HDR Soft released the production version of Photomatix Pro version 5 today. I have been working with the beta for a couple of months and this software is outstanding. If you already own Photomatix Pro this is a free upgrade. If not check out the link below and try it out. The great thing is Photomatix Pro has a never expiring trial. The trial watermarks but is fully functional.
HDR Prep Preset
Quick video tutorial showing how to make the HDR Prep preset Hal talked about in the Google+ Photo Focus hangout. Hal uses this before sending images to Photomatix Pro.
Photomatix Pro V5 Beta Available
If you like playing with and helping to improve software via beta, check out the new Photomatix Pro V5 beta. If you are into HDR, you will like what they have done here. I think this will be a tremendous upgrade/update with new processing methods, better auto ghost removal, and other cool features. Check it out via the link below. Standard caveat, this is beta software so it is not perfect yet, but it is very, very good!
Monday Night Light - 13 September
Join Hal again for another episode of Monday Night Light. This week Hal will demo the v4 beta of Photomatix Pro from HDR Soft.
Follow the link below to register.
MNL Registration
See you online Monday and in two weeks at the California Photo Festival!
Fiat Lux!
The HDR Flow
Space Invaders Anyone?
I was cleaning up my shots from Japan today and started to work an HDR project with a quick bracketed series of grab shots. I noticed the old "space invaders" character on the side of the building and decided to shoot it on the way to dinner. The three shots are below.
0 E.V.
-2 E.V.
+2 E.V.
Not the most inspiring shots as singles so I decided to try a couple different HDR methods. I first went from Lightroom to Photoshop CS5's HDR Pro. I tried to build a realistic image although I did bump up the Detail slider. The result is shown below.
Photoshop HDR Pro
Definitely better but I wanted to check and see what Photomatix Pro could do so I sent the images over and processed twice, once for realism and the other for grungy. The results are shown below.
Photomatix Pro Details Enhancer (realistic)
Photomatix Pro Details Enhancer (grungy)
Between the three I decided I liked the Photomatix Pro versions but neither really grabbed me. As I sometimes do I took the two TIFFs and sent them back to Photoshop as layers. After blending a few copies and desaturating the sky I ended up with this one.
Composite HDR after some basic Photoshop
To kick this one up just a bit more I went to Topaz Adjust and played around for a bit. The current version of the image is shown below. Not sure if it is finished or if I'll ever show it again but it was a good exercise.
Topaz Adjust
Well back to the studio. Just received four new backgrounds today and must hang them for immediate use tonight. I'm working a studio project over the next week and have seven shoots scheduled. The first will be tonight and should be a great time. The final result should be an iPad app ready in just a few short weeks.
Hope to see you soon here at Light or during the festival,
Fiat Lux!