Do you like to use HDR

[mittens (Marilyn)]

I have Photomatix and love to edit some of my photos with it to get an HDR effect. Sometimes it works well and other times it doesn't work at all. I was just wondering what your thoughts are on it and if you use it in editing?

[A]

I've occasionally used HDR effects - when it's subtle it can look good. But I've seen it overdone and look really fake and unnatural which I don't like

[Haya Zimmerman Gray]

I agree with Annie. A subtle touch in HDR works for me.

[Humphrey Hippo]

I only use it when the scene is too contrasty for the dynamic range of my camera. I still tend to bracket a lot anyway just to hedge my bets.

[mittens (Marilyn)]

@humphreyhippo I bracket a lot, too, Humphrey, just to have different exposures to choose from and also in case I want to try to HDR it.

[Miseria]

HDR is kind of like taking photos at a narrow aperture value versus a wide one. The whole picture is "in focus", but there's less separation between the "foreground" and the "background". Often I want to have no detail in shadows, because they're there to frame a subject or create mystery or mood, or because the details in the shadows aren't really interesting or important.

The only times I really use it is when the image is too contrasted due to light settings. Then again, I've fairly often taken a few exposures at different exposures intending to do HDR and then just discarded all but one because I prefer the look. Often HDR can kind of have the effect of homogenizing everything into looking a bit middle toned so there needs to be very careful balance.

The only kind of HDR I really like is the HDR you don't really notice. But then again I really like low key, which is almost the opposite of HDR. :D

[☠northy]

I don’t use HDR because it is rarely the effect that I am going for (I think my approach is similar to @miseria ). I think when HDR is done well it is fine... but I really don’t like the effect when it is overdone...

[Simply Amanda]

Yeah, overdone is the worst!

[Daryl O'Hare]

I rarely use it, mostly because I dont have a good way to process it, but it's highly effective for detail. This was my first one ever:

[mittens (Marilyn)]

@darylo I really like your picture, Daryl. I think HDR can work really well with metal and rust.

[Richard Brown]

I tend to bracket a lot as a few above. Where I find this comes in the most is on sunrise or sunset shots where the scene is beyond the cameras dynamic range. I then use LR to merge them together which gives a more rounded image than a lot of HDR program's.

[mittens (Marilyn)]

@rjb71 I didn't know you could use LR to do HDR, Richard. I'll have to look into that.

I think architecture can work well in HDR, too.