A sad old road.

The structures and the residents are slowly being replaced by wildlife.

Replacement residents

Beyond this there is little left of this town, sad as that may be, I was seeking something to photograph and luckily for me, my father-in-law had just the thing. So the next day we headed in the opposite direction just into New Jersey. Here we explored abandoned rail cars relics that skirted the edge of the Delaware.

Rail car

Empty seats

Conrail railcar

Jordan Spreader Gauges

Abstracting a train

The problem of the first group is that it can elicit a stagnation in skill and creativity. Yes, sometimes in some locations you cannot set up a bank of strobe to balance interior and exterior light or some circumstance may otherwise inhibit the shot. HDR does give you a way around these problems, allowing you to properly expose the entire image. However, if every time you are shooting in these situations HDR becomes the default answer, you limit your technical and creative growth. Depending on HDR also promotes the mentality of “oh I’ll just Photoshop that out later.” If the camera or subject moves or the lighting conditions change during the bracketing sequence, post production can be a bear. In-camera techniques tend to be far superior in quality and force you to use your most important piece of photography equipment, your brain. The other issue with this type of HDR is that it tends in my opinion to kill contrast.

Pursuing High Dynamic Range as art is problematic. You have to contend with its stigma as a fad and the fact that much of the process is automated. Using HDR for creative purposes can be fun and produce some very interesting effects. However, part of me has a hard time classifying it as photography; these stylized images often share more in looks with panting than photography. Most of the HDR images I’ve seen on the web take tone mapping to the extreme. Creating these images is no longer about realism, neutral exposures or a High Dynamic Range – it is about painting with tones. No matter how well composed, the knowledge that the software for producing these images – both the in-camera bracketing and digital post production – can be highly automated, does not elicit the concept of art within these images even if they were produced in a more manual method. On the other hand I create some abstract images that people may feel a similar way about, so I would judge too harshly. I Think it comes down to the fact I often see galleries where the images themselves are not strong enough to stand on their own, this is one of the major pit falls of a applying styles such as HDR or Photoshop Actions.

Should you pursue High Dynamic Range images? Most things can be good with moderation, and if this is what gets you out taking photographs then by all means. Master HDR if that is what interests you, but do not limit yourself in both creativity and technique.