This pic could do with some beautification.. NIKON D610 1/640 sec. f/6.3 500 mm ISO 6.2 KB size 12.8 MB
I took a bunch of HDR photos just yesterday, on top of a coastal cliff with a subject who had long hair being whipped about all over the place in the wind (I took about 40 photos and nearly all were ruined by hair doing something stupid). I started with a tripod but quickly gave up and held the camera in my hand so I could quickly try various angles. Modern HDR software doesn't need a tripod and can handle fast movement just fine. You wouldn't even know these photos had HDR - it's just adding a bit more detail to clouds and the black shirt she was wearing.
Your point is really what I am saying.. it's art and people get out of it what they want to. You like yours straight.. and most of my commercial work is very straight.. but some of my own stuff is a bit out there. Hence my quote that some people are blown away by my Amsterdam early morning light image.... and others wonder how a pro photographer managed to fuck it up so badly. Whatever floats your boat.
The HDR software I use takes 3 images of the same subject taken at 3 different exposures and combines them. To get the 3 originals I take 3 separate shots as RAW files 1 stop apart. Hard to do that with moving subjects... last one I worked on was a Land Cruiser parked outside a Land Cruiser repair place. Don't use that effect on people.... have other tricks in the digital tool box.
Here's a thought.... 4 years ago I did a river cruise with the bride through Europe. Came back and did a large photo book. At a reunion of all the passenegers, I was asked to do a slide show of my pix. Most of the fellow travellers were blown away when they saw my images.. "I stood right beside you when you took that shot and I didn't see what you have captured." Well they should have been.. allegedly I am a pro photographer of some 45 years experience. Now all of this sounds good for my ego... but as I said at the start of my slide show, "Client gives me a brief and away I go and produce pix to please him/her, (because beauty is in the eye of the cheque book holder) but on this trip, I was able to make pictures for myself! And what you have seen is the result" The take away part here is.. go out and make pictures for yourselves, pictures that you like. Makes no difference if you like them straight or post process and dip them in a bottle of Coke or whatever! They are for you. Enjoy. We all have talents.. I am lucky to have a good eye and can earn some coin with it and use a camera to record the images I see..... but I am bloody slow on a bike compared to most of the ADV inmates I have ridden with. I am not very fast on the black top, but I compensate by being slow on the dirt!
The bird baulked the instant it heard the shutter...otherwise that pic would have had the bird taking food from my mouth. Come up here and I'll model for you.
Yes..rIding over Thursday...camp out somewhere..Grazier alerts dont scare me....much....get there friday arvo.