:

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The idea is not to make an image that looks like something a 6 year old can do with a box of crayons, it is simply to make a natural looking exposure where both the exterior and interior are properly exposed. That is High Dynamic Range. Creating something that looks like a rainbow melted all of the negative is something else all together. So please, the next time you think about doing this, just don’t do it. If your friend is really proud of a photo that looks like this then consider it your duty to educate that person about tonal range. If s/he won’t listen then I suggest looking for a new friend. This has to stop! Friends don’t let friends do overblown HDR.