HDR Photography (Page 2): Have you ever tried the presets with Photomatix? Actually, it gives you twelve versions of the HDR image, and you can tweak each one. And, for each one, you...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

roberts41 wrote:

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned NIK HDR Efex Pro. I have used PhotoMatix and find it very unfriendly. HDR Efex Pro is very User Friendly and even comes with a number of presets. Once a preset is selected, you can tweak it still further to obtain the best image. I don't think I'll ever go back to PhotoMatix.

Have you ever tried the presets with Photomatix? Actually, it gives you twelve versions of the HDR image, and you can tweak each one. And, for each one, you can have presets.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

I tried photomatix and did not like it I use NIK HDR Pro and it is easy to use and come with presets, I also bought Jason ODell's book The Photographer's Guide to HDR Efex Pro 2.0 (PDF eBook, covers HDR Efex Pro 2.0) and it also comes with around 30 presets. NIK HDR pro is available for free trial download

Bamboo Loc: South Carolina

CeeJay55 wrote:

Download the trial of Photomatrix, full program is like $40 (I think). The trial has their watermark so if you do so, just buy it. You'll recoup your investment quickly. Works best on landscapes, "aged", sepia, fun to see the outcome once you start tweaking. This is a favorite, looks like one could reach out and touch him! Have fun! :-D

Wow, that looks almost three dimensional. I think what makes it work is the back ground looks unreal but the horse does. It would be even more so it the back ground were darkened. I don't normally care for over worked HDR but it worked here.

roberts41 Loc: Atlanta, GA

Jerry, when I used PhotoMatix, I don't think it had presets. I just found the whole thing very frustrating. NIK HDR Efex Pro is very intuitive, which I did not find PhotoMatix to be. Here are a couple of examples of HDR processed with HDR Efex Pro.

Atlanta at Night

PaulB Loc: Alabama

The Complete Guide to High Dynamic Range Digital Photography by Ferrell McCollough is good.

ocbeyer Loc: Baltimore

Photomatix has presents too. Though most are nasty, IMHO.

nehall Loc: Martinsville, VA

CeeJay55 wrote:

Hear you loud and clear andersland, we all need feedback. Funny part is I've sold a dozen of the horse prints. Just lucky I guess ;) (could stand to back up the tone! Tx!)

I love your photo and don't think it looks overprocessed at all. Different strokes, I guess.

nehall Loc: Martinsville, VA

roberts41 wrote:

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned NIK HDR Efex Pro. I have used PhotoMatix and find it very unfriendly. HDR Efex Pro is very User Friendly and even comes with a number of presets. Once a preset is selected, you can tweak it still further to obtain the best image. I don't think I'll ever go back to PhotoMatix.

I tried the PhotoMatix trial version and found it very unfriendly as well. Finally went with HDR Efex Pro and love it! One of the most "user friendly" programs I've ever used.

Elenaluna Loc: Georgia

CeeJay55 wrote:

Hear you loud and clear andersland, we all need feedback. Funny part is I've sold a dozen of the horse prints. Just lucky I guess ;) (could stand to back up the tone! Tx!)

I absolutely love your horse photo and don't feel it is overdone at all. But then I tend to prefer taking a photograph to the next artistic level than strict realism.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

NIK keeps sending me emails about their live training sessions. There is on this Wed from 1:00 - 2:00 EST.

swanseamale47

Look out for hdr photography by Pete Carr and Rober Correll, best book I've seen on hdr.

wowbmw Loc: Grant, Colorado

I have both photomatix and Nik HDR newest version. I would have said photomatix was better for me until Nik came out with their upgrade last year. Love the way it works. As far as books, Amazon lists many options for HDR. Personally, I prefer online tutorials and there are many free ones via the software company or utube.

djlen Loc: Somerdale, S.Jersey

wowbmw wrote:

I have both photomatix and Nik HDR newest version. I would have said photomatix was better for me until Nik came out with their upgrade last year. Love the way it works. As far as books, Amazon lists many options for HDR. Personally, I prefer online tutorials and there are many free ones via the software company or utube.

Here is a link to a nice "workshop" for Nik: http://www.video2brain.com/en/courses/nik-hdr-efex-pro-2-0-workshop

roberts41 Loc: Atlanta, GA

Consider Lynda.com. It's $25 a month and you have unlimited access to all the video tutorials on a wide range of subjects during that month. Right now, they only show one video that includes HDR Efex Pro. Or, take a look at YouTube. I lost count trying to add up the videos they have on HDR Efex Pro. NIK Software puts a lot of their own videos on YouTube, but there are also a number of videos from other individuals.

mainshipper Loc: Hernando, Florida

roberts41 wrote:

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned NIK HDR Efex Pro. I have used PhotoMatix and find it very unfriendly. HDR Efex Pro is very User Friendly and even comes with a number of presets. Once a preset is selected, you can tweak it still further to obtain the best image. I don't think I'll ever go back to PhotoMatix.

I use both NIK and Photomatix and use them frequently. I love HDR and will shoot most landscape shots I take in a bracketed set. The newer version of NIK has better anti-ghosting control than Photmatix but I like the way Photomatix can perform batch processing on all the bracketed sets on my PC (not really all but the ones you want to be processed). The result is a .HDR file that is already tonemapped and ready to be tuned. The examples below show that HDR doesn't have to be overcooked.

Mount Vernon

Oregon Coast