Stupid Car Forum Trends

Car forums are such a circle jerk. They can be really useful for buying and selling parts, catching up on news (although Autoblog usually does the best job), or good for laugh. Off topic sections are usually the best, but the part that actually deals with cars just bugs the shit out of me sometimes.

HDR - yay, let's all use a plug-in to pretend we are 'artsy'!
What's with the latest HDR fad? HDR stands for "High Dynamic Range" imaging (link) and it's actually pretty cool when used in moderation. The way you would create an HDR image is by taking 3 different exposures of the same image - one super exposed, one under exposed, and one just right - and combining the 3 to end up with something like this:


The result is sort of an exaggerated, fantasy-like photo. Pretty cool looking for photos of scenery, skies, etc... but super lame for car photos. If I'm checking out pictures of cars, I want to see the details of what the car really looks like, not some cartoonish, washed out attempt at HDR.

Here are some exampled that led the palm of my hand directly to my forehead:

Really? Am I on acid?
Are those 2 SVXs?!











I have no words for this one.













This would actually be a bad ass shot if the car wasn't in the picture. Don't get me wrong, it's a bad ass car, bad ass backdrop, but the car doesn't belong. It leaves me wanting to see the real photo of the car, and that takes away from the beauty of the scene behind it.


The thing that pisses me off the most, is that 90% of all "HDR" shots have the same 'photomatix' watermark all over the image since they all just used a plug-and-play program. Just cut the shit already. It was cool at first, but now it's just played out. Stop trying to be all artistic by using a filter.

On to rant number 2... Rotas.

Knock-off Wheels - I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.













































Why anyone would risk their 20-40 thousand dollar investment just to save a couple hundred bucks is beyond me. There is only 1 part of your car that actually touches the ground. Figure it out people.

DaTruth's blog said it best - please read

Stop "e" high fiving your buddies for buying the same crap. I'm sick of seeing the "offical rota thread" and the good old "post HDR pics!" thread.
They should be called "the offical I am a cheap ass who doesn't care about my car or passengers" thread and the good old "I pretend to be artsy by running my photos through a filter" thread.

You forum junkies should understand me when I say this. DIAF. Please.