“Those images have been heavily manipulated, likely in Photoshop.”
I’m curious; at what point of manipulation does a photograph become digital art?
I ask because I’ve seen things that are so obviously altered that they’re really not photography anymore.
Re: “I’m curious; at what point of manipulation does a photograph become digital art?”
When they offer you Andy Warhol prices and hang your work in a gallery?
This is a huge topic of conversation among photographers. Lots of people argue that there is so much processing already going on in your camera (that you don't even know about), that there is no longer any "pure" or "true" photography unlike the film days.
This High Dynamic Range technique is interesting. The human eye can see a much wider "dynamic range" (range of darkest darks to lightest lights) than any film or digital sensor can ever hope to see. So, already, any film or straight digital image has a much smaller dynamic range than your eye sees. That's why you can look at a bigh contrast scene (think of a bright window in a somewhat dim indoor room) and you can see details outside as well as inside. But, take a picture of it and either the white window is all white and you can see interior details or you can see outside and the interior details are all lost in shadow.
The HDR technique merges overexposed, underexposed and just-right photos to deliver the dynamic range you actually saw when you were there.
Probably far more than you wanted to know, but I just wanted to say you raised a good question...and there is no one good answer to it!
Best...