HDR W$ore

[Izzy]

Recently I have decided to get into fine art. The gallery curator whom I spoke with briefly the other day said the only way she would consider photographs is if they were the type of images that average Joe or Suzy could not take.

She expressed the same familiar disdain for people who think if they can buy a camera at Walmart they too can be a photographer. But nonetheless she needs stuff that is way out there.

I went through my Route 66 stuff from last month and am finding success in HDR. They are producing very "artsy" prints. I am also learning what makes an artsy HDR and garbage. These look more like illustrations than anything else. I go right up to the "halo" and back it off from there.

With prints (11x14 framed and mated) selling at about $150 am I wrong for being an HDR whore? I like them but it goes against my typical purist outlook. But it may pay the bills. It is one thing to get shown it is another thing altogether to make sales.

[Izzy]

This is the stuff I mean...................



There is TONS more like it so far.

[JFSanders]

If you let the "art director" make your artistic choices is it really your art anymore? I like HDR for what it brings but to me it falls way below the traditional aesthetics that make it less accessible to the walmart shooter. As in I think that the photograph you present here is outside of the capabilities of 90% of most photographers and as such doesn't need HDR to make it palatable to the "art director".

And I would but you don't need to clone out the powerlines in this shot. They are period correct but distract from the overall image in my opinion.

Jim

[i speak in math]

uhg

10char

[ravncat]

Absolutely (selling and displaying are different)
If you are an HDR whore so be it... Fine art is a nebulous definition really...
Just make sure that your prints are archival - because a fine art print, is not a fine art print if it is not archival

[mad editor]

If they are selling, then I say keep printing!

[mshockley]

Originally Posted by mad editor

If they are selling, then I say keep printing!

Agreed
I've done some pretty heavy duty HDR type processing also, I like it, especially on "old stuff" and it does sell very well for me.

[digirebelva]

HDR does sell because its different..and average Joe & Suzy pretty well know they cant get the same look, so the incentive to buy is there.. Other photographers may know what it is, but when someone asks, I simply tell them it's 3 photos combined into 1...

[DanielLane]

I have processed out a single photo that looks fantastic, then used the same photo in a 3 shot HDR image. Made prints of them both. The HDR always sells and the straight shot sells rarely... *sigh*

[i speak in math]

Originally Posted by mshockley

Agreed
I've done some pretty heavy duty HDR type processing also, I like it, especially on "old stuff" and it does sell very well for me.

Originally Posted by digirebelva

HDR does sell because its different..and average Joe & Suzy pretty well know they cant get the same look, so the incentive to buy is there.. Other photographers may know what it is, but when someone asks, I simply tell them it's 3 photos combined into 1...

Originally Posted by DanielLane

I have processed out a single photo that looks fantastic, then used the same photo in a 3 shot HDR image. Made prints of them both. The HDR always sells and the straight shot sells rarely... *sigh*

Even if it sells, you don't have to do it. If you like doing it and how it looks, then by all means, continue. But if you don't, then you are doing yourself a disservice creatively.

I can make money working at fast food joints, but I choose to make money doing what I love.