Photography

New comers or old giant?

I am a new comer of HDR imaging field and I am looking for some professional HDR program that really assists picture takers. There are a great deal of popularity, such as HDR Darkroom, photomatix, dynamic photo and so on. It has been revealed that lots of users own a certain bias to some newly-developed program, having a doubt whether it is a true fundamental progression in the subject or just a nonsensical duplication. I will give a contrast of two professional software—Photomatix, which has led HDR imaging many years and HDR Darkroom, which will surely bring a revolution of HDRI for imaging, aiming to detect their merits respectively.

Introducing the two software
Photomatix and HDR Darkroom want to develop high dynamic range photos. Photomatix has been a leader in this market for a few years, while HDR Darkroom, which focuses on research and production of innovative and easy-to-use high dynamic range image processing technologies for photographic, is coming out to compete for a market share.

Interface differences
pictures can be imported into Photomatix by the use of the Generate HDR menu which then generates a HDR image. Its interface permits diversified parameters to be set to produce your final photo.
By comparison, the interface of HDR Darkroom seems much more comfortable and user-friendly.

Tone mapping engines—where the magic is
Photomatix provides two tone mapping engines: detail enhancer and tone compressor.
Details enhancer: takes into account whether it is in a bright or dark area and maps it accordingly. It acts like a local contrast adjustment.
Tone Compressor: Disregard the local brightness background of the image and compresses the entire scene  into the 0-256 range of an 8 bit monitor. It acts like a global contrast adjustment.

There are three tone mapping engines of HDR Darkroom: Local tone balancer (LTB), Local tone enhancer (LTE) and Fast tone compressor (FTC).

LTB engine is aimed at balancing tones in the photo and reveal detail in both shadow and highlights. It can be used to extract minor details for visual appeal scientifically, and photographically it can be used to produce an shot to be masked into a not so heavily tone mapped version to disclose detail in wood, rock and other textured surfaces.

LTE is controlling over strength of local contrast as well as brightness and saturation, one can also have command over the shadows exposure with a clever control called fill-light. The Fill-light function though commanding the global soft contrast tends to brighten the darker areas just enough to pull out a little more particular without developing useless noise.

FTC provides fantastic outcomes promptly. It’s great for people who have a lot of images to get through. Most FTC developed pictures might demand a little color balancing which you can either handle the provided color balance panel or post with Photoshop and so on.

Besides, HDR Darkroom gives you another choice—provides both surreal and photo-realistic effects which attracts more care and attention than other HDR program. That is the point I like.

By comparing some photos which are exported into Photoshop, It can be seen clearly that HDR Darkroom has better enhancement while Photomatix blows out in the highlight areas; HDR Darkroom gives out enough particulars while Photomatix is clearer in dark areas; HDR Darkroom has great balance of detail and contrast while Photomatix renders low contrast.

Each kind of software has its advantages as well as disadvantages, it is wise to select software depending on your likes and dislikes and demands rather than listening to other people talk blind aimlessly.

About the Author

i adored HDRI.

Photoshop HDR Effect Tutorial

Creative Black and White: Digital Photography Tips and Techniques $17.43 Black-and-white photography poses unique challenges; without color to guide the eye, contrast, lighting, and composition take on even more importance. Renowned photographer Harold Davis explains these elements and demonstrates the basic rules of black and white photography as well as when and how to break them. He breaks through the complexity of this photographic medium, explores opportunities fo…

Serif PhotoPlus X4 $70.00 With PhotoPlus X4, anyone can turn good photos into great pictures. This photo editing software makes advanced tasks, like editing RAW files and HDR imaging, straightforward while common fixes like red eye removal, spot repair, and cropping are always at your fingertips. Fix old and damaged photos using powerful restoration tools or get creative with filters, effects and brushes. PhotoPlus X4 mak…

Serif PhotoPlus X3 $20.00 PhotoPlus X3 Digital Studio is Serif’s professional digital image editing solution. PhotoPlus X3 brings you an unrivalled combination of easy-to-use photo enhancement Studios, on-screen automated help, and a rich collection of professional-level tools and adjustments. Whether you’re resizing holiday snaps, removing flaws from portraits, adjusting exposure and color levels, restoring old images, im…