... saying "other venues" to support a point is like a certain newspaper, which, to avoid political tendentiousness I won't name, often tries to bolster a point by saying "studies show," or words to that effect without giving a reference to the "studies." That kind of thing invalidates everything that follows.
I do not think Ed really needs to specify "other venues" in order to validate his position. As I said in another thread, HDR is "in", and you know it is "in" when CNN reports it (as they did yesterday). There are plenty of sites, forums, Flickr groups, etc. where HDR groupies congregate to gush about it. General public, non-photographers and younger generations especially, seems to like it too, if for no other reason then for being a novelty and "cool". As a matter of fact,
anything in this world will find its followers, no matter how gross or absurd. There are also forums, sites, Facebook pages, etc., where people hate HDR. It is just that this forum appears to be more inclined not to like it, if not outright hate it. But, as Ed said, it is all cool. Different strokes for different folks.
HDR defenders would often say "let's not confuse
bad HDR (aka saccharin, nuclear, etc. HDR) photography with
good HDR photography". My view, admittedly extreme, on this is:
There is no good HDR photography! If it is that good, it is not perceived as HDR. If it is good AND perceived as HDR, it has, more likely, already crossed from photography into digital art. And again, that's cool... there are people who love digital art.
If i want to be generous to HDR and mellow the above statements, I would qualify them as pertaining to HDR resulting from the use of automated methods, rather than manual blending.
What's my beef with (automated) HDR? In a word: EVERY thing.
Good thing about HDR: tones down highlights and opens up shadows. Enhances details and colors.
Bad thing about HDR: tones down EVERY highlight and opens up EVERY shadow. Enhances EVERY detail and EVERY color.
It is like the difference between pornographic and erotic: some things are simply more exciting when covered, hidden or hinted.
Emphasizing everything defies the very nature and purpose of photography. It is often said that painters add and photographers subtract. Namely, a painter starts with a blank canvas and adds elements, but only those he chooses. A photographer, on the other hand, is faced with a world in front of him with too many already existing elements, hence he needs to simplify, subtract and hide those unimportant ones, by lens and standpoint selection, composition, and, often, post-processing. HDR, by revealing everything, reverses that effort and defies the purpose.
By the way, Ed, welcome to the forum! We do not hate
you!