Sumpin' I Cain't Figger Out...

[Steve5D]

There's something going on that I can't seem to figure out.

Not long after I signed up here, I started to dabble with HDR stuff. In my view, that's all I still do with it. It's fun and it's different, but it's also kinda' goofy. I've always considered it the new "selective coloring". More than one friend has implored me to stop posting HDR stuff on my Facebook page because it shows that I'm not a "serious" photographer. Well, I am, actually. I'm just not serious about HDR.

But here's the thing: Of the last ten prints I've sold, seven of them have been HDR. I have a few more people now deciding which prints they want, but all are considering HDR prints.

What am I missing?

It's not like I'm being contracted to shoot HDR for anyone. I shoot when I travel, edit the photos and then post them to Facebook. Some are HDR, most are not. Then I get a message that says "Hey, Steve, can I buy a print of some umptyscratch photo that you took?" Hell, I don't see them as being anything special but, then again, I'm not the person buying it.

SO when they ask about purchasing, of course I say "Yes", and a check shows up.

Honest to God, man, I look at HDR as a goof. Well, at least I did. It's actually making me a little bit of coin on the side now, and I just didn't think that would happen. As it is, though, I'm gonna' ride this train 'til the tracks run out, and then I'll figure out something else, I guess...

 

[Derrel]

Most Popular TV Shows | TVGuide.com

The Most Popular Fast Food Restaurants In America - Business Insider

Top 500 Posters and Prints - Bestselling Wall Art to Buy Online from PopArtUK

"No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." H.L. Mencken.

Just sayin'...popular taste is pretty lowest common denominator...

 

[Buckster]

^What Derrel said. I'm still scratching my head over disco...

 

[BrianV]

You mean you're not focus-stacking your HDR images!

Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh, Staying Alive, Staying alive...

 

[jake337]

HDR is still a tool, not a style. But anyways.....

Is the stuff your selling the over saturated, overcooked variety?

This is the kind of HDR's that I like. Specifically the last image of "Pano of Paris left bank". I'm not sure how many of the other photos on his site use HDR as a tool.

Recent Additions and news - Photography by Cem Usakligil

 

[jamesbjenkins]

The general public is stupid. And fickle.

I know this because Jersey Shore, Ke$ha, Nicki Minaj and Twilight movies are all "popular". :er:

'grats on making some coin off your snapshots!

 

[thetrue]

The general public is stupid. And fickle.

I know this because Jersey Shore, Ke$ha, Nicki Minaj and Twilight movies are all "popular". :er:

'grats on making some coin off your snapshots!

I literally LOL'd whe I read this.

 

[nycphotography]

To me... HDR is in many ways more accurate than we give it credit for. Our eye can see into the shadows and pick details out of the hightlights.. it's our cameras, our film, and our prints that have proven inadequate to the task.

Now our digital cameras and our film (RAW files) have the ability to "see" better than ever before. And HDR lets you, as a photographer, as an artist, when "printing" your "film", pick out and preserve that broad range of that was present in the scene when you were there to see it.

I have an image of a box car that I shot where I underexposed by 3to 5 stops to force a moody sky, then farted around with a car battery, an inverter, a studio flash, and a 20 ft sync cord in order to get some kind of a foreground rather than a silhouette. I think it's one of my better images. But today, shooting RAW and using either layers in Photoshop and multiple exposures from the raw, or using HDR, I could probably get BETTER results with less farting around with heavy, expensive, pain in the ass equipment.

Yes, HDR can be also used for lots of horrid crap. But here's the funny thing... it turns out that I like some of that horrid crap better than the non horrid crap versions of the same images. And that part I can't explain away.

 

[pic_chick]

You don't have to like to sale it. I don't understand why to be a pro you have to cut yourself of from some tools. doing Hdr make you no less a pro but I would say selling more photos might make you more a pro. The idea that this is or is not pro is kinda silly and a tad snobbish.

 

[Steve5D]

'grats on making some coin off your snapshots!

Well, they're not "snapshots", actually. The non-HDR versions are actually quite nice. It's just that, when I start messin' with the HDR, some people get all gooey inside and decide they need to have one.

It's all good with me; I'm cool selling whatever it is someone wants to buy. I just didn't see it comin'...

 

[Mully]

Funny thing with HDR is that so many good subject images are ruined by it. Especially the overcooked images that look like a scene from an old video game. For the buying public it is common for them to want something with vivid color which HDR certainly has.

 

[Steve5D]

You don't have to like to sale it. I don't understand why to be a pro you have to cut yourself of from some tools. doing Hdr make you no less a pro but I would say selling more photos might make you more a pro. The idea that this is or is not pro is kinda silly and a tad snobbish.

Who said anything about cutting myself off from anything?

I think HDR is goofy, especially given how most people (myself included) tend to totally overcook stuff. In my view, as a professional, it looks goofy. It's fun and I like messing around with it; I just never took it seriously. I never said it couldn't be done professionally. In fact, I know people who do it ridiculously well. I just never considered that anyone would want to buy some of the HDR stuff that I've done, that's all. I never considered it because HDR is miles away from being my photographic forte.

If you could point out where I said it can't be professional, I'd love to see it...

 

[nycphotography]

So HDR may be goofy.... So is Warhol. So is Lichtenstein. So is Dali. So is Picasso. So what if it's goofy?

When I put on my crystal ball goggles... What I see is that (the same way they adjust color balance now) "cameras" are going to eventually start doing a lot of what HDR is automatically when rendering RAW to JPG, and at that point they'll just be "pictures".

And the pop art aspect of HDR will eventually just become a genre in which some artists can make a living selling to the masses. After all, Spencer's will always need posters to sell to pothead teens ;-)

 

[pic_chick]

"More than one friend has implored me to stop posting HDR stuff on my Facebook page because it shows that I'm not a "serious" photographer. Well, I am, actually. I'm just not serious about HDR."

Not you but your friends seem to think so.

 

[e.rose]

The only thing you're missing is that some photographers can be increadibly pretentious.

If you like it, do it.
If people wanna buy it, sell it
If you think yours look goofy, work to get better at it.

I don't think there's anything wrong with well done HDR. I haven't seen your work cause I'm on my phone, but my statement stands either way haha.