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• 1. Ansel Adams addressed the disparity between the dynamic range of film
and paper by developing the Zone system, which allowed the photographer
to know before exposure how the print would look.)
Normal
Over +2
Under -2
(1): The software will match features and overlay and trim the images to match, if
you shoot free hand. But a tripod means that you will get more in the final image,
especially at the edges.
How to create HDR, Step #1
• Set up your camera in Aperture Priority mode. This is important
because you don’t want the multiple photos to have different
depth of field.
• Turn on Autobracketing. If you have 3 pics in the autobracket, set it
up at -2, 0, +2.
• For 95% of situations, going from +2 to -2 is enough light range.
• Shoot in RAW, if you can. JPG is okay, but RAW gives your more
flexibility later in the processing. RAW photos contain a lot more
light information than a JPEG. Please note that when processing in
Photomatix later, the RAWs are no better than JPEGs.
• Use a tripod if possible.
• If you don’t use a tripod, Photomatix will try to align the images for
you.
How to create HDR, Step #2
• Use Photomatix to take your photos and convert them into an HDR
image. Photomatix has several ways of combining the images. One
is Tonemaping, one is exposure fusion. For this presentation we will
just call it Magic. Just as you don’t need to be a mechanic to use a
car, you don’t need to how it does it, just use it.
• You can run Photomatix in a few ways:
– To generate an single HDR from some autobraketed shots
– To do a huge batch of HDRs after you come back from a shoot
– To convert a single RAW photo into an HDR
• You can use Photomatix to open up JPG or RAW photos.
Photomatix itself will do the RAW conversion on its own. Some
experts claim it is a little better to do the RAW conversion on your
own.
Photomatix HDR workflow
1. Click “Load Bracketed Photos”
2. Select bracketed photos
– Either navigate to your photos via the “Browse” button or drag-
and-drop image files from the Finder.
3. Click the “Load” button.
4. This launches a dialog window that gives you various
preprocessing options.
A. Align source images
B. Reduce ghosting artifacts
C. Reduce noise
D. Reduce chromatic aberrations
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2
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Preprocessing Options
• If you feel like you had some camera shake, choose “Align Source Images”
• If there was movement or “ghosting”, chose “Reduce ghosting artifacts”
– This will take you to another screen where you can then select the
area of the photo that has the ghosting. After that, you can select
which component photo to use instead of the ghost.
• If you shot at a high ISO or anticipate a lot of noise, chose “Reduce noise”
• If you have the sort of lens or situation that gives you annoying chromatic
aberrations (those nasty purple and green outlines you see at 100%
sometimes), then choose this option to help minimize those.
• There are not many wrong choices you can make on this dialog, so don’t
panic.
• Once you have selected your preprocessing options, click the
“Preprocess” button.
• Then some wizard waves their wand and Magic happens.
Photomatix Processing
• Every picture is different. There is no “right way” to set these sliders.
There is certainly a “wrong” way to do it, though. It is very easy to
“over do” some of the slider settings.
• The suggested processing options are nice to look at but I usually
don’t use them.
• Many sliders, so little time. I find the best way to start is with the
White point and Black point. Tweek the gamma, then move to the
strength, saturation, etc. If you’ve shot many images at a single
location Save the Settings so that you have a good starting point for
the rest of the images.
FFinal Step: Adjust the
highlights and shadow
Then save, save,save!
Slider Settings
• Strength – I keep it any where between 50% and 100%.
• Color Saturation – Keep it reasonable. Don’t over-saturate your photo. Again, each
photo is different. There is a difference between color that pops and color that bleeds
too electric. Remember, HDR is about light, not about over-saturation!
• Luminosity – This is used for the “painterly effect”, let us say. The further to the right,
the less contrast will be in the photo. If you find yourself with “Halo” problems in
daylight shots, moving this to the far right will help.
• Detail Contrast – A slider that helps the details and fluctuations in colors on the very
small scale. Like the others, play with this until it looks and feels right. Generally, the
more to the right, the more grungy and black-contrasty it becomes.
• Lighting Adjustments – This is an important slider that effects the “HDRness” of the
shot. The more to the left, the more psychedelic.
• White Point & Black Point – Be sure to pop the Black Point off the left side, where it
rests by default. Bringing a bit of black into the image will help the other colors
resonate. Adjust the White Point so that the bright parts of the image are not blown
out.
• All the other sliders? They are interesting, but I honestly don’t use them much. I
won’t waste your valuable time by going into extreme descriptions of oft-ignored
controls.
Finish Processing
Below are links. They all have trial downloads. The first two companies
are not timed, they watermark your output file. Give them all a try and let
me know.
Photomatix www.hdrsoft.com/
Dynamic Photo HDR
http://www.mediachance.com/hdri/index.html
HDR Darkroom http://www.hdrdarkroom.com/
HDR Expose http://www.unifiedcolor.com/