[Geysers] great APOD pic!--Faked!

[David Schwarz]

   I don't think it's the HDR compositing in this photo that people are
having trouble with.  I see a lot of complaints about HDR photography, but
in almost every case, it's other enhacements that they're complaining
about--oversaturation, sharpening to the point that edges stand out like in
a charcoal drawing, that kind of thing.  In this case, the only HDR
artifact is the glowing line along the horizon in part of the photo--and of
course the observation that White Dome is illuminated at all, which I don't
think is a problem in itself.

   What makes it feel fake is all the other enhancement: most obviously,
selectively dialing up the brightness and saturation of the aurora colors
in the sky and applying very heavy noise reduction throughout.  The aurora
is adjusted so differently from the rest of the photo that it looks like an
overlay, and the noise reduction smooths the foreground so much that it
looks artificial, almost plastic.  The overall effect is almost
painterly--a bit artsy, nice to look at, but not what a lot of people look
for in nature photography, in contrast to, say, Ansel Adams' ultra-sharp
black-and-whites, which almost feel more real than what you can see with
the unaided eye.

   I tossed up a five-minute example of what I'm talking about (sans HDR)
plus a little discussion with one of my own photos here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.752719876201.2144587.3006010&type=1

David
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