There are a lot of people on Flickr fidling around with tonemapped HDR pictures. The interesting fact is that all the results are pretty kitsch. So after playing around with the technique the conclusion is: Bob Ross would have loved it!!!
So what's so special about these images you might ask. Well basically this technique eliminates the need to choose a correct exposure. By taking a number of exposures (7 are used her) you gather enough information to include all the data in the highlights and all the data in the shadows. All this data is combined in a 32-bit High Dynamic Range Image and then tonemapped back to the good old 8-bit range our monitors can display. The tonal range of the original 32-bits image gets compressed. This means that all the highlights and shadows are being preserved. My guess is that in a couple of years all consumer camera's will work this way and every picture that will be taken after 2011 or so will look like a Bob Ross painting.. Nice thing to look forward to!!
