More, more HDR
Solid advice byThom from Thom (that’s his picture, by the way).
If you have followed my posts for any time at all you know I admire Thom Hogan and his byThom website. He is a Nikon expert, but his advice translates into all type of camera-speak … that is, if you shoot with a Canon or other brand you will benefit from what he writes, also. Today he had a most apropos post on HDR software, giving his concise opinion on some new and old software to make HDR-work easy (and possible). I am including just a bit of his conclusion below:
A few years back programs started appearing to give photographers more control over melding an exposure bracket series into an “HDR image.” Probably the best known of those is Photomatix (that’s MATT-IX, not MAY-TRICKS as many mispronounce it). Photoshop itself now has a Merge-to-HDR function. And recently we’ve gotten some new players, most notably HDRExpose, which is what I used (quickly) to do the top picture. If you look closely you can see some halo-ing and other artifacts of the HDR process in that image. Still, I’ve found that HDRExpose gets me closer to what I want more quickly than the other alternatives I’ve tried. (To be fair, I should point out that the images I’m showing here are some of the toughest I can throw at converters. There’s smoke in the air, which is distorting colors. The red channel is blowing out, even in some of the foreground midtones. The pixel data is just all over the place and needs a lot of moving. This isn’t your everyday sunny shot at the equator.)
Since I know you’re going to ask, I’d rate things this way for HDR, from weakest to strongest: Photoshop Merge-to-HDR, Photomatix, HDRExpose, do-it-yourself.
What I suggest is that you click here and go to Thom’s site. Scroll down to the commentary for July 26 and read the short comments of Software Week. If that article is not visible right away, click on the archives summary at the bottom of the page to find it there. HDR is the future of photography and you don’t want to be left out. Also, you can click here to take a look at HDRExpose, the program Thom was impressed with. Check it out, download a free 30-day trial. You too may be impressed. And, until July31, there is a $50 reduction in the price. So, check it out today!