HDR test with different programs and times

[Woolsocks]

I tried a comparison between photoshop, affinity photo, and photomatix pro. My reasoning is to show how long it takes anyone with a basic familiarity of photoshop can accomplish. A realistic tone map or even further a realistic composite of two images.

I used my stopwatch and timed myself. My goal was to add the 10 images into the program and tone map them. Aligning, anti ghosting. And then final edit if the program allowed. No practice. Just follow directions of program and see how long it takes. Adjust sliders in program as necessary to get the most natural look. And add a couple color and curves adjustments after tone map.

1 minute 55 seconds
photoshop. curves. hue saturation.

2 minute 43 seconds
Affinity photo. curves. color balance.

2 minutes zero seconds
Photomatix HDR

I also did another edit with masking. No tone mapping. Timed myself as well with stop watch. It took me 5 minutes. Opened two images as layers, used mask with brush tool, and pen tool to get the frame of the window closer to what I wanted.

I did this in 5 minutes. Photoshop. 2 pictures. mask. And color effect.

Title: Nostalgia:

If I've kept things to short feel free to ask me a question.

 

[smoke665]

Not sure I'm understanding the purpose of the exercise. Tone mapping an image and HDR aren't exactly the same.

Tone mapping an image is changing the tonal value of the pixels so that they are remapped consistently to new values. That process can be accomplished in multiple different ways, and the time involved would depend on the techniques used. A complex tone map including color grading from another image could take awhile.

When you create an HDR image, you capture a range of brightness that’s beyond what a standard 16-bit digital camera can capture into a single file 32 bit file, which can't be displayed. The conversion process (in camera or post), takes the extended dynamic range of the 32-bit file and compress it into a range that allows it to be displayed.

 

[Woolsocks]

Not sure I'm understanding the purpose of the exercise. Tone mapping an image and HDR aren't exactly the same.

Tone mapping an image is changing the tonal value of the pixels so that they are remapped consistently to new values. That process can be accomplished in multiple different ways, and the time involved would depend on the techniques used. A complex tone map including color grading from another image could take awhile.

When you create an HDR image, you capture a range of brightness that’s beyond what a standard 16-bit digital camera can capture into a single file 32 bit file, which can't be displayed. The conversion process (in camera or post), takes the extended dynamic range of the 32-bit file and compress it into a range that allows it to be displayed.

LOL ahhh.

3 images blended and tone mapped to simulate an HDRI in a 8 bit file. What monitor can show me 32 bit color range? $2,000 one's. They come close and closer as the years go by.

How many printers print in 16 bit color mode, professional printers from Epson and Canon I believe. A lot of online printers say they print at 16 bit too, but it turns out they convert to 8 bit color images first in most cases.

What's the difference between 8 bit, 16 bit, and 32 bit color images. The higher numbers contain more colors.

Most images are 8 bit on the web. 16 bit images contain a lot more colors but you need a good monitor to show them. HDRI's are the closet to what the naked human eye can perceive naturally.


Like wine tasting some people can not see the difference between 16 bit and 32 bit HDRI's.

Now it comes down to money and Skillz and what your objective is.