HDR workflow question

[dwood]

I've not yet experimented with HDR and have a question regarding workflow when using this technique. My typical processing workflow after loading new images into LR is to 'go down the list' in the Develop module. When you plan on using HDR for your images, do you go this route first and *then* send your files over for HDR/tone mapping or vice-versa? Does one workflow seem to work better than another in the world of HDR?

-Doug

[Woodcorner]

I've not yet experimented with HDR and have a question regarding workflow when using this technique. My typical processing workflow after loading new images into LR is to 'go down the list' in the Develop module. When you plan on using HDR for your images, do you go this route first and *then* send your files over for HDR/tone mapping or vice-versa? Does one workflow seem to work better than another in the world of HDR?

-Doug

Doug,

for HDR it is recommended not to change anything related to exposure such as the settings for Exposure, Brightness, Fill Light, Blacks, Curves, etc. . The only settings you should consider changing in LR are White Balance, Noise Reduction, and Chromatic aberrations.

Once you have processed and tone mapped the image, you can work on your image as ususal.

Cheers,

Andrew

[Lust4Life]

Andrew,

I've just started experimenting with HDR and find that the image that initially comes up showing the Merged Results, but waiting for you to click the OK button, if far better than the image generated AFTER I click OK.

Any idea what I'm missing here?

Jack

Doug,

for HDR it is recommended not to change anything related to exposure such as the settings for Exposure, Brightness, Fill Light, Blacks, Curves, etc. . The only settings you should consider changing in LR are White Balance, Noise Reduction, and Chromatic aberrations.

Once you have processed and tone mapped the image, you can work on your image as ususal.

Cheers,

Andrew

[dwood]

Doug,

for HDR it is recommended not to change anything related to exposure such as the settings for Exposure, Brightness, Fill Light, Blacks, Curves, etc. . The only settings you should consider changing in LR are White Balance, Noise Reduction, and Chromatic aberrations.

Once you have processed and tone mapped the image, you can work on your image as ususal.

Cheers,

Andrew

Thanks for that Andrew.

[Paul2660]

If you are using Photomatrix and "detail mapping" not tone mapping, then the output will always vary.  Photomatrix will tell you that the preview is only an estimate of what the
final output will look like.  The tone map preview will be exactly the same.  

The entire process tends to be called tone mapping.

With Photomatrix you have 2 options, for mapping, Detail mapping and Tone mapping.  The Detail mapping option is the one that gives you more adjustments.

One solution is to save your adjustments before you process the image, then look at the final output, if it's not where you like, you can go back where you where on the file by
applying your recent saved settings.

Paul Caldwell
www.photosofarkansas.com

[Lust4Life]

Paul,

I'm using/experimenting with Photoshop CS4 to do my HDR merges.
 
I see from a search on Google that Photomatix is a 3rd party program - looks like I need to research programs other than PS to get the best HDR???

Jack

If you are using Photomatrix and "detail mapping" not tone mapping, then the output will always vary.  Photomatrix will tell you that the preview is only an estimate of what the
final output will look like.  The tone map preview will be exactly the same.  

The entire process tends to be called tone mapping.

With Photomatrix you have 2 options, for mapping, Detail mapping and Tone mapping.  The Detail mapping option is the one that gives you more adjustments.

One solution is to save your adjustments before you process the image, then look at the final output, if it's not where you like, you can go back where you where on the file by
applying your recent saved settings.

Paul Caldwell
www.photosofarkansas.com

[Paul2660]

I can't speak to CS4, but CS3's conversion process is much harder to work with than Photomatrix IMO.   Even if I create the hdr file in CS3, I will Detail or Tone map it with Photomatrix.

I believe you can still download the software for a trial period.  

Paul Caldwell
www.photosofarkansas.com

[Gordon Buck]

In his blog, Mike Johnston recommended the HDR book by McCollough, http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/t...hotography.html  I got this book and it has been very helpful.  The book is relatively simple and straightforward and includes comparisons of various HDR software such as Photomatix, FDRTools, etc.

[rdonson]

I've been very pleased with the DVD from Ben Wilmore.  He covers Photomatix and HDR quite nicely.

Click here.

[J. Paul]

Ron,
I read your comment about the Ben Wilmore DVD.  Does the DVD cover creating a more natural looking merge, similar to using a split field graduated filter?  For what I do the Harry Potter look is not suitable.
Regards,
J. Paul

I've been very pleased with the DVD from Ben Wilmore.  He covers Photomatix and HDR quite nicely.

Click here.

[rdonson]

Ron,
I read your comment about the Ben Wilmore DVD.  Does the DVD cover creating a more natural looking merge, similar to using a split field graduated filter?  For what I do the Harry Potter look is not suitable.
Regards,
J. Paul

Ben differentiates between a natural looking image and one that he calls more illustration than photo.  He provides guidance on how to achieve both.  

One very nice thing that you gain from Ben is a much better understanding and feel for what the controls in Photomatix do and how to use them in an iterative manner.

[Paul2660]

Before you buy anything, go to www.digitaloutbackphoto.com and read all of Uwe's articles on HDR.  You will find out most you need for technique and it's all free.

Uwe IMO pioneered many of the techniques and styles that others are writing about now.  

Paul Caldwell
www.photosofarkansas.com

[fike]

The Photomatix Pro demo is fully functional for learning.  It does put a watermark on the images, but the demo was more than enough for me to decide that it is far superior to PS CS3.

[rdonson]

Before you buy anything, go to www.digitaloutbackphoto.com and read all of Uwe's articles on HDR.  You will find out most you need for technique and it's all free.

Uwe IMO pioneered many of the techniques and styles that others are writing about now.  

Paul Caldwell
www.photosofarkansas.com

Uwe undoubtedly does a fine job with all of his HDR articles and I've followed his journey from the beginning with Photomatix.  That may be sufficient for a lot of folks.  IMO though Ben provides more insight into the use of the controls through his videos.

[johnchoy]

For user friendliness, I think Dynamic HDR is better than photomatix.

However, I discovered that both progam can't work on large files  (image size with pixel length more than 10000..........though not thoroughly tested). They are useless especially for my 4x5 IR scanned images (3200dpi). my computer is a 8Gb PC............. still being said out of memory  

I'm using Ptgui to HDR-ing ( both enfuse and tone mapping ) my 4 x5 IR scanned images. It isn't user friendly compare to them  but it is just able to do the job. I think Ptgui's  advantage over the two is that it has the ability in its option to choose which disk you want to be the temp or scratch disk.

[rdonson]

However, I discovered that both progam can't work on large files  (image size with pixel length more than 10000..........though not thoroughly tested). They are useless especially for my 4x5 IR scanned images (3200dpi). my computer is a 8Gb PC............. still being said out of memory

Photomatix Pro has a workaround in its batch mode, I think, for memory restrictions.  You can tell it to work in "strips" which enables it to reduce the memory footprint.  I don't have the app in front of me at the moment so my use of terminology may be incorrect.


edit:
Found it.  Its definitely there in the batch options.

[Lightbox]

Forget about the HDR DVD offered by Ben Wilmore, after using Photomatix for a while I thought there was more to learn, as I was happy with my results going strictly for enhancing dynamic range, not photo realism. Ben's DVD is basically useless, he doesn't explain anything in detail, just goes through the sliders and says "Play with this until you are happy" and then moves onto the next slider. He covers shooting images for HDR, which is a very basic principal and you can easily learn online faster and with more info than the DVD. Detail is what is needed in tutorial, explaining exactly what each adjustment is doing to pixels in your image, and how each adjustment is relative to the next, so you can understand better how to progress yourself and develop your own techniques. You are better off reading the PDF manual for Photomatix, working with that while you work with an image to discover exactly what each adjustment achieves.

[Paul2660]

John on the memory issue, it's the limitation of a 32 bit app.  

The batch mode may work, you still have pretty good control over everything.  I have worked with with up to 5 P45 tiffs with no problems.  You may get an error the first time, but try again.  I have found often times it take a couple of tries to get really big files through.  Not sure how large your 4x5 scanned files are however, the tifs I am referring to are 235mb each.  

Paul Caldwell
www.photosofarkansas.com

[mcbroomf]

I have also run into problems with Photomatix memory errors (1ds3 files) and found that the colour space makes a difference.  I convert to ProPhoto from Raw, but then convert to a Jo Holmes colour space before starting to work on my files.  When I forget to do this I can rarely get an action in PM to complete, except in batch mode, and even then it will not always work.  I find the software useful but very frustrating.  In the mean time I've started using Enfuse in Lightroom.  This works very well but does not keep any adjustments made in LR (in particular CA corrections).

Mike

[johnchoy]

thanks Paul and rdonson for yr sharing about photomatix.

I'm settled on Ptgui right now......just tired of testing.

As for my 4x5 scanned images (B&W IR ), there's 3 different images (RGB) of 12000 x 15000 pixel in dimension which is around 1.2 Gb in size per exposure.

My computer at this moment is a Asus (P5Q) with 8 Gb of ram ( waiting for a new 16 Gb  set ) and a single tone-mapped images cost me around 5 hrs for rendering..... but at least it did and never run into memory issue.

Wth ptgui, I can choose between tonemapping and enfuse. And somehow I need both 2 method to generate images from a single set for further processing. It is because tone mapping give a constrasty tone while enfuse looks more natural. Moreover, the preview of the 2 in ptgui are quite accurate.