A philosophical note on purism

Believe it or not, HDR can open your eyes to the nature of human perception. HDR images can capture a scene with more realism than has ever before been possible, and yet, paradoxically, people often notice something strange about HDR-images. It seems like we are so much accustomed to unrealistic photographic images that we don't trust our eyes when we see a truly realistic one! We find HDR's unrealistic, not so much because they don't reflect what a scene looked like, but because they are funfamentally different from what photographs used to look like. HDR makes you realise that, in our world, the images we are accustomed to, feel more real than reality itself.

Indeed, we have become accustomed to poor reproductions of what we perceived. It is odd, since painters have painted more realistic pictures through the ages.

Many see HDR photos and think they are paintings.

[b] As a half-as**d HDR amateur, I realize that HDR is designed to be a more accurate representation of an image, as has been stated eloquently by members. My objective is to take the mundane and create a surreal image which causes the viewer to wonder whether it is a cartoon, painting or photograph. There seem to be people on other photo critiquing websites who are quite offended by my agenda.

True, HDR is designed to give a more accurate representation of reality, but people should feel free to use it for more creative purposes if they wish. The result may not please me, and in most cases when HDR tonemapping is taken to its extremes it doesn't. But I wouldn't offend someone who does want to use it that way. And because HDR can be used to realise very different effects, I can't understand why some people seem to hate HDR as such. You may not like a particular dish, but that wouldn't mean you hate food, would it?