Focus or lens distortion Issue?

[p40whk]

I'm not deriding HDR either, when it's good HDR. But to be quite honest, most HDR is tacky and poorly-executed, to the point of being obvious and annoying.

It can be, yes. But, HDR is to digital photography what the dark room was to emulsion based film. I shot and developed 4X5, 2-1/4, and 35mm black and white for years and the things I would do in the dark room (dodging and burning, etc.) are the same thing as HDR manipulation on a computer. I could make the same cartoonish print in a darkroom that you see with some of these HDR images.

To me, it just gives me more control over my subject and allows for me to take photo's in difficult light situation that I couldn't without it. Your eyes can adjust to the different light levels in a scene and you can see all the detail in each area of varying light but the camera can not, so you bracket your photos and merge the results. It's a great feature for digital photography.

[R]

If you can look at a digital image and immediately say, "wow, that's HDR," it's bad HDR. The technique has overshadowed the subject.

[ibenick]

If you can look at a digital image and immediately say, "wow, that's HDR," it's bad HDR. The technique has overshadowed the subject.

I would almost always agree with this but sometimes an overtly HDR image is just the ticket. I guess it's all just artistic expression which will inevitably be liked by some and not others.

[Scott Card]

I would almost always agree with this but sometimes an overtly HDR image is just the ticket. I guess it's all just artistic expression which will inevitably be liked by some and not others.

Agree (speaking as a former art club president in high school... and not as a photographer)

Regarding the HDR with Summit's rusty and crusty stuff, I think the HDR adds a lot to the rusty and crusty. Good stuff.

[Ryebrye]

Looking at those images, I can conclude that it's OBVIOUSLY a bad copy of the lens. I'll pay you $30 for it so I can take it and... um... melt it down for raw materials.

[asdf]

$35