This topic has been raising it’s head again and again over the last month or two, most recently on Scott Kelby’s blog, and also on the “The Lightroom Killer Tips” site. So here’s my take on it….
Ya know, life really is too short, especially when it comes to beating your head against someone else’s opinion. A very wise man once said “A mind changed against it’s will, is of the same opinion still” if you don’t like HDR, that’s cool, I’m certainly not going to waste hours of my day going on a campaign about how wrong you are, and yet that’s the current situation, and although in the broad scheme of things this blog post won’t be change anyones mind, that’s not why I wrote it.
In every language and every religion, there’s a prayer or a saying or a proverb from some wise dude somewhere that basically says this (or some version of this)..
Worry about the things in life you can do something about and don’t waste your time stressing about the stuff you can’t change. It’ll give you grey hairs and wrinkles and achieve nothing positive.
So if you see an HDR image, and it looks fake, who cares! Really! It’s art after all (or not depending on your view!) if you don’t like it, turn the page, click the “next” link, move along, forget about it and get on with your day, no one requires you to like it, and there’s certainly no need to go all “Canon vs Nikon”, or “Film vs Digital” on it.
Take a deep breath, let the stress go and move along.
Incidentally the same goes for the pro-HDR crowd who certainly aren’t exempt from the whole evangelistic zealotry either, don’t feed the troll, if someone expresses a dislike of one of your images (HDR or not), it’s ok, move on, liking your image, isn’t a requirement, nor is liking HDR, high key or low key, or anything else. You (probably) won’t change their mind, either by insulting their aesthetic vision, or their intelligence, take a deep breath and move along.
Objectivity Unhinged 