Inner Harbour Causeway Tableau Vivant

Many photographers (including myself) now use High Dynamic Range (HDR) processing as one of many methods of improving image quality. Most new models of DSLR have built-in HDR functions. Generally I prefer to do HDR in post-processing because stand-alone HDR processing software (I use Photomatix) offers more control and more options. Usually when I use HDR I prefer it to be invisible. I use it to correct problems with lighting - some parts of the photo may be too dark or light and this can often be improved with HDR processing. But I prefer the end result to look like an ordinary photo. However, when HDR effects are pushed beyond this normal range the results are sometimes more interesting than standard treatments. Photographic purists are revolted by such treatment, but while I don't want all my photos to look like this, sometimes it seems to communicate what I want. In this case what I wanted was a kind of tableau vivant of a typical Inner Harbour Causeway scene. For a genuine tableau vivant I should have posed all the figures but extreme HDR processing like this plus the added distortion of a wide angle lens seems to make everything in the photo appear posed, or perhaps poised is a better way to describe how the figures seem frozen in significant attitudes. In any case, it's a different way of looking at what to regular visitors to this blog must now be a familiar scene: Victoria's Inner Harbour Causeway on a quiet summer afternoon. That's Dwight Hill sitting down on the lower left while some passersby take a look at his wonderful wood carvings.