Tuesday, November 9, 2010

To Buy or Not to Buy, That is the Question

And the answer, obviously, is "it depends."
When looking for anything, (cars, cameras, and so forth) it's clearly a good idea to search around for the best price.  As the saying goes, "If it's too good to be true, it usually is." (emphasis added)
This is not always the case, as some who have gotten the steal of a lifetime can testify due to the seller of an item not knowing its true value or some other reason.  For instance, did you read about the $5 bike someone bought at a yard sale? (a good deal for a regular bike in decent condition, wouldn't you say?)






In case there are some of you who read my blog but aren't keeping up with my Flickr photostream, I'll put a photo on here today - as a matter of fact, I think there's a good possibility I might not put it on Flickr.
Anyway, I've been doing some experimenting with a photo editing program that's easy to use for HDRs, called Oloneo Photoengine.  Unfortunately, the beta version of the program is only free until December 1, after which it will expire...  :-(   
Some of my "HDR" (high dynamic range, for the non-photographers) photos technically aren't HDRs, because you are supposed to make an HDR by combining multiple photos - usually three, with each photo taken at a different exposure, one higher, one lower, and one normal - to create a more realistic or often more than realistic photo, and I have sometimes just taken one photo and used tone mapping and other editing tools on it.  If you want a better definition of HDR, look it up; I'm often not very good at giving clear, concise answers.  Although HDRs and majorly Photoshopped (ha, come get me, Adobe) photos are often pretty cool, I think that it can be better to use minimal editing in some situations, since I think it takes more technical skill - not to mention work and patience - to get an awe-inspiring straight-out-of-the-camera shot. 
This doesn't mean that I think photo editing means you're less of a photographer, as some apparently do.
After all, Ansel Adams and others used photo editing.  Whatever works for you is good, but some of the best photographers I've seen on Flickr, such as Patrick Smith, don't heavily edit their photos, and they're the ones who go to much greater lengths to get great photos.  

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