Ann / Bynx: I will try boosting the contrast. When you make these adjustments do you do this to the merged JPG image after you have merged it or do you edit each raw image before you merge with HDR software?
Nate: Is there a radiation reduction button in photmatix?
Im just playing with all the different things the software can do at the moment, aggresive and natural. Are there any good tutorials that break the software down?
well, really 1 and 4 aren't as bad in my subjective opinion. 2 and 3 are the killers just because they look so unrealistic, and also cause of the halo's around the changes in color.
I start with RAW files in PS to see if anything needs to be done i.e. CA work, then apply any changes to all images at the same time.*(I use anywhere from 5 to 9 images).
Then merge in PHotomatrix as a tiff file and after working with the image there i move to PS for additional changes.
Ann thanks i will try doing this as well. Does saving as a tiff as apposed to a JPG have any advantages? I need to do some reading on the different file types. So far I just go from RAW to JPG.
Also does shooting more exposures help make the images look more real or reduce the halos and radiation look that nate pointed out?
Tonight im going hunting for some good youtube videos on HDR!
Like Ann said, use the Tiffs, they can handle 16 (and even 32) bit images. Also, have you tried using the other function of Photomatix? Try the Tone Compressor feature if you haven't already.
I read the HDR tutorial at this link and I was wondering about the layers and filters he/she adds using the topaz adjust software. Is there a way to achieve a similar effect using gimp and what exactly is he achieving by adding layers and filters? Anyone who can answer this the help is much appreciated.