Digital Outback Photo publishes The Art and Craft of HDR Photography

Nevenp - because it does not work that way. Its perfectly possible to recognise mediocre art without being an artist. Now - Ashley do hazy images of pretty girls. At least those are what he shows in his gallery. No pelicans, mountains and leaves there.

Now, to be fair to OP and LL, I never think they have claimed to produce art. Its mostly gear and workflow articles, the photos being illustrations.

And - a question to Ashley. Your images (bing hazy and low resolution) shows no need of high end gear, like LL covers. So - why bother?

Not sure I know what that last part really means.

I think the ultimate truth is that, at least in art, the result is the only thing that matters. Would you tell a painter not to paint a rich blue sky because it was bright out that day and the sky seemed white? That's his or her artistic decision to make. If you think Photography is an art form then you understand that the ends almost always justify the means. The work you produce is all that matters; it's a subjective visual experience and every artist has their own style.

For me it's situational. Sometimes you photograph something mundane and process it into something extraordinary and beautiful. Sometimes it's already beautiful and you want to capture it exactly how it really is. Different scenarios require different methods of capture.

Agreed...it is an example of those who misinterpret HDR to mean mean there should be no dark shadows in a normal scene, resulting in a lack of contrast in the image. I know HDR attempts to represent the wider DR of the human eye, but if we were standing there, it probably wouldn't look like that bright and low-contrast.

While I don't that is true, it's no excuse for the publisher not to have used a copy editor for what is a commercial work.

Well it's subjective, as is any visual experience. Sometimes you might just so happen to need that "HDR" look because that's what a client wants or it makes your image pop in a certain way. It's like shooting in B&W or Sepia, doesn't work for everything but it has it's place. I suppose people have been having these same arguments and issues with painting, music and literature for hundreds of years before photography came about. Generally the new guy gets bullied until something else pops up and threatens everyone's comfort zone. Years from now we'll be saying "I remember when REAL photographers used HDR, not this 3D Photo baloney!" or whatever photo phenomenon is out by then.