I had an interesting, but not unexpected, experience today. I was giving an HDR presentation, and several folks in the audience kinda complained that some of my photographs looked more like paintings than photographs. They wanted to see straight shots - many of which I have in other presentations, in my books and on this blog.

Hey, as my dad used to say, "To each his own," which stems from the 1946 drama of the same name starring Olivia de Havilland.

Above is one such HDR image, below is the photograph.

To create the painterly-like image, I first used Photomatix (to created the HDR image) and then used Topaz Adjust (first selecting the Spicify filter, and then greatly reducing the noise).

Click here for info on Photomatix and Topaz - and a discount on Photomatix.

I'd like you to weigh in: Do you think photographs should look like pictures - or painting - or both? Post your thoughts here - so all can see.

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. If you like HDR photography (realistic or artistic) you may like my HDR book. I gotta warn ya, however. Some of the pictures look more like paintings. :-)

Here is a realist HDR image from my book. One could argue, however, that it's not really that realist – because the color has been removed from the scene.