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out of interest (since the HDR cheating/overuse argument is as old as the mole hills) here is a slant with another method that digital allows for. Photostacking (with a program like CombineZM) to get an artificial boost in depth of field is not an uncommon practice in macro photography, but is it cheating?
Surely a key element of good macro photography is learning to frame and postition your subject (and camera) so that you make best use of the limited depth of field. Is photostacking not removing this element and making things a lot easier for the macro shooter - who no longer has to fear diffraction or noisey backgrounds as they can shoot at f2.8* (wide open for most macro lenses) and then stack the results with the computer program.
*note that effective aperture is usually closer to f5.6 in many macro lenses when at full magnification.
I don't understand why any technique which is used to get the effect you want can remotely be called 'cheating'. Stacking, HDR, Photoshop or whatever are just tools to be used as your imagination and ability dictate.
Are the movements on a view camera (used to alter the plane of focus) cheating? Is correcting verticals cheating? Is correcting verticals with a shift lens okay but using Photoshop cheating?
Where does it end? Perhaps we should all go back to 'pure' photography and make our own wet plates!
How can it be considered cheating?
Like the hilariously funny thread about HDR, ANY technique to strengthen the impact of an image is just that - a technique...
And it all started with Fox-Talbot!!!
Ever since the Ab Initio days, photographers has sought to enhance their work!!!
Can we close BOTH threads now please!!
Been there and played and fun with a 3G, you can get some interesting effects.
Cheating, no.
Check this out then go and play 
Any technique can be overused or used badly - or we may just not like the result - but I don't grasp who is being 'cheated'. Is a zoom lens cheating? Shouldn't you be using your legs to achieve the best composition?
Quote: But do people here not think that - perhapse - this method is being overused in macro photography work - that it is not undermining the skill of the macro photographer? Or even rendering works not done with this method as being lesser or reduced in impact?
Nope.
we could argue that digital is cheating 
honestly I don't think I am going to knock and photostacking worms out of the woodwork. I was just trying to see if HDR was on its own with the "its cheating" threads and thoughts.
I have done photostacking in the past (last year) and was trying some this evening (but gave up because 3:1 macro is hard enough without having to hold the macro filter by hand! if it moves there goes your framing - so its waiting on a stepdown ring!)
stacked
shot1
shot2
hehe only two shots so nothing massivly brave, but I did do the combining manually myself with layers rather than a program (took ages as I recall)
Quote: hehe only two shots so nothing massivly brave, but I did do the combining manually myself with layers rather than a program (took ages as I recall)
You appear to have selectively framed this image, now that is what I call cheating
joolsb stay very very quiet (I onlt recently found out about tiltshift lenses and tiltshift bellows) and I really really want one!
But - there is still a limitation - take a coin. If you want full depth of field over the coins face and your not shooting from a perfect above postition you can use a tiltsift to adjust the plane of focus to cover the face of the coin. However if you take a 3D subeject even if you adjust the plane of focus there is still going to be depth to that subject - depth which only a smaller aperture (limited by lens construction, lighting and the effects of diffraction softness) and even then you might not get all you want - then its time to stack
Mike - well call me a new digital upstart then
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