photomatix 4.2, only other than crop in PS

bs0604 · May 8, 2012

Bynx · May 8, 2012

Not a good example for an HDR image. No great range to speak of. This is just an example of tone mapping along with the new contrast and sharpening features.

bs0604 · May 8, 2012

I dont understand what you look for when viewing a photo image that tells you if it has range for an HDR shot. I understand the idea of looking at the histogram to judge range but don't get what you are seeing when you have only the picture to judge by.

Bynx · May 8, 2012

If you were sitting in a living room with the sun shining through the window. On each side of the window there is a lamp turned on. Under the coffee table the light doesnt reach so its in shadow. Thats a wide dynamic range -- very bright to very dark with all the shades of color (gray) in between. The brighter the brightest highlight and the darker the shadow areas then the greater the dynamic range of the image. In your image there is no real highlight or shadow area. Its all mid tones so not much range to speak of. Where Photomatix or other HDR processing software excell is putting details in both the highlights and shadows -- making the lights darker while at the same time making the darks lighter. I hope this explains it.

vipgraphx · May 8, 2012

Maybe this is more of an example of "LDR" - low dynamic range.

In my book almost every situation can or do benefit from the use of HDR however not every picture can benefit from tone-mapping.

Easy way to tell if you really need HDR is you take a few pictures and you do not have all the detail in the photo as you can with your eyes. In daylight that is almost always..in shade not so much or overcast days but does not meen you can not have fun with HDR and tone-mapping nonetheless.

In that picture you posted I see a little bit of shadow area on top but not much more than that. I also do not see any highlights which would say that theoretically there was no need for HDR here.