5 ms·

Why would they say that? You can't have HDR with a single exposure. I think you're trying to say professional photographers don't apply tone mapping to single

Why would they say that? You can't have HDR with a single exposure. I think you're trying to say professional photographers don't apply tone mapping to single exposures, but that is false. There are times when it's not 'technically proper' to apply tone mapping to a single exposure, but it makes for a better picture. Really it sounds like you're trying to make a snarky comment referencing how some professional photographers complain about novices over using HDR on flickr. But who cares. You can have a professional quality photograph that uses what some pros think is incorrect tone mapping. Just like how you can have a novice hack together a working professional-level product that many professional engineers think is trash. If it works and meets the criteria, who cares.

wl 9y ago
> You can't have HDR with a single exposure 14 stops of dynamic range in a single shot (RAW on a modern DSLR) counts in my book.
- barrkel 9y ago
  HDR worthy of the name seems to require multiple levels of light gathering, to me. Either exposure time or aperture needs to vary. If you don't, you either blow out on bright light, or you have too much noise in dim areas. You might not notice if the scene is well and reasonably evenly lit though.
  - wl 9y ago
    You never vary aperture when taking bracketed exposures to merge to HDR. The depth of field would vary from exposure to exposure, making things inconsistent when you merge them. It's shutter speed you vary. My point is that with 2005-era DSLRs, I had to use HDR techniques (or strobes) to, say, correctly expose a room and the environment out a window. Shooting into the sun, I'd have to use HDR, polarizers, and/or ND grads to expose both the sky and the foreground. With my D750? I've got 4 stops more dynamic range and the situations where I need HDR have almost all gone away. I can get the same thing from a single RAW exposure. These days, HDR only seems necessary if you want to have ridiculous tone mapping where you pull in your global highlights to be within a stop or two of your global shadows and still keep the noise levels down.
    - CWuestefeld 9y ago
      I still find a need to bracket occasionally. But to your point... it seems that "HDR" means two different things these days. 1. A tool to expand the dynamic range. 2. A style of tone mapping. These two things frequently coincide, but there's no reason for #1 to have crazy surreal tones, and #2 frequently comes from a single exposure.
bluetwo 9y ago
Calling tone mapping HDR is like calling masturbation sex.

wl 9y ago

> You can't have HDR with a single exposure 14 stops of dynamic range in a single shot (RAW on a modern DSLR) counts in my book.

barrkel 9y ago
HDR worthy of the name seems to require multiple levels of light gathering, to me. Either exposure time or aperture needs to vary. If you don't, you either blow out on bright light, or you have too much noise in dim areas. You might not notice if the scene is well and reasonably evenly lit though.
- wl 9y ago
  You never vary aperture when taking bracketed exposures to merge to HDR. The depth of field would vary from exposure to exposure, making things inconsistent when you merge them. It's shutter speed you vary. My point is that with 2005-era DSLRs, I had to use HDR techniques (or strobes) to, say, correctly expose a room and the environment out a window. Shooting into the sun, I'd have to use HDR, polarizers, and/or ND grads to expose both the sky and the foreground. With my D750? I've got 4 stops more dynamic range and the situations where I need HDR have almost all gone away. I can get the same thing from a single RAW exposure. These days, HDR only seems necessary if you want to have ridiculous tone mapping where you pull in your global highlights to be within a stop or two of your global shadows and still keep the noise levels down.
  - CWuestefeld 9y ago
    I still find a need to bracket occasionally. But to your point... it seems that "HDR" means two different things these days. 1. A tool to expand the dynamic range. 2. A style of tone mapping. These two things frequently coincide, but there's no reason for #1 to have crazy surreal tones, and #2 frequently comes from a single exposure.

bluetwo 9y ago

Calling tone mapping HDR is like calling masturbation sex.