There seems to be a bit of a trend going on in imagery these days, made possible by the advent of digital SLR cameras for reasonable prices, and software that allows you to exploit what said cameras can do, easily. That trend is the unintended misuse of HDRI. For those of you not familiar with HDRI, I think it is necessary to at least try and explain it, mostly for what it can truly do, before I go into it’s “misuse”. I’ll try to keep this simple and sans overly tech-nerd details, so bear with me.

1st, HDRI stands for High Dynamic Range Imaging, and is an amazing process in which you take multiple digital camera exposures of your target, and then merge said exposures together into one “super” file. One that contains the entire spectrum of light visible to your camera’s lens. Why is this amazing? Consider that the human eye is an incredible piece of biology, one that is constantly adjusting to light and focal distances, then sending that information to the brain. The brain then puts all of that data together seamlessly, despite said focal and light variations, into the scene you are looking at; you are able to see the entire scene as is it.

Obviously, a camera is simply not capable of that. It can focus on what you tell it, where you tell it, and let as much light in as you tell it, but it can not capture everything all at once. Ultimately each shot is just a snippet of light from the entire scene, not the full range of what you see with your ever adjusting eyes. To capture all of this with a camera you must take multiple exposures, each one for the purpose of archiving a different specific range of visible light from a single scene. Once the exposures are obtained, you must then merge them together, so that all of that data is in one place and then you can then later decide how to use it. Merging your several images, each containing a specific range of light data, turns them into a single, true High Dynamic Range Image; one file that contains the all of the light that you previously captured within the multiple shots. What your eye could see naturally captured via technology. Seriously cool, in practice and in theory.

However, there is a drawback to having all of this light information contained in one file.. Neither your monitor, your printer paper nor your iPhone can display it. The listed mediums are low dynamic range devices, they are a flat display, they can not even begin to determine how to use the layers upon layers of light data stored in the HDR file. So how does one use this information?

To be able to make use of the data, you must go through a process called “tone mapping”; basically telling your computer what segments of what exposures to use to create the final image. Tone mapping is like painting with the entire spectrum of light that you have captured in the file; if done right, and with the right subject matter, it can make for some truly awesome images. Unfortunately, tone mapping also seems to be where the misuse of data starts. There are only a few applications that allow you do do this, the most prominent is named Photomatix, which is relatively cheap to purchase and has an easy to use interface. Which is awesome, from a certain standpoint, but is also becoming the bane of the HDR world, from another.

The problem, in my opinion, with HDR is that a large majority of tone-mapped images seem to be done by people who simply have a camera, Photomatix, and a general idea of what the final product can look like. There seems to be a lack of understanding of the theory behind why you are capturing, what subject matter is suitable, and the purpose behind tone mapping. It comes across more as dabbling in something you heard about rather than working in a medium you know about. This dabbling has resulted in an onslaught of images that end up looking like a neon light enhanced sepia tone, a wonky airbrushing from the 80s, or something that was run through about six too many Photoshop filters. Google “HDR images”, and check out the image results, seriously, see how many actually impress you. Granted, there is clearly something to be said for artistic interpretation, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with experimentation, but uploading image after image of good intentions and loose understandings is turning this developing technology into a bit of a seemingly limited-shelf-life trend.

To me, using a technology that literally allows you to recreate the broad and overwhelming spectrum of reality on the medium of your choice to the point of overexposure and nearly painful monotony seems like a bit of a shame.

Tags: HDR, Photography, Photoshop

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