Increase the Dynamic Range of Your Photographs

[James Fee]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.hdrsoft.com/index.html' target='_blank'>http://www.hdrsoft.com/index.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"If you have ever shot a high contrast scene, you know that selecting the correct exposure will not avoid blown out highlights and flat shadows. Photomatix Pro offers two ways to solve this problem, exposure blending where differently exposed images are combined into one image with increased dynamic range or HDRI + tone mapping where a High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) is created from multiple exposures. The HDRI is then tone mapped to compress its tonal range while preserving local contrast."</i><br /> <br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/Photomatix.jpg" /> <br /><br />Photomatix is a simple and easy way to fix exposure problems on troublesome shots. Its not automatic (you need to make sure you have images you can acomplish this on), but <a href="http://www.hdrsoft.com/resources/tour.html">once you do</a> you'll have a great looking image.

[djh]

Interesting, looks like it's worth downloading to try out.

I've been trying to solve the problem either with the DEE feature in Nikon Capture, or manually by making two exposures (easy when using NEF format) and then working on blending them.

If this software makes the blending easier, it will be a good addition to the toolkit.

[TomB]

James, interesting post - thanks! My immediate thought is that most people who take the time to lug and setup a tripod these days and are doing the posed shots or landscapes this will work with are either prosumers or pros who already have the high end tools that have allowed these manipulations for years. If the auto align tools work very well though, this could be good for entry level folks who care about getting better shots but don't have time to learn Photoshop. I will take a look - thanks for the tip!

[jeffd]

how does this work with anything that has motion? you cant take both an overexposed and underexposed picture in fractions of a second.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

jeffd, if you're using RAW, you underexpose and output two photos with different curves from the RAW file to photoshop and blend them together.

[Crocuta]

Blending layers is a pretty standard Photoshop technique that you can easily achieve without buying extra software (works in PS, PS Elements, PSP and probably any other editor that uses layers). Here's a link to a tutorial on how to do it. It's really not hard once you give it a go and it does work wonders, particularly for those landscapes where you don't have the dynamic range to capture both the ground and the sky without driving one white or the other black. Also, I've found that if you have an auto-exposure-bracket function in your camera, you can often handhold to get the two exposures you need without a tripod if you'll steady your camera up against a tree or building or whatever.

http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/digital-blending.shtml

[bmhome1]

Photomatix Pro offers far deeper exposure blending beyond just two exposures, especially using with multiple exposures. Here's an example of using Photomatix for automatically blending six exposures with very difficult extreme dynamic range without supplemental lighting:

http://www.ramart.org/

Photomatix also features different algorithms to select, letting it come up with very subtle differing renditions to pick as best based on individual situations. I highly recommend trying it out for a test drive on really radical exposures.

[TomB]

Hmmm... The ramart pic looks good but almost too processed. It would be interesting to know how much the photographer lit or whether this was all natural lighting relying on the software to even things up. If it was natural, either the room has some serious indirect lighting or the software did a pretty good job. Other then the exteriors which look like they were manipulated not to compete with the room (but look artificial), this is a nice composite. The lighting is extremely even and the highlights on the rug natural without tanking the rest of the rug and room. It is hard to second guess what was really done though without an overall unprocessed shot of the room.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Errr, you can always blend 6 layers in PS you know. Just takes more time and effort.