# Photomatix



## qmr55 (Dec 11, 2017)

I just purchased photomatix for the first time, wow what a program! Its crazy how much you can do with it in regards to HDR processing. Great first step before taking it into photoshop or lightroom for final editing.

If anyone out there likes messing with HDR photography, but might not be great at editing....check it out!


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## Braineack (Dec 12, 2017)

get out of the hole.


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## qmr55 (Dec 12, 2017)

Braineack said:


> get out of the hole.



You're going to have to elaborate on that one, chief.


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## KmH (Dec 12, 2017)

The Stages of a Photographer *HDR hole*.
http://www.photographyblogger.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/stages-of-a-photographer.jpeg


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## NancyMoranG (Dec 12, 2017)

Qmr55, glad you found a program you like! Have fun and I look forward to your shots!
Some people on the Forum are WAY ahead of the rest of us and aren't always diplomatic about it....but they can give great advice at times. 
Do not discount them because of their post here.
It's just that some people HATE when HDR is over done and looks cartoon-y...


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## qmr55 (Dec 12, 2017)

NancyMoranG said:


> Qmr55, glad you found a program you like! Have fun and I look forward to your shots!
> Some people on the Forum are WAY ahead of the rest of us and aren't always diplomatic about it....but they can give great advice at times.
> Do not discount them because of their post here.
> It's just that some people HATE when HDR is over done and looks cartoon-y...



Thanks, I know how some people are.

Hey brainelack, if you want to leave tools that can be useful out of your toolbox, suit yourself. But I like to keep my options open.


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## The Barbarian (Dec 12, 2017)

NancyMoranG said:


> Qmr55, glad you found a program you like! Have fun and I look forward to your shots!
> Some people on the Forum are WAY ahead of the rest of us and aren't always diplomatic about it....but they can give great advice at times.
> Do not discount them because of their post here.
> It's just that some people HATE when HDR is over done and looks cartoon-y...



It's like anything else we can use to make images we want.   You can overdo it, and make it look awful.  A few people are good enough to overdo it and make it look good anyway.

I just mostly use it to make it look as I saw it at the time.  

The zone system went through the same sort of criticism.    "I can't do that, so it can't be any good."


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## OldManJim (Dec 14, 2017)

I'm totally new to HDR. I just figured out how to make my D7100 take HDR images, and am looking forward to taking the first ones. This software package looks interesting - thanks for posting.

I'm not interested in becoming an "expert" in software manipulation -so this program looks like it might be very useful to me. I'm sure I'll screw up a bunch of images but hopefully that process will help me learn how to make acceptable images. I've been looking at the postings here; most are very interesting.

Hopefully, I'll be able to show some images for critique in the near future.


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## qmr55 (Dec 14, 2017)

OldManJim said:


> I'm totally new to HDR. I just figured out how to make my D7100 take HDR images, and am looking forward to taking the first ones. This software package looks interesting - thanks for posting.
> 
> I'm not interested in becoming an "expert" in software manipulation -so this program looks like it might be very useful to me. I'm sure I'll screw up a bunch of images but hopefully that process will help me learn how to make acceptable images. I've been looking at the postings here; most are very interesting.
> 
> Hopefully, I'll be able to show some images for critique in the near future.



Awesome! Glad this can be useful for you  it really is a great program!


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## crimbfighter (Dec 15, 2017)

I purchased this program a couple weeks ago specifically because the HDR merge in LR doesn' do the best job, and more importantly, you don' get any say in how it merges the images. Photomatix solved that issue for me and added some nice extras like being able to use their brush tool just like a layer mask to blend specific parts of one layer back into the final image. And it dies it all with a simple user interface.


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## DGMPhotography (May 12, 2018)

crimbfighter said:


> I purchased this program a couple weeks ago specifically because the HDR merge in LR doesn' do the best job, and more importantly, you don' get any say in how it merges the images. Photomatix solved that issue for me and added some nice extras like being able to use their brush tool just like a layer mask to blend specific parts of one layer back into the final image. And it dies it all with a simple user interface.



Yeah.. I don't even know how HDR merge works in Lightroom, cause in my experience it looks like it just takes the middle image and moves the sliders around. 

OP, if you use Photomatix, use the exposure stacking options if you want to stay away from the cartoon zone. Everything else is known as "tonemapping."


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## crimbfighter (May 12, 2018)

DGMPhotography said:


> crimbfighter said:
> 
> 
> > I purchased this program a couple weeks ago specifically because the HDR merge in LR doesn' do the best job, and more importantly, you don' get any say in how it merges the images. Photomatix solved that issue for me and added some nice extras like being able to use their brush tool just like a layer mask to blend specific parts of one layer back into the final image. And it dies it all with a simple user interface.
> ...


It is a bit deceptive, but LR's HDR tool basically combines the exposures to give you more data to pull from. So for example, if the DR of your sensor only let you pull shadows up by 1 stop, the added data from multiple exposures might now give you 2 or 3 stops that you can pull the shadows up, highlights down, etc. Think of it as though it's creating a RAW file on steroids with lots more data to pull from. This of course gives you a huge file and then you have to try to edit it like you would any other file. Some people might like that option, but I prefer to be able to tell the program up front how I want the exposure to land and to have the option to preview the final image and tweak it before starting the blending process. It just simplifies things for me and usually eliminates the need for me to pull it into PS to do selective adjustments. Thays just my opinion, your mileage may vary..


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## DGMPhotography (May 12, 2018)

crimbfighter said:


> DGMPhotography said:
> 
> 
> > crimbfighter said:
> ...



Oh, that's interesting... wonder why it moves all the sliders around, then


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## crimbfighter (May 13, 2018)

DGMPhotography said:


> crimbfighter said:
> 
> 
> > DGMPhotography said:
> ...


Like so many other things in my life, I'm utterly clueless on that....


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## Fujidave (May 13, 2018)

qmr55 said:


> I just purchased photomatix for the first time, wow what a program! Its crazy how much you can do with it in regards to HDR processing. Great first step before taking it into photoshop or lightroom for final editing.
> 
> If anyone out there likes messing with HDR photography, but might not be great at editing....check it out!



Nice one, hope you enjoy using it and I look forward to seeing some photos.  To me editing is like photography, ie.. we do it for ourselfs and if people like it then good.


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## OldManJim (Feb 17, 2019)

Well, I finally pulled the trigger and started jumping into HDR. Went to my local church this am and took some shots before services. Downloaded a copy of Photomatix (demo copy) and processed a series of 5 images, taken at different shutter speeds. Here's the result - open for critique and suggestions. So far, my total extertise is about 20 minutes.

The church is oriented north, the sun was shining through the stained glass windows on the right, the pews are dark and the interior was dim.


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## crimbfighter (Feb 17, 2019)

OldManJim said:


> View attachment 169327 Well, I finally pulled the trigger and started jumping into HDR. Went to my local church this am and took some shots before services. Downloaded a copy of Photomatix (demo copy) and processed a series of 5 images, taken at different shutter speeds. Here's the result - open for critique and suggestions. So far, my yoyal extertise is about 20 minutes.
> 
> The church is oriented north, the sun was shining through the stained glass windows on the right, the pews are dark and the interior was dim.


This is a good use of HDR, in my opinion, because it bring the image closer to what the eye would see as opposed to looking over cooked.


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## OldManJim (Feb 18, 2019)

Thanks - I want to get some images with sunrise/sunset to see how it works in those conditions. Also, it would be fun to try some highly backlit objects to see if HDR can handle the contrast.


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## The Barbarian (Feb 19, 2019)

Nice to see that kind of restraint.   You used it precisely the way it was intended to be used.   I would have gone one stop further open, to get those last dim areas, but this was a very successful image, particularly for the first try.


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## OldManJim (Feb 20, 2019)

Thanks,, I'll keep your suggestion in mind for the future.


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