HDR Results comparison

[mdijb]

I have been comparing the results from several HDR Processing softwares.  I have tried NIK HDR effects, HDR express, and the CS5 HDR pro, as well as others which provided such poor results I will not mention them.  SNS produced some good results but it took 15 minutes to process one image and therefore is not acceptable either.  I have also processed images in one program and then moved them to one of the others and this did not help either.

They produce some barely acceptable results because with every one there is VEIL, HAZE, Haloing. or other artifact that is impossible to remove and screams HDR processing.  They all look like a curtain  or veil is placed ove the image that I am not able to remove with adjustments in LR or CS5

What I want is a natural looking image where you cannot tell it was HDR processed.  They all advertise this capability but frankly none of them produce this result in my hands.

What  has worked the best is the Fusion Method in Pmatix 4.0.  The images are sharp with none of the "veiling" described above.  Even "enfuse' does not do as well.  The sliders give decent control and the images can the be tweaked in in LR or CS5 to get good results.  IT has become my "go To" processing software.

I hope that when the new version is released, the FUSION portion of PMATIX is enhanced a lot.  This is a plea to the makers to do so.

Knowing that many others have had different experiences, I invite comments and arguments--I hope others confirm my observations, but if not I hope to learn from those that differ--I hope this post sparks a debate that we all can learn from.

MDIJB

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

I'm somewhat skeptical to HDR. In my view it's mostly not needed, probably with exception to interior shoots where there is direct light from windows and so on. In essence it is my experience from my shooting that a well exposed ETTR image holds enough information.

The problem is that with extended dynamic range it needs to be compressed so the image can be displayed on available media having a contrast range of 1:100 (print) to perhaps 1:500 (screen). I have found Merge to HDR Pro in CS5 useful, with "local adaption" and final adjustments in Lightroom.

http://echophoto.smugmug.com/Special-methods/HDR/HDR/

Best regards
Erik

I have been comparing the results from several HDR Processing softwares.  I have tried NIK HDR effects, HDR express, and the CS5 HDR pro, as well as others which provided such poor results I will not mention them.  SNS produced some good results but it took 15 minutes to process one image and therefore is not acceptable either.  I have also processed images in one program and then moved them to one of the others and this did not help either.

They produce some barely acceptable results because with every one there is VEIL, HAZE, Haloing. or other artifact that is impossible to remove and screams HDR processing.  They all look like a curtain  or veil is placed ove the image that I am not able to remove with adjustments in LR or CS5

What I want is a natural looking image where you cannot tell it was HDR processed.  They all advertise this capability but frankly none of them produce this result in my hands.

What  has worked the best is the Fusion Method in Pmatix 4.0.  The images are sharp with none of the "veiling" described above.  Even "enfuse' does not do as well.  The sliders give decent control and the images can the be tweaked in in LR or CS5 to get good results.  IT has become my "go To" processing software.

I hope that when the new version is released, the FUSION portion of PMATIX is enhanced a lot.  This is a plea to the makers to do so.

Knowing that many others have had different experiences, I invite comments and arguments--I hope others confirm my observations, but if not I hope to learn from those that differ--I hope this post sparks a debate that we all can learn from.

MDIJB

[tived]

HDR is interesting, it does open up a can of worms some tasty and some down right nasty. If you are looking for a one botton fix here is my HDR make me an artist, then i think you will be very disappointed.

there have been some really interesting articles here on Lu-La from some people who are much more talented then I am, so I would advise you to look over them a few times. You will need to buggle down and do the hard work.

Getting good HDR or a good expanded dynamic range in your images, as you eye would see it, is a multi-layered approach where you will be masking to your hearts content to enclude or exclude parts from different layers. I don;t think there is a single recipe for this.

As you have already found out, each of the programs gives you a trade off, something you are happy about and some you are not, finding the balance may require the use of several programs to finally be assampled in PS.

but all that said, we are in for some interesting times, we are all still learning what all this HDR can do for our photography. I personally find it essential for shooting Panoramas  - but its no free lunch!!!

best of luck

Henrik

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

I have been comparing the results from several HDR Processing softwares.  I have tried NIK HDR effects, HDR express, and the CS5 HDR pro, as well as others which provided such poor results I will not mention them.  SNS produced some good results but it took 15 minutes to process one image and therefore is not acceptable either.  I have also processed images in one program and then moved them to one of the others and this did not help either.

They produce some barely acceptable results because with every one there is VEIL, HAZE, Haloing. or other artifact that is impossible to remove and screams HDR processing.  They all look like a curtain  or veil is placed ove the image that I am not able to remove with adjustments in LR or CS5

What I want is a natural looking image where you cannot tell it was HDR processed.  They all advertise this capability but frankly none of them produce this result in my hands.

Hi,

You obviously haven't tried SNS-HDR. It's the best (HDR) tonemapping program I've ever seen/used. It's a Windows application, but it reportedly also runs fine under Parallels or Fusion on a Mac.

What  has worked the best is the Fusion Method in Pmatix 4.0.  The images are sharp with none of the "veiling" described above.  Even "enfuse' does not do as well.  The sliders give decent control and the images can the be tweaked in in LR or CS5 to get good results.  IT has become my "go To" processing software.

It's a reasonable alternative to doing things by hand in Photoshop, but SNS-HDR leaves it in the dust, really. It makes me feel sad when I read all these posts about people struggling to get decent natural looking results out of problematic lighting situations, when a reasonably priced solution is available ...

Cheers,
Bart

[leuallen]

Another vote for SNS-HDR Pro. About  15 min processing time. I've never run into any problems with processing time but then I have a relatively fast machine.

Larry

[tived]

Bart,

is there any good tutorials for SNS-HDR that you can recommend - just bought it (a week ago but only just installed it today)

thanks

Henrik

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

is there any good tutorials for SNS-HDR that you can recommend - just bought it (a week ago but only just installed it today)

Hi Henrik,

Not that I know of, although I have been asked by someone else to produce a manual ...

The first thing I would do, is selecting your monitor profile with the tool in the middle of the toolbar.

The program works quite intuitive, with tool tips for the various tools and controls, although there are some new things to learn compared to a traditional photoeditor, and new useful features are being added all the time. The author posted a list of useful tips on his forum that may be useful for people new to the program. There are more tips available in that forum section.

The best way, IMHO, to learn the effect of the slider controls is by starting with the Neutral preset (which sort of turns all controls 'off'). Since the preview updates in real-time as you move a slider, it becomes easier to learn what effect each control has. Working the controls from top to bottom is a logical way of working, but one occasionally needs to loop back to tweak. As one goes, a right mouse button click on the image will show it's original look as the file(s) was/were opened without any alterations. That will allow a reality check, to see if one is getting too far from the original situation.

Cheers,
Bart

[leuallen]

Although really not a tutorial, I posted a pdf which shows how to use the masking feature of SNS. It uses a single image so is not really HDR. The first part is in error, you do not have to import two versions, light and dark, into SNS. You can just import the original file. The rest of the pdf shows the use of masks, a really powerful feature. SNS masking is almost magical. I have studied making masks of all kinds using PS and SNS usually beats my efforts. The link to the pdf is here https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8ETvhCd81aFMTUyMTU4OTctZGQxZS00NTBmLWE5MDgtMDIwNWM1ODA3M2I4

Larry

[Tim Lookingbill]

I tend to agree with Erik's thoughts on HDR although I do like it when it's done to look right for interior architectural shots.

Not to rain your HDR parade but I had a bit of a wake up call this past month when I was introduced to new HDR technology done on the spot with a cell phone which was new to me since I've never owned or used such a device.

I got to see first hand, though, looking over the shoulders of a young, local interior decorator use her iPhone to do HDR interior shots of her newly opened designer antique shop that took maybe less than a minute to pull off with professional looking jpegs good enough for her to use to print her brochures and post online to her Facebook page at little to no cost.

She loved the results and wasn't concerned about any noise issues in the shadows that may or may not have been there which I certainly couldn't see on her printed designer brochures or jpegs posted to her online Facebook gallery.

[mdijb]

Thanks for all the comments.

I used the trial version of SNS on a mac via Fusion and it takes way too long to process.  10-15 min--really!!

Anyone else have this experience??

MDIJB