HDR has its place and is a legitimate technique for creating images, but it has started to leak into the photography that estate agents use to market houses. In my opinion this is wrong and should be banished. It doesn’t enhance a property and frankly, I think it reflects poorly on the estate agent.
High Dynamic Range, or HDR, is when a photographer will take a series of photos at different exposure settings, say 5, and then combine them to create one final image. The purpose is to show detail in the photo which would otherwise be lost due to deep shadows or very bright areas in the scene.
Cameras have a dynamic range which is typically less than the human eye, in other words, as you look at a scene you are able to identify detail in the dark areas and the light areas to a much higher degree and range than a camera. You may be familiar with seeing in your photos areas which are completely ‘blown’, white patches with no detail at all. This is sometimes the price you pay to clearly see detail in the darker areas.
For exterior photos this is most commonly seen with the sky, typically lighter than the ground and house. Photographers generally work to find a perfect exposure, an acceptable balance, use graduated filters on their lenses, or a little 'dodge' and 'burn' in post production.
I have been known to blend skies from other photos with photos of houses, so as to create a more balanced image and I hope that in each case where I have done this anybody viewing the final image would not know. I have seen some woefully obvious, awful looking examples in local papers, online and in property brochures.
In fact I once saw a full page of adverts for an estate agent in Guildford where every house had a blue sky, with each one done terribly and to top it off it was the same blue sky in half the photos. This technique, done poorly or well, is not HDR but it is a way to create a better image if necessary. I think that is as far as it should go because done properly it will look like a legitimately shot photo.
The problem with HDR is that it is an unreal image and extremely difficult to employ and make the final image look genuine. Photographers that specialise in HDR or tinker with it often look to create a final image that screams HDR, in other words they play entirely to the techniques strengths, using the results as an artistic style in it’s own right.
There are some rotten examples but also some which are quite mind blowingly brilliant.
The question is whether or not it is right for estate agents, and in my opinion I think it is wrong.
Especially as I have seen several examples recently where HDR has been used to create interior images. This trend really bothers me. The other day I saw a set of property details from a high end agent for an expensive house, with HDR used for the exterior and interior images. They looked like CGI images. They looked plastic. They just looked wrong. I don't think they reflected well on the house or the estate agent.
I remember reading an article a couple of years ago by an American photographer, where he was holding HDR up as the future for property photography. He argued that there was no longer any need for lights and that practically anyone could do it, almost announcing the passing of the professional interiors photographer. You just need a tripod, camera and HDR software. Well I disagreed at the time and I still do.
Creating good interior photos takes time, patience, lighting skills and an eye for what should and shouldn't be in the room, as well as the way things are positioned. Ideally, if flash is used the idea is to not show that it has been used. The end results should be great photos that show off the rooms to their best and look natural.
HDR does not create a natural, enhancing viewing experience appropriate for property marketing photos. It looks fake and I would be delighted if estate agents and homeowners refused to accept it as an appropriate photo option.
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