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User Manual Photomatix Pro for Mac

1. A group of photos taken with the Automatic Exposure Bracketing function of a cam era resulting in photos of the same scene taken with different exposures As the lens focuses different wavelengths slightly differently chromatic aberration occurs For example the purple fringing you often find around edges as with leaves in front of a bright sky Another way to describe the dynamic range of a scene The ratio between the darkest and brightest areas Digital Single Lens Reflex camera In the context of photography the total range of light intensity in a scene from the deepest shadows to the brightest highlights The Exchangeable Image File header contains information about the image the cam era location date and time and camera settings The amount of light that enters a camera for the length of time the shutter is open Exposure depends on aperture and shutter speed as well as the camera s sensitiv ity to light controlled by the ISO Exposure is also shorthand for a photograph or frame a frame of film Combination of bracketed photos in such a way that highlight details are taken from the underexposed photos and shadow details from the overexposed ones A measure of exposure which is the equivalent of a stop In the absolute sense EV is defined as the exposure from a photo taken at 1 second f 1 and ISO 100 In the relative sense the correct exposure is normally 0 EV and any deviation is measured in positive or
2. Save as JPEG Append suffix Select the preset that will be applied to tone map the files listed in the source section Select first the category to which the preset belongs from the Preset in category pull down menu then select the preset on the next pull down menu To Process the files using custom tone mapping setting select a method from the Custom Settings for pull down menu click Set and then configure the preset as desired When you have used custom settings you may check the Save custom settings in XMP file box located in the Destination section in order to have the batch save the custom settings alongside the resulting images Click the checkboxes for noise reduction and CA correction if needed Add contrast or sharpening if desired Click Run The batch processing status displays When complete a link to the batch results will be displayed Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual Custom Location JPEG Quality 80 Save custom settings in XMP file Batch Tone Mapping of Single Photos G Note The Batch Single Photos feature is intended for automating the processing of many photos To process a single image file load a single image file as described in Section 2 2 H Note N To remove the watermark Photomatix Pro requires that the image was not retouched after the watermark was added If the brightness or contrast of the image was changed or the image was double tone mapped cropped or r
3. Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 14 3 1 1 Workflow Differences when using the Lightroom Plugin If you are using the Export to Photomatix Pro Plugin for yy Lightroom and have checked the option to automatically es f By default the file name of the rendered reimport into Lightroom the rendering workflow described image is suffixed by either the name of th above stops at step 3 Additionally the button that applies the Preset you selected or the name of the selected preset and adjustments will be named Reimport amp Save method used when you adjusted the image instead of Apply with custom settings You can change this D rule or set your own suffix under the Files However it is still possible while using the Plugin for Lightroom tab of the Preferences panel to access the Finishing Touch feature or try other adjustments without reloading and merging again To do so leave the Automatically re import into Lightroom library option unchecked in the Plugin s dialog This will allow you to continue with steps 4 and 5 in the workflow described above After you save your image in step 5 you can then manually reimport the image into your Lightroom library via the Open Saved Images with option 3 1 2 Save As Dialog To save your image choose File gt Save As navigate to the folder where you want to save the image and either use the default file name or enter a new name in the File name field Then select a file type among the
4. Can be used to describe the actual pixels per inch of a print Often confused with DPI Dots per Inch used by color printers to print an image A file containing the raw data from the camera sensor Raw files do not have a color profile or other stylistic preferences permanently applied A comprehensive image format that offers lossless compression schemes for smaller file sizes with higher quality This format is suitable for editing and printing but not publishing on the Web Processing a 32 bit HDR image into an image that can be properly viewed on moni tors and in prints Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 36 Getting More Information and Help The Photomatix FAQ on the HDRsoft website offers more tips techniques as well as general information If you cannot find the answer to your question in the FAQs you are welcome to contact us Please refer to the Photomatix Support page for contact information Additionally the resources page at www hdrsoft com resources lists Internet tutorials books and DVDs on the subject of HDR photography Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 37 Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual www HDRsoft com 38
5. Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 23 For example 30 Presets applied to 30 bracketed sets will output 900 processed images Plan ahead for the processing time and the disk space required when combining large preset batches with large image set batches To set up a batch of existing presets follow these steps 1 Select a Built in preset or one of your own saved presets from the Preset menu and then click Add This preset will appear in the list frame 2 Repeat step 1 as many times as you like to add additional presets to the list If you wish to remove a preset from the list frame select it and click Remove 4 You may now click OK to close this window The specified presets will be applied the next time a batch is run To set up a batch of modified presets or new custom settings follow these steps 1 Select a method from the Custom Settings menu and then click Set The Settings Adjustments window for the selected method will open 2 Select a method preset from the Presets menu and modify as desired OR Modify the existing settings The existing settings are the default for that method Click OK The new custom setting will be added to the list frame 4 Repeat steps 1 2 and 3 as many times as you like to add Le Batch Processing of Bracketed Photos additional custom settings to the list Image Alignment Advanced Settings 5 Ifyou wish to update a previously added custom setting A E EE select it in the
6. Shadows Whites Region BI ac KS Presence Linear Basic Settings in Lightroom Working with curves in Lightroom Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 27 5 3 Dealing with Noise When you process your photos using Exposure Fusion the fused image will tend to show less noise than the source images This is because Exposure Fusion works by directly combining your bracketed photos thus averaging out noise However when you create a 32 bit HDR image your bracketed photos are assembled in linear space into an image that spans the full range of luminance values captured by the camera If the lightest photo of your exposure sequence is not bright enough to expose the shadows of the scene then the noise in the source photographs will be transferred to the HDR image Noise in the HDR image will then be made more apparent by tone mapping especially with Details Enhancer as this tone mapping method increases local details Though Photomatix Pro includes options to reduce noise it is still always better to avoid noise at capture time as much as possible There are two tips to ensure a low noise level e Tip 1 Set alow ISO setting ISO 100 or lower whenever possible e Tip 2 Overexpose sufficiently ensuring that the lightest image of your exposure sequence has its shadows in the mid tones 5 4 Photomatix Pro and Color Management Photomatix Pro supports color management even if RAW files are processed You should use the same working spac
7. Optimizer Tone Mapping Settings Strength Affects the amount of enhancement given to contrast and detail in the image A value of 100 gives the greatest enhancement Moving the slider to the left gives a more natural effect The default value is 50 Tone Compression Alters the dynamic range of the tone mapped image Moving the slider to the right decreases the dynamic range brightening the shadows and darkening the highlights Moving to the left has the opposite effect giving a more natural look to the image Lighting Effect Controls the prominence of the shadows affecting the overall look of the image Moving the slider to the right brightens the shadows giving a more vibrant or surreal look A value of zero disables the effect leaving the shadows unaffected The default value is 20 White Clip Adjusts the amount of highlights clipping Moving the slider to the right brightens the image and increases global contrast Moving to the left decreases global contrast and reduces highlights clipping Black Clip Adjusts the amount of shadows clipping Moving the slider to the right darkens the image and increases global contrast Strength ds Tone Compression Lighting Effect White Clip Black Clip Midtone di Color Saturation ds Color Temperature Contrast Optimizer Settings Moving to the left decreases global contrast and reduces shadows clipping Midtone Adjusts the brightness of the midtones
8. Realistic Balanced a at the top of the batch processing window This Custom settings or multiple presets Set window allows you to compile a list of multiple Click Set to set up preset batches built in presets and or custom settings to be applied to a single bracketed image set or to a batch of bracketed image sets This feature may Batch Processing of Bracketed Photos be thought of as Preset batches The presets batch lists compiled in this window are applied to ieee ER Add e Filter Realistic the image set batches which are specified in the Source frame of the main batch window Custom Settings Details Enhancer Set Preset batches applied to bracketed sets provides a 5 7 Settings Type Preset Settings Name wide range of processing options You may wish in Minie aS some instances to work with just a single bracketed Built in Preset Monochrome 2 i Built in Preset B amp W Photographic set and apply a batch of 20 or 30 different presets tbe Do to it allowing you to conveniently test which Built in Preset Painterly Built in Preset Vibrant Clear List presets give the most pleasing results for a given Bann Preaek REIBRESA image set Built in Preset Natural Another strategy is to apply several different favorite presets to multiple image sets While exploring this tool be aware that the batch results can become very large The Custom Settings or Multiple Presets window
9. a setting as low as possible to maximize the quality of the merged HDR image If you need high settings to remove ghosts completely it is recommended that you use the manually applied Selective Deghosting Tool instead if possible Deghosting When automatic deghosting is used one of the source photos is used a to create the HDR image in areas detected as ghosted The Base Photo is the one selected to do this By default this is the median exposure Base Photo but you can select one of the other photos instead by clicking on its Exposure info thumbnail F 6 7 100 1 750s After using the Selective Deghosting Tool or applying Automatic Deghosting click OK to apply the deghosting adjustments to the image or click Cancel to stop merging the images F 6 7 100 1 180s If you wish to continue working with the current bracketed set without deghosting applied then set the Automatic Deghosting amount to 0 or make no Selective Deghosting Tool selections and simply click OK to proceed F 6 7 100 1 45s Automatic Deghosting tools Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 11 Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 2 1 6 Options for Raw Files RAW conversion settings Photomatix Pro offers additional pre processing options for Raw files These options are automatically available Preview Sample when Raw files are loaded White Balance As Shot Color primaries based on Adobe RGB The White Balance option lets you change the white
10. advantage of being faster The Hand held large shifts preset is for photos taken in conditions where significant camera movements are difficult to avoid If you choose Hand held large shifts a more extensive alignment search will be done though at the expense of longer processing times Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual Deghosting Options Deghosting addresses the problem of artifacts that appear Note A when combining the bracketed images of a dynamic scene EE a Een For example if the moving subjects are people walking the eee le will tiple ti rth bined methods Details Enhancer Contrast people will appear multip e times in the combined image once Optimizer and Tone Compressor and with for each frame faded and in a different position as if they were the Fusion Natural method Deghosting ghosts This is why artifacts that arise from movement in a however is not applicable to any of the other scene are commonly referred to as ghosting and the Exposure Fusion methods techniques to eliminate them are referred to as deghosting Show options to remove ghosts enables the Deghosting Options window which will then open after you select your merge to HDR options and then click the Align amp Show Deghosting button The Deghosting Options window provides an adjustable image wide Automatic Deghosting algorithm and for more control over deghosting a manually applied Selective Deghosting Tool Refer to section 2 1 3
11. for details on this window Noise Reduction Options The Reduce noise on option processes source photos with a high quality noise mecuce noise E asta ea shite 3 P normal exposure ana unaerexpose reduction algorithm and is recommended j i 4 all source images when processing Raw files directly in Photomatix Pro Noise reduction options Noise reduction is typically most helpful in dark areas of the source images and these dark areas are more prevalent in the underexposed and sometimes in the normally exposed frames With this in mind you can use the Reduce noise on menu to specify that noise reduction be applied only to the darkest images in the bracketed set to the normal and the darker images or to all the images in the set Strength increases or decreases noise reduction strength relative to the automatically determined default strength value which is based on the noise level in the image Values range from 50 to 150 Reduce Chromatic Aberrations The Reduce Chromatic Aberrations option automatically corrects color fringing due to chromatic aberrations of the lens Checking this option is recommended given that chromatic aberrations tend to show around high contrast edges and are particularly an issue for HDR images Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 2 1 3 The Deghosting Options Window Select Show options to remove ghosts in the Preprocessing Options window to subsequently access the Deghosting
12. from turning grey or ds dice preserving a uniform blue sky It is also useful for reducing halos im around objects placed against bright backgrounds Gamma e White Point Sets the maximum value of the tone mapped image Moving the slider to the right sets a lower maximum value which Temperature brightens the image and increases global contrast Moving to the left sets a higher maximum value which decreases global contrast and reduces highlights clipping The default value is 0 25 Details Enhancer More Options Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 29 e Black Point Sets the minimum value of the tone mapped image Moving the slider to the right increases global contrast Moving to the left sets a lower minimum value which decreases global contrast and reduces shadows clipping e Gamma Adjusts the brightness of the midtones which also has an impact on the overall contrast Moving the slider to the right brightens the midtones and decreases the contrast Moving to the left darkens the midtones and increases the contrast The default value is 1 0 e Temperature Adjusts the color temperature of the tone mapped image relative to the temperature of the HDR source image Moving the slider to the right gives a warmer more yellow orange colored look Moving it to the left gives a colder more bluish look A value of 0 default preserves the original color temperature of the HDR source image Advanced Options v Hide Advanced Optio
13. fused image closer to what you want 3 4 1 Selecting the Area to be Replaced To enable this feature click the Selection Mode checkbox The Polygonal Lasso is the default tool We recommend using the Polygonal Lasso but you may prefer to use the Normal or the Magnetic Lasso RSC TC Polygonal Lasso KR Selection works differently depending on the tool NMECUROlTECE 30 px CEGA Medium fe Polygonal lasso Selection Mode checkbox 1 Click to set the selection line s starting point 2 Move the mouse and click to create a straight segment attached to the previous point Repeat to create additional segments 3 To close the selection double click or single click on the starting point Normal lasso 1 Click and drag the mouse to draw a freehand selection 2 Release the mouse button to close the selection Magnetic lasso 1 Click and drag the mouse as with the Normal Lasso If an edge is within the Width setting the selection path snaps to the edge 2 Toclose the selection double click or single click on the starting point Selecting Which Lasso to Use The Polygonal Lasso is ideal for areas with straight sides and good for large areas because you don t have to hold down the mouse button The Normal Lasso is good for areas with curved sides It s not the best choice for large areas because you have to hold down the mouse button as you drag Selection Mode NEC EEN 30 px RIRE CIE Medium Scaling i
14. image files for the exposure sequence at the same time so the files are properly processed by the merge LD fame Coy If you have Lightroom you can use the Photomatix Plug in for Lightroom to load images into Photomatix Pro Refer to Section 5 for more information Using the Workflow Area or the File Menu To load images using the Workflow Shortcuts panel or the File menu 1 Click Load Bracketed Photos in the Workflow Shortcuts panel OR 2 Note Select Load Bracketed Photos from the File menu If you check the Show 32 bit unprocessed The Loading bracketed photos dialog displays image box you will be able to save the unprocessed merged image in an HDR image 2 Drag and drop the files into the Loading bracketed photos file format such as Radiance or OpenEXR dialog Saving the 32 bit unprocessed merged image OR is useful when you want to be able to process the image with other settings later without Click Browse having to load and merge your bracketed A dialog promts you to locate and load the files photos again However you will still need to load and merge the photos again if you want to use Exposure Fusion Select bracketed photos Click Browse to navigate to your photos or drag and drop image files from the Finder HJ Note SS if you check Show 32 bit unprocessed Browse image when the unprocessed image is displayed you will have to click the Tone Map Fuse button in the Workflow Shortcut
15. the Area s Edge6S ss sseessessesseeseessessessecssesseessessesseessesseoseeseessesseoseessees 20 3 4 3 Replacing the Selected Area dan a a a oo de ne 21 4 Automating with Batch Processing ssesscecseecccecsceccocccceccscecscocseecscecsceesecessecsscesscesseeos 22 4 1 Batch Processing Bracketed Photos sesessesseessessesseessessesseeseessesseosseoseeseesseoseoseessesseoseessesseoseesseese 22 Ait UsmgBatch PO COS SIM nn a ce sees 22 4 1 2 Custom Settings or Multiple Presets Window sn 23 413 More Merge OO ace see eee en tite dt 24 4 1 4 Batch Processing SUICIDE nest annuaire 25 4 1 5 Advanced Selection Options cst scces coscescecssccacecesvsecesesereconssusckesosesuverssenssoeccosbensbiesartsecessvanatesauncianenoie 25 4 2 Batch Processing Single MARS nent 26 5 TipsandTechniguUt Sessien aE ER 27 5 1 Integrating Lightroom with Photomatix PO dansant 27 5 2 Processing Raw files in Third Party Raw Converters 27 593 Dealing With INGIS Cis a ts a mu oo 28 5 4 Photomatix Pro and Color Management cream 28 6 Append AT SUC Scar sense ia Eai 29 Details Enhancer Tone Mapping Settings nn 29 Contrast Optimizer Tone Mapping Settings 31 Tone Compressor Tone Mapping Settings 32 EE FON E E ee A I E E E EA A A E A AN E N 33 RNS ee me E AAN 36 Getting More Information and Help es sseesseesseesseesseessesseeoseesseesseoseesseesseesseeoseesscoeeoseesseesseoseesseesseosseessee 37 Each section title above links to its sect
16. then have 12 photos and may need to place them in three separate subfolders composed of four photos each as follows e Subfolder 1 contains the four photos for the panorama taken at EV 2 e Subfolder 2 contains the four photos for the panorama taken at EV 0 e Subfolder 3 contains the four photos for the panorama taken at EV 2 If you check Process subfolders and select grouped by exposures the batch will combine the first file of Subfolder 1 with the first file of Subfolder 2 and the first file of Subfolder 3 The batch will then combine the second file of Subfolder 1 with the second file of Subfolder 2 and the second file of Subfolder 3 and so on for the third and fourth file of each subfolder Batch Processing of Bracketed Photos 4 1 5 Ad va n ced Se ect O n O pt O n S Automatically detect number of bracketed frames Bracketed sets have between 3 and 5 frames Bracketed sets may have an even number of frames The following items are accessed from the Process frame when you en Do Bonen in ane caen click Advanced and click Options to configure automatic selection of neers errs bracketed image files Select only some of the frames in bracketed set Click Automatically detect the number of bracketed frames when Bracketed sets have 5 frames each but only process processing a folder that contains files in addition to those in the set acetate of bracketed frames or when the number of frames in the set varies or Photoma
17. Histogram venice_normal_ove Red Green Blue Level 188 Count 4 710 Percentile 87 50 8 bit Histogram 16 3 3 Working with Presets 3 3 1 Preset Thumbnails Panel The Presets panel lists the available presets showing a thumbnail preview of the effect of the preset on your image When you click on a preset thumbnail the Preview image is refreshed to show the result of applying the settings of that preset By default the panel displays one column of small thumbnails Click on the icon on the top of the panel to enlarge the thumbnails Click on the icon on the top right of the panel to display the thumbnails in two V All Styles columns Compact List WW e e iI nl Artistic There are two types of presets Built in factory presets and My Fe aistie Presets user saved custom presets Architecture Black amp White 3 3 2 Built in Presets Di Entiancer Contrast Optimizer Tone Compressor Built in or factory presets are those provided with the software on Photomatix Pro offers 36 built in presets when you are working with Favorites bracketed photo sets and 27 built in presets for when you are working with single photo files The drop down list at the top of the Presets panel lets you filter presets by categories There are four categories of built in presets which correspond to effect styles Artistic Realistic Architecture and Black amp White and four categories which correspond to render
18. Options window e Deghosting Options Selective Deghosting Automatic Deghosting 1 Drag your mouse over the image to select a ghosted region 2 Control click or right click inside the selection to mark it as ghosted BB Quick selection mode The Deghosting Options window The Deghosting Options window provides two deghosting methods e Amanually applied Selective Deghosting Tool e An adjustable Automatic Deghosting algorithm Selective Deghosting Selective Deghosting Automatic Deghosting Automatic Deghosting The Selective Deghosting Tool enables you to lasso an select the specific areas of the image that require Selective Deghosting Help a processing to remove ghosting caused by image to image movement of elements in the scene Photomatix iea Pro uses the single image that it deems best exposed for ed Sd 17 100 1750s SE each selected area s brightness as the default deghosting EEE TE target image You may change the automatically selected it SES F 6 7 100 1 1806 deghosting target image to any other image of your choice using the tool a Automatic Deghosting processes the entire image with an automated ghost reduction algorithm It is useful for scenes with many small changes image to image which B Quick selection mode are not practical to lasso manually This deghosting THE SET D ST ET r A the ghosted regions and if necessary change method has the disadvantage of potentially degrading the base p
19. Options window for Raw files 12 2 2 Working with Single Image Files Photomatix Pro supports Tone Mapping of single image files To load a single image file Do you want to process your image with noise reduction before tone mapping No Yes 1 Drag the image file to the Photomatix Pro application icon Do not ask me again on your Taskbar Windows or Dock Mac y l l Reducing noise on a single image JPEG file OR Select Open from the File menu A file browser window displays Navigate to the file and open it Re X OR Tone mapping with the Details Enhancer method makes any noise present in the image Click Load Single Photo in the Workflow Shortcuts window much more visible so it is a good idea to pre process your image with noise reduction 2 To process the image using Tone Mapping click Tone beore one manina Mapping from the Workflow Shortcuts panel If the file is a JPEG a dialog will show to let you decide whether to reduce the noise on your image before tone mapping If desired check Do not ask me again to skip this dialog and use your Yes or No selection for all single JPEGs that you process with Tone Mapping If you need to re enable the dialog later access the Photomatix Pro Preferences to change the setting The Preferences are available from the View menu Windows or Photomatix Pro menu Mac 2 2 1 Options for Single Raw Image Files Baw Processing Options fe meres ieee E So ped Keyes S
20. Photomatix Pro Version 5 1 A User Manual Cbl Soft 2015 HDRsoft All rights reserved Table of Contents MORUO araa N E E tenes 1 1 Taking Photos OR HDR nm r nann ENE AEE ne 2 Le Seting up CARRE a oo O 3 12 Selecting TINS EO SUG ann nd nan don on 3 13 Using Fil BASS CAM nana a a a ot 4 2 Loading and Pre Processing Images ccccsscccsssccssscccsssccscscccsssccssssccsscccsscccssscossscoeees 5 2 1 Merging PT ACKSIOCIMAQR Se a an ee AD an 5 2 M Loading Bracketed MAS a a ee eu 5 2 1 2 General Pre Processing OPTIONS aa eo ne 7 2 1 3 The Deghosting Options NATION a a 9 2 1 4 Using the Selective Deghosting Too nn 10 2 1 5 Using Automatic D ghOSting nanas 11 2 1 6 Options for RES en 12 2 2 Working with Single Image Files nn 13 2 2 1 Options for Single Raw Image Files nn 13 3 Rendering Images Using Tone Mapping or Exposure FUSION ses 14 3 1 Image Rendering Workflow rennes 14 3 1 1 Workflow Differences when using the Lightroom PIugin ss 15 3 1 2 Save As dialog ee en ae nie en benoit 15 3 2 Image Adjustment Interface sn 16 SP PT re es N A ee ees 16 3 3 Working with Presets uu inner 17 33 1 Preset Thumbnails PAROLE to io a dard 17 22 PUN AP E a E E Mo uiqns 17 Daa CUSO PO E a S E A E 18 SAW MIM CUSO FS CUS a nd 18 Fe Peo NO POS e err ere eee aCe tran E eee eer rere ent 18 3 4 Replace Selection with SOUICE sean dnduleaudinndhunnennns 19 3 4 1 Selecting the Area to be Replaced nn 19 3 4 2 Fitting the Selection to
21. VAR Preview A selection drawn with the Polygonal Lasso Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 19 3 4 2 Fitting the Selection to the Area s Edges The area to be replaced usually has at least one irregular border such as the mountains in this sample photograph It s difficult to draw irregular borders exactly and you don t have to You can draw approximate borders and Photomatix Pro will fit them for you by finding the edges Finding the Edges The borders of the area you want to replace are almost always at edges large changes in brightness between adjacent pixels In the sample photo the transition between the light sky and the darker mountains is an edge NC CURE RCE 30 px E RCA CS Polygonal Lasso KR ERA Medium E Attach to Edges checkbox Selecting the Attach to Edges checkbox causes Photomatix Pro to search for an edge near the selection path you drew The selection path is then redrawn along the edge in this case the mountainous horizon line Scaling 100 v Preview CC CU CS Polygonal Lasso umm CRON e 30 px ROUE Ce Medium e Polygonal selection after clicking Attach to Edges The Contrast setting Low Medium or High determines whether a difference in brightness is large enough to be detected as an edge The higher the setting the greater the brightness difference has to be The Width box next to the Attach to Edges box sets the maximum distance Photomatix Pro searches in pixels fro
22. balance if desired and Raw conversion settings in Merge to HDR Options preview the effect of changing it The default value is As Shot which reads the white balance setting from the EXIF metadata To adjust the white balance either select a pre defined value from the White Balance drop down list or type a color temperature value in Kelvin in the text box Click Preview Sample to view the effect of the white balance change on the source image The Color Primaries drop down list provides options for converting the Raw data from the camera s native color space to the display profile of the selected value Adobe RGB is the default value and is appropriate when you want to print the resulting image If you would like to display the resulting image only on the web and do not intend to print it then select SRGB to avoid having to convert the image from Adobe RGB to sRGB Merge to HDR Options Align source images Crop aligned images gt Show Alignment Settings Preset Hand held standard Show options to remove ghosts Reduce noise on underexposed image s only Strength 100 Reduce chromatic aberrations RAW Conversion Settings White Balance As Shot Preview Sample Color Primaries Adobe RGB The Reduce Chromatic Aberrations option attempts to correct for color fringing due to chromatic aberrations of the lens Note that checking this option increases processing time Align amp Show Deghosting Merge to HDR
23. d files to process by holding the Control key Windows or Command key Mac and clicking on the files you want to select for processing If you want to save the results in a different folder than the folder containing the source photos select Custom Location option Select Folder Users Flective Docu well_IR_export_FirstTry Batch Tone Mapping of Single Photos Tone Map with Preset in category All Styles Select a Preset DPP_0002 TIF DPP_0003 TIF in the Destination section and then click Choose Otherwise select the default of Subfolder within Source Folder This will create a subfolder with the name DPP_0004 TIF DPP_0005 TIF DPP_0006 TIF DPP_0007 TIF DPP_0008 TIF DPP_0009 TIF DPP_0010 TIF DPP_0011 TIF OPP_0012 TIF Custom Settings for Details Enhancer E Set Preprocess with Noise Reduction 100 Chromatic Aberration Reduction Finish with Contrast None kj Sharpening None ie PhotomatixConversion in the source folder selected in the Source section Select the output file type When using JPEG file output select the amount of DESTINATION All files Estad will be processed unless you select specific files with your mouse Remove Photomatix watermark from images created when Photomatix was in trial mode Cancel ma mens ur Save results in Subfolder wthin Source Folder JPEG compression 100 gives the least compressed JPEG file and best image quality
24. der different exposure settings as well as how to load single images into Photomatix Pro 2 1 Merging Bracketed Photos Photomatix Pro merges bracketed images that are in 8 bit or 16 bit channel mode as well as Camera Raw files Supported file types include JPEG TIFF PSD DNG and Raw files from many camera models Photomatix Pro is updated frequently to add support for Raw files of new camera models You can check whether a new update of Photomatix Pro is available by choosing Check for updates from the Help menu Windows or Photomatix Pro menu Mac 2 1 1 Loading Bracketed Images To load bracketed image files do one of the following e Drag and drop the files into Photomatix Pro e Use the Workflow Shortcuts panel to load the files Dragging and Dropping Bracketed Photos To drag and drop a group of image files to Photomatix Pro e Windows Drag the files from Windows Explorer and drop them on the open Photomatix Pro program e Mac Drag the files from the Finder and drop them on the Photomatix Pro icon on your Dock Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 2 AT NN The term bracketed images refers to images of the same scene taken under different exposure settings This manual uses the term bracketed images to simplify how these images are defined It also applies to the case when you have not used the Automatic Exposure Bracketing function of the camera to take the exposures LD fame Ce Drag the
25. e Radius Controls the area used to calculate the weighting of Lighthouse 2EV the source images A higher radius reduces halos but increases k EE DEV processing times significantly The default value is 70 m R 3 6 4 Fusion 2 Images Settings Second image This method allows you to choose to fuse any two selected images from Lighthouse 2EV among a bracketed set of 3 or more frames Lighthouse 2EV Fusion 2 Images Settings Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 34 Glossary AEB Mode Aperture Priority Bit Bit Depth Bracketed images Chromatic Aberration Contrast Ratio DSLR Dynamic Range EXIF Exposure Exposure Fusion EV Exposure Value HDR Automatic Exposure Bracketing DSLR cameras and some compact digital cameras offer this feature It enables you to automatically take three or more exposures in a row one at the proper exposure one or more underexposed and one or more over exposed In Aperture Priority mode you select the aperture and the camera determines the correct shutter speed for the available light The shutter speed also depends on ISO sensitivity This is the correct mode for shooting bracketed shots for HDR refer to Sec tion 1 for more information Bits represent digital data in computers Digital Images are made of bits A bit depth corresponds to 2 Bit Depth levels e g 256 for 8 bit The number of bits a file type uses to represent a pixel s color at a given location in an image
26. e in Photomatix Pro as you use in other image editors e g Photoshop Photomatix supports the three most popular working spaces e SRGB Use if the images are created only for the web e Adobe RGB Popular working space for printing if extremely saturated colors are not used e ProPhoto RGB Wide gamut working space This should never be used for 8 bit images For all JPEG and TIFF files Photomatix Pro preserves the color spaces of the source files Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 28 Appendix A Settings Details Enhancer Tone Mapping Settings General Settings Strength Strength Affects the amount of enhancement given to contrast and detail in the image A value of 100 gives the greatest enhancement Color Saturation Moving the slider to the left gives a more natural effect The default value is 70 Tone Compression e Saturation Adjusts the color saturation of the image The greater the saturation the more intense the color Setting the slider toits lowest BAARZEN value 0 produces a grayscale image The default value is 46 Details Enhancer General settings e Tone Compression Adjusts the dynamic range of the tone mapped image Moving the slider to the right decreases the dynamic range brightening the shadows and darkening the highlights Moving to the left has the opposite effect giving a more natural look This setting was named Luminosity in older Photomatix versions e Detail Contrast C
27. ecrease contrast and give more pronounced colors Moving to the left tends to increase contrast and give a more natural look e White Clip Adjusts the amount of highlights clipping Moving the slider to the right brightens the image and increases global contrast Moving to the left decreases global contrast and reduces highlights clipping e Black Clip Adjusts the amount of shadows clipping Moving the slider to the right darkens the image and increases global contrast Moving to the left decreases global contrast and reduces shadows clipping e Color Saturation Adjusts the color saturation of the image The greater the saturation the more intense the color Setting the slider to its lowest value 10 produces a grayscale image e Color Temperature Adjusts the color temperature of the tone mapped image relative to the temperature of the HDR source image Move the slider to the right for a warmer more yellow orange colored look Move it to the left for a colder more bluish look A value of 0 default preserves the original color temperature of the HDR source image Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual Brightness Tonal Range Compression Contrast Adaptation de White Clip Black Clip Color Saturation Color Temperature Tone Compressor Settings 32 3 6 Fusion Settings 3 6 1 Fusion Natural Settings Strength Sets by how much local contrast is accentuated Moving the slider to the right tends to brighten
28. ees meme Memes Reduce noise 100 When your single image is a Raw file Photomatix must first convert the Raw data The following options are available Reduce chromatic aberrations for pre processing the Raw data i White Balance As Shot v The Reduce noise option processes the converted Raw file D with a high quality noise reduction algorithm It is checked SU Eee by default as reducing noise is always recommended when processing Raw files The Strength slider lets you increase or decrease the strength of the noise reduction relative to the automatically determined value based on the noise level in Enable Exposure Fusion the image Values range from 50 to 150 Color space Adobe RGB Cancel The Reduce chromatic aberrations option automatically corrects color fringing due to lens chromatic aberrations Raw Processing Options dialog box The White Balance options let you change the white balance if desired and preview the effect of changing it The default value is As Shot which reads the white balance from the EXIF metadata To adjust the white balance select an item from the White Balance drop down list or type a color temperature in Kelvin in the text box Click Preview sample to view the effect of the white balance change on the source image The Color Space drop down list provides options for converting the Raw data from the camera s native color space to the display profile of the selected value Adobe RGB is the de
29. era shake e Set the exposure increment to 2 for optimal exposure range If your camera does not offer 2 exposure increments select the maximum possible Consult the camera manual for model specific instructions for choosing this setting 2 Note The continuous shooting mode may not always be the best strategy because camera shake may build up It is recommended to use a method that ensures the least possible 1 2 Selecting the Exposures shake for each single shot such as mirror lock up functionality if available To get good results with HDR processing your bracketed sequence must include photos that correctly expose highlights as well as photos that correctly expose shadows The latter is especially important to prevent noise in the processed HDR image In the lightest photo of the sequence the darkest shadow areas of the scene should be shifted at least into the mid tones To check this use your camera s histogram preview in playback mode In your most overexposed photo the left part of the histogram should be empty until 1 3rd of the histogram s width If this is not the case add one or more photos taken with longer exposure times Another option is to re shoot the exposure sequence with the normal exposure set one or more EVs higher if your most underexposed image in the exposure sequence was too dark This is the case when the histogram of your darkest image is completely empty on the right half The number o
30. esized then Photomatix Pro will not be able to remove the watermark 26 5 Tips and Techniques This section provides tips for working with images in Photomatix Pro More tips and techniques and regularly updated information can be found on the Photomatix Pro FAQ on the HDRsoft website at http www hdrsoft com support faq_photomatix html 5 1 Integrating Lightroom and Photomatix Pro You can export photos for processing in Photomatix Pro directly from Lightroom and reimport them back into the Lightroom library The Lightroom Export to Photomatix plug in is free and included with the Photomatix Pro package Please refer to the HDRsoft website at http www hdrsoft com download Irplugin html for installation instructions and a short tutorial showing how to use the Lightroom export plug in for HDR processing in Photomatix Pro 5 2 Processing Raw files in Third Party Raw Converters When using a third party Raw converter develop the Raw images with the following settings e White Balance Use the same white balance for all source photos e Basic settings Set all to zero It is particularly important to set the Blacks setting to zero e Curves Parametric and Point Curves should be linear e Details Not shown below Set the Sharpening Amount to zero As an example these screenshots show our recommended Raw processing settings applied in Lightroom Treatment Color Black amp White As Shot Exposure Contrast Highlights
31. essing Use batch processing to automatically process image files The batch processing tool saves time processing many images Photomatix Pro offers two different batch modes e Batch Bracketed Photos Processes bracketed sets using HDR Tone Mapping and or Exposure Fusion all in one step which can save you a lot of time when you have many bracketed sets to process e Batch Single Photos Processes multiple single image files using Tone Mapping 4 1 Batch Processing Bracketed Photos This section describes batch processing of bracketed photo sets taken under multiple exposure settings ee Batch Processing of Bracketed Photos SOURCE Process with Process Folder Individual Files Select Folder O Preset in category Realistic Balanced IMG 8451 CR2 Custom settings or multiple presets Merge with Image Alignment Noise Reduction IMG_8457 CR2 Ghost Removal More Merge Options Filter by All Process subfolders grouped by exposures PRN Finish with Contrast None BRACKET SELECTION Sharpening None Naming amp Resizing Options O Merge 3 images at a time Batch will merge 3 files at a time from the above list Advanced Selection Close Run DESTINATION Save results in Subfolder within Source Folder Custom Location Save results as JPEG JPEG Quality 80 Create 32 bit unprocessed merged file Radiance hdr Batch processing of bracketed photos 4 1 1 Using Batch Processing To batch pr
32. f exposures needed depends on the dynamic range of the scene in addition to the exposure increment For most outdoor scenes three exposures taken at 2 exposure increments is sufficient provided the scene does not include the sun However for the interior of a room with a bright view out the window you will need at least five images taken with an exposure increment of 2 or nine images taken with an exposure increment of 1 To help determining the exposures to take in scenes with extreme differences between light and dark details you can use the HDR Exposure Calculator tool offered in this tutorial on the HDRsoft com website Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 1 3 Using Film Based Cameras e Follow the camera setup listed at the top of Section 1 1 and the tips on selecting exposures in Section 1 2 Keep in mind that you will not have the option of previewing the live histogram to determine your exposure range Scan film or slides not prints Photo labs attempt to make the best print from each of your source images and you will not achieve good results scanning these for HDR generation Turn off your scanner s auto exposure options This allows you to manually control the exposure e Make sure you select the Align images option in Photomatix Pro when combining your images Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 2 Loading and Merging Photos This section describes how to load and merge bracketed image files of a scene taken un
33. fault value and is appropriate when you want to print the resulting image Select sRGB for web only images to avoid having to convert the image from Adobe RGB to sRGB Enable Exposure Fusion allows the single image to be processed using Fusion methods Normally Fusion methods only apply to multiple image sets This option will split the single Raw file into a darker and a lighter image which can then be rendered using Exposure Fusion based presets such as the Natural preset for instance Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 13 3 Rendering Images using Tone Mapping or Exposure Fusion The heart of Photomatix Pro is where you adjust the image with HDR Tone Mapping and Exposure Fusion methods The image adjustment interface has three main sections Adjustments Panel on the left Preview in the middle Presets Panel on the right 3 1 Image Rendering Workflow After you have merged your source images or opened a single image file the main workflow steps are 1 Choose a Style for Your Image Choose a style by selecting a thumbnail in the Presets Panel either a built in preset delivered with Photomatix Pro or a custom preset that you previously created See Section 3 3 for details on working with presets FF Note 2 Refine the Effect You can refine the effect of the Preset you selected by Un NE SANTE E 3 click the undo redo arrows in the adjusting the settings in the Adjustments Panel Adjustments panel For multiple For descr
34. hoto assigned to each region Recommended for preserving the quality of the image quality depending upon the nature of the scene meei i the type of ghosting the number of source frames and other factors When applying Automatic Deghosting use the lowest setting that successfully deghosts the image The two alternate Deghosting method panels Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 2 1 4 Using the Selective Deghosting Tool To use the Selective Deghosting tool click and drag the mouse to draw a lasso around a region that requires deghosting Ensure that the dashed line forms a fully closed loop Right click Windows or control click Mac inside the selected region and select Mark selection as ghosted area from the pop up menu The line around the selected area changes from dashed to solid to indicate that the area is now selected for deghosting You may make additional deghosting selections following these Same steps to mark other image areas for deghosting At any time use the Brightness slider to increase or decrease the brightness of the image Or use the Zoom slider to zoom in and out If necessary you can remove a region from the deghosting selection Control click or right click inside an already marked region and click Remove selection from the pop up menu You may also change the image used as the deghosting target Control click or right click inside an already marked region and click Set another photo f
35. ing methods Pholodaprie Details Enhancer Contrast Optimizer Tone Compressor and Fusion The Compact List item displays a selected subset of presets from all categories The Favorites item displays only presets you have marked as favorite See more details on Favorite presets at the end of this section 3 3 3 Custom Presets seep Custom presets are presets that you saved while adjusting your images or presets created by other Photomatix users that you have imported To access custom presets click on the My Presets tab located at bottom of the Preset Thumbnails panel To create your own custom presets refer to the Saving Custom Presets paragraph below Painterly You can also import custom presets created by other Photomatix users which you have downloaded to your computer as XMP files To import these presets select the Import Presets item in the pop up menu on the top left of the Preset Thumbnails panel and browse to the location on your computer where you downloaded the XMP preset files batt Built In cop eile J Preset panel Single column large thumb view Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 3 3 4 Saving Custom Presets There are two ways to save custom presets as an XMP file for future use during the image adjustment phase or after Tone Mapping or Exposure Fusion is complete Artistic e To save custom presets during image adjustment 1 Inthe Adjustments panel click the Presets drop 4 down list Painterly Pain
36. ion below All page footers link back to this Table of Contents Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual Introduction Photomatix Pro works with photographs of the same scene taken under different exposure settings These differently exposed images of the same scene are often called bracketed images in reference to the auto bracketing exposure functions available on many camera models If you have not taken any bracketed photo sets you can start using Photomatix Pro with the sample images available from the download page of the Photomatix Pro website http www hdrsoft com Use the information in Section 1 Taking Photos for HDR to try Photomatix Pro with your own bracketed images Cove Point Lighthouse photo Ferrell McCollough This manual contains information about how to use Photomatix Pro to render images using different Tone Mapping or Exposure Fusion methods All of the methods are accessed from one window within the application making it easy to try different settings to achieve the results you want Refer to Section 2 Loading and Pre Processing Images and Section 3 Rendering Images Using Tone Mapping or Exposure Fusion for detailed information about the different settings that are available Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 1 Taking Photos for HDR The shooting phase is essential for getting good results with Photomatix Pro To photograph a high contrast scene you need to take several exposures in order to ca
37. iptions of each setting see Appendix A Settings undos or redos click multiple times 3 Apply the Adjustments When you are satisfied with the preview result click on the Apply button at the bottom of the Adjustments panel This will apply the selected preset and settings adjustments to the image at its original resolution 4 Add Finishing Touches Before saving the image you can use the options on the Finishing Touch palette in order to increase the contrast of your image sharpen it or adjust the saturation of individual colors 5 Save the Image Choose File gt Save As to save the image Refer to section 3 1 2 on the next page for information on the Save As dialog 6 Optional Try Other Adjustments You can try other adjustment on the same image without having to load and merge the photos again Selecting Redo With Other Settings in the Workflow Shortcuts panel allows you to start fresh with the current image and apply another preset or settings Selecting Double Tone Map allows you to add additional effects using your already rendered image as the starting point Lr fame 0s The settings you selected are automatically embedded in the saved rendered image To view the settings click View Settings from the Workflow Shortcuts panel Note Exposure Fusion is only available for bracketed photo sets unless you select Enable Exposure Fusion when loading and pre processing a single Raw image file
38. ive a Brightness surreal look to the image The default value is 2 ay Brightness Adjusts the brightness of the midtones which also Color Saturation has an impact on the overall contrast Moving the slider to the a right brightens the midtones and decreases contrast Moving to the left darkens the midtones and increases contrast Highlights Depth e Color Saturation Adjusts the color saturation of the image The greater the saturation the more intense the color Setting the slider to its lowest value 10 produces a grayscale image 360 image e Highlights Depth Affects the colors of the highlights in the image Moving the slider to the right adds depth to the highlights darkening the highlights and increasing their colorfullness Fusion Interior Settings 360 Image Checking this option eliminates the seam between Strength the left and right sides of a panorama viewed in a 360 degree amp panoramic viewer This option is intended for a stitched panorama it should not be used for individual frames of a panorama that have not yet been stitched Color Saturation Radius 3 6 3 Fusion Intensive Settings Fusion Intensive Settings e Strength Adjusts the strength of local contrast enhancements Color Saturation Adjusts the color saturation of the image The Method greater the saturation the more intense the color Setting the slider to its lowest value 10 produces a grayscale image First image
39. l EV Spacing for that bracketed set Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 2 1 2 Merge to HDR Options After the bracketed photos are selected you can customize the steps performed before merging the images such as aligning the images or removing ghosts Refer to the following sections for a description of the op tions when merging bracketed photos Alignment Options The Align source images option is checked by default It corrects misalignment problems when the camera Merge to HDR Options moves slightly between the bracketed frames Handheld bracketed sets have camera movement between frames but even bracketed sets shot on a tripod can have some slight camera movement between frames as well as can be caused by wind for example Align source images Crop aligned images gt Show Alignment Settings Preset Hand held standard Show options to remove ghosts The Crop aligned images option removes unneeded borders resulting from alignment adjustments Without this the merged image will have white areas around the edges You should disable this option when you need the resulting image to have exactly the same width and height as the source images The Align source images option corrects misalignment problems when the camera moves slightly between the bracketed frames lt gt Reduce noise on underexposed image s only Strength os 100 Reduce chromatic aberrations You can custom Ize Ig n ment settings depend
40. l ng on Always check this option with bracketed photos taken hand held but leave it how the g iven bracketed set was taken unchecked if the photos are stitched panoramas or derived from a single RAW file Include perspective correction This option requests that the alignment corrects for all types of camera movement including rotation in all three dimensions as well as horizontal vertical forward and backward motion Selecting options to merge to HDR Maximum shift Sets the maximum amount of camera movement between photos that the alignment will try to correct for expressed as a percentage of the image size Larger values increase Noe gt the time required for alignment but may be The Align source images option should not necessary when hand held shots are taken when it be checked when your source images are is windy or when using a long zoom lens stitched panoramas or when they are fake exposures derived from a single Raw file The alignment Preset drop down menu lets you select pre defined alignment settings that are appropriate for particular shooting situations The four presets offered are On Tripod Hand held minimal movement Hand held standard and Hand held large shifts If you took the photos hand held the default preset Hand held standard is suitable in most cases The Hand held minimal movement preset is appropriate when the camera barely moved between the bracketed shots and has the
41. list frame and click Update APEE A E ats E E ae ae 6 Ifyou wish to remove a custom setting from the list frame select it and click Remove Ghost Removal Advanced Setting Deghosting 9 50 Medium 7 You may now click OK to close this window Base exposure 0 EV The specified presets will be applied next time a batch is run Noise Reduction Advanced Settings 4 1 2 More Merge Options Reduce noise on underexposed image s only Strength mme 100 Use the More Merge Options button to access more advanced alignment deghosting and noise reduction settings Other Preprocessing Setting as well as other merge options Reduce Chromatic Aberrations One of these is the Force Exposure Values spacing option which forces the EV spacing to the specified value This option can be used when the exposure information is not available in the EXIF data if two or more images have the same exposure information or to force the EV spacing in all cases In the latter case the exposure information in the EXIF data is ignored 32 bit HDR File Creation Advanced Settings E Force Exposure Values spacing to 2 RAW Conversion Settings White Balance As Shot Refer to sections 2 1 2 and 2 1 6 above for a description of the merge options Preview Sample Color primaries based on Adobe RGB More Merge Options window Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 24 4 1 4 Batch Processing Subfolders When your b
42. m the original selection path If Photomatix Pro finds an edge within the Width setting the selection is redrawn to fit the edge If Photomatix Pro finds a border of the image the selection is redrawn along the border Changing the Width or Contrast setting immediately redraws the selection path to reflect the new value To undo the edge fit deselect the Attach to Edges checkbox Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 22 mportant Note The Loupe may not properly show the effect of the Micro smoothing setting when the area magnified is uniform If you want to see the effect of the Micro smoothing setting at 100 resolution on a uniform area such as the sky you will have to select an area that contains an object in the scene in addition to the sky 20 3 4 3 Replacing the Selected Area Right click anywhere within the selection A contextual menu appears e If you loaded bracketed photos the menu identifies them by their exposure difference relative to the normal exposure Click the photo at the EV you want e Ifyou loaded a single image click Replace with source If you prefer not to see the lines marking your selection deselect the Selection Mode checkbox To discard the replacement and return to the initial preview right click within the selection and select the checkmarked item in the contextual menu Returning to the initial preview Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 21 4 Automating with Batch Proc
43. ne taken in two EV steps Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 1 1 Setting up the Camera Exposure comp AEB setting e Set your camera to Aperture priority the A setting so that only shutter speed will vary between the exposures q Barker Brighter Seta low ISO such as ISO 100 or lower if available l ion iid an Turn off the flash The flash may try to balance the exposure of a all the images when the goal instead is a range of exposures e A tripod is typically recommended but is not required as Photomatix Pro includes options to automatically align hand held bracketed sets Canon Rebel T2i 550D LCD showing AEB with 2 EV increments selected DSLR cameras and some compact digital cameras offer Automatic Exposure Bracketing AEB This enables you to 3 o B automatically take three or more exposures in a row one at the se ee Oo se se _ proper exposure one or more underexposed and one or more LS RE overexposed Follow these steps if your camera offers AEB mode e Select the Continuous shooting mode on the camera s drive setting Consult your camera manual for model specific instructions for using this setting 20m SON GH AdobeRGB GY E DIF OF ES M e Set the camera to Auto Exposure Bracketing AEB f AEB settings on a Nikon D7000 If possible use the camera s self timer setting a cable release 3 frames at 2 EV or a wireless shutter release to minimize cam
44. negative EV from that mark High Dynamic Range Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 35 HDR Image Histogram JPEG Noise Pixel PPI Raw File TIFF Tone Mapping Strictly speaking an HDR image is an intermediary image with 32 bits per color chan nel 96 bits per pixel An HDR image is the result of merging photos of the same scene taken under different exposure settings and stored in special HDR image for mat The 32 bit intermediary HDR image must be processed with tone mapping for proper display on standard monitors and prints It has become very common to de fine HDR image as the result of processing the 32 bit HDR image with tone mapping i e the tone mapped outpu but this is not technically correct Histograms represent brightness distribution in digital images They help evaluate correct exposure The y axis represents the amount of pixels and the x axis represents the brightness value A common image file format with two primary strengths a relatively small file size and universal compatibility JPEGs use a lossy compression scheme and should not be edited and re saved Statistical variations inherent in the sensor system cause noise Noise is always pres ent but higher sensitivities and smaller sensors usually generate more noise Digital pictures consist of pixels the smallest units Each pixel has a color that can be represented by 8 or 16 bits or as a floating point number 32bit HDR Pixels per Inch
45. ns e Micro smoothing Smooths out the enhancement of small details Micro smoothing which has the effect of reducing noise in the sky for instance and a tends to give a cleaner look to the result Saturation Highlights e Saturation Highlights Adjusts the color saturation of the highlights relative to the color saturation set with the Color Saturation Shadows Saturation slider Values higher than 0 increase the color saturation in the highlights Values lower than 0 decrease it E Emiosinneos The default value is 0 e Saturation Shadows Adjusts the color saturation of the shadows Shadows Clipping relative to the color saturation set with the Color Saturation amp slider Values higher than zero increase the color saturation in the shadows Values lower than zero decrease it The default value is 0 360 image e Shadows Smoothness Reduces contrast enhancements in the Details Enhancer Advanced Options shadows e Shadows Clipping The value of the Shadows Clipping sets how much of the shadows range is clipped This control may be useful to cut out noise in the dark area of a photo taken in a low light situation e 360 image Checking this option eliminates the seam between the left and right sides of a panorama viewed in a 360 degree panoramic viewer This option is intended for a stitched panorama it should not be used for individual frames of a panorama that have not yet been stitched Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 30 Contrast
46. ocess multiple sets of bracketed photos follow these steps 1 Open the Batch Processing of Bracketed Photos window by clicking the Batch Bracketed Photos button in the Workflow Shortcuts panel You can also select Batch Bracketed Photos from the Automate menu or use a keyboard shortcut Ctrl B on Windows Cmd B on Mac 2 Inthe Source section select the folder where the bracketed photo sets are located The files are arranged in alphabetical order N files at a time are processed where N is the number specified in the next step 3 Inthe Bracket Selection section select the number of exposures to combine using the pull down menu For example select 3 if your bracketed sets consist of three exposures each You can also let the batch automatically detect the bracketed exposures or select specific exposures via the Advanced Selection option detailed in section 4 1 5 below Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 22 9 In the Destination section select the output file type When using JPEG file output select the amount of JPEG compression 100 gives the least compressed JPEG file with most image quality retained If you want to save the results in a different folder than the folder containing the source photos select Custom Location option in the Destination section and then click Choose Otherwise select the default of Subfolder within Source Folder This will create a subfolder with the name PhotomatixResults in the source folder
47. ontrols the amount of contrast applied to detail in the image Moving the slider to the right increases the contrast of details and gives a sharper look to the image but also has a darkening effect Moving to the left decreases the contrast of details and brightens the image Lighting Adjustments pane The two lighting adjustment modes affect the overall look controlling the extent to which the image Lighting Adjustments looks natural or surreal Lighting Effects Mode e Lighting Adjustments slider Affects the overall look controlling the extent to which the image looks natural or surreal Moving the Details Enhancer slider to the right makes the image look more natural Moving to the Lighting Adjustment settings left makes it look more painterly or surreal Lighting Effects Mode checkbox Lighting Effects Mode lets you Lighting Adjustments switch between two modes for the Lighting Adjustments setting where each mode produces slightly different results Checking the Z Lighting Etrects Notural box tends to produce results with a type of Magic Light effect Note that finer control is not possible in this mode Details Enhancer Lighting Effects Mode e Lighting Effects Mode Affects the overall look controlling the extent to which the image looks natural or surreal Smooth Highlights More Options eee White Point e Smooth Highlights Reduces contrast enhancements in the highlights preventing white highlights
48. or selection from the pop up menu The tool displays a pop up menu with a list of the available exposures Select an exposure value from the list A dotted selection being marked for deghosting The photo that the tool automatically sets for the selection is not always the most appropriate exposure choice It is thus a good idea to check whether changing to another photo produces a better deghosting result Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual Mark selection as ghosted area 2 Remove selection f Set another photo for selection Right clicking a marked selection to choose a different replacement photo 10 To view a preview of the deghosted image click Preview deghosting To make more selections or modify existing regions selected for deghosting click Return to selection mode You may continue selecting regions of the image and previewing the results until you are satisfied with the results In Quick Selection Mode every completed selection lasso will automatically be converted into a deghosting selection without the need to individually Mark selection as ghosted area 2 1 5 Using Automatic Deghosting The Automatic Deghosting option automatically detects ghosted areas in the image The deghosting slider sets the aggressiveness of ghosting detection Aggressive Deghosting setting removes more ghosting artifacts but increases the possibility and severity of unwanted artifacts Use
49. pture information in both the highlights and the shadows of the scene The exposures taken must properly cover the dynamic range of the scene especially the shadows The number of photos you need depends on the scene It also depends on the Exposure Value EV spacing separating the photos If you take them in one EV steps e g 1 0 1 EV you will need more photos than if you take them in two EV steps e g 2 0 2 EV We recommend shooting in two EV steps whenever possible High contrast scenes can be grouped into roughly two types depending on their dynamic range e Medium dynamic range scene Most landscapes and other types of outdoor scenes fall into this category Three exposures taken in two EV steps i e 2 0 2 EV or five exposures taken in one EV steps are usually sufficient for this type of scene e High dynamic range scene A typical example is the interior of a room with a view outside the window on a sunny day You need to take at least five exposures in two EV steps or nine exposures in one EV steps to capture this type of scene but you may need more The source photographs for HDR processing can be taken with digital or film based cameras The only requirement is that the exposure can be adjusted when taking pictures If you use a film based camera you will need to scan the photographs into your computer before processing them refer to Section 1 3 Three exposures of a medium dynamic range sce
50. racketed series are located in multiple folders they D Note can all be processed in one run provided they are in subfolders All of the subfolders must be contained in of the same parent folder To batch process multiple subfolders the main parent folder for this option to work check the Process subfolders option at bottom of the Source properly frame on the Batch Processing dialog and select sequentially When Process subfolders sequentially is selected the batch will process the bracketed image files in one subfolder and then move on to the next subfolder all of which are contained in the main parent folder Processing Series of Photos with Varying Numbers of Exposures When your bracketed sets are composed of varying numbers of exposures you can use Process subfolders sequentially to combine the exposures in these sets in one batch run Place each bracketed set in a separate subfolder group the subfolders under a parent folder select Process subfolders sequentially and select All from the pull down menu for the number of images to process at one time Grouped by Exposures Option If you are processing bracketed photos that will be part of a panorama you may find it useful to be able to organize your photos in such a way that all exposures of the same levels are in the same folder Let s take as an example a panorama composed of four views that need to be stitched with each view having been taken using three exposures 2 0 2 You will
51. s window to continue to the next step venice_normal jpg venice_over jpg venice_under jpg Show 32 bit unprocessed image y Note The order of the files in a bracketing 3 Select the files to load using one of the following methods sequence does not matter Photomatix Pro automatically sorts the images based on e Click the first file then press and hold the Control key ihe Scere eee see image files Windows or Command key Mac While holding down EXIF metadata If exposure information is not the Control key or Command key click each of the available in the EXIF data Photomatix Pro other files you wish to select sorts the images by evaluating the relative brightness of the photos Selecting bracketed photos to load e Click the first file then press and hold the Shift key While still holding the Shift key down click the last file This will select all the files in between the first and last file 4 Click Open Windows or Select Mac 5 Click OK Entering Exposure Values If the exposure information cannot be located in the metadata of the image files you will get a dialog showing the relative Exposure Values that Photomatix Pro estimated for your images You will also see this dialog if two or more source images have the same exposure metadata If the estimated Exposure Values listed are incorrect you can either adjust each one of them individually or set globa
52. selected in the Source section Select the preset that will be applied to all the bracketed Note sets in this batch To do this select first the category to S which the preset belongs from the Preset in category pull The Custom settings or multiple presets down menu then select the preset on the next pull down 2Ption allows you to select custom settings menu and also to process each bracketed set with more than one preset This more advanced Specify whether image alignment ghost removal or noise batch option is explained in section 4 1 2 reduction are needed Image alignment is recommended below unless your bracketed sets are stitched panoramas or fake exposures derived from a single Raw file Noise reduction is recommended too especially with Raw files However ghost removal should only be selected for images that do need it and left unchecked otherwise Refer to section 2 1 2 for details on the merge options Add contrast or sharpening if desired and click Naming and Resizing Options if you would like to rename or resize the resulting images Click Run to start batch processing While the batch is running the processing status will display in the area below the Run button When processing is complete a link to the batch results will be displayed 4 1 2 Custom Settings or Multiple Presets window The Custom Settings or Multiple Presets Process with window is accessed by clicking the Set button _ Preset in category
53. terly 2 Select Save Preset from the list Enter a name for the preset in the File name field and click Save To save the selected settings as a preset after you have already applied the settings or saved the image 1 Click Save Preset from the Workflow Shortcuts panel or select Save Preset from the File menu A dialog prompts for the file name Vibrant 2 Enter the file name and click OK gt E 3 3 5 Favorite Presets You can mark presets as favorites so that you can then filter the preset list to see just those favorites To mark a preset as a favorite click on the grey star icon on the left of the preset s name The star turns yellow indicating a favorited preset You can un favorite a preset by clicking again on its yellow star Artistic built in Presets Two column small thumb view fame Cos If you save the preset in the default location which is the Presets folder of the Photomatix Pro application the preset is automatically added to the Presets combo box list and also shows in the My Presets tab of the thumbnail Presets Panel Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 18 3 4 Replace Selection with Source An HDR processed image might look exactly the way you want except for one area For example the sky might have more contrast or be darker than desired The Replace selection with source feature lets you replace that area with the same area from any one of the source images to bring the tonemapped or
54. the program s main window e Magnifier icons Increases or decreases the preview image by 20 and recalculates it at the new size e Preview The Preview checkbox quickly toggles between a preview of the image and the normal exposure OEV of the set This is helpful to compare the effects of the image adjustments e Selection Mode Checking the selection mode checkbox enables you to select an area of the preview and replace it with one of the source images See section 3 4 for details e Histogram This floating window contains four tabbed histograms Luminance Red Green and Blue In addition you can move the mouse back and forth across the histogram to display Level Count and Percentile information If the histogram is turned off enable it by selecting 8 bit Histogram from the View menu Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 29 Note When using the Details Enhancer or Contrast Optimizer methods the Preview is not always an accurate representation of the final tone mapped image 9 Note As an option selectable in Preferences the Preview will update continuously as you move a slider handle This option may require that you work with your image zoomed out to a small Preview or that you have a powerful computer that is able to quickly reprocess the Preview This option is not available if you are running on a 32 bit OS You can access Preferences from the View menu Windows or Photomatix Pro menu Mac
55. the right brightens the midtones and decreases contrast Moving to the left darkens the midtones and increases contrast Color Saturation Adjusts the color saturation of the image The greater the saturation the more intense the color Setting the slider to its lowest value 10 produces a grayscale image 360 Image Checking this option eliminates the seam between the left and right sides of a panorama viewed in a 360 degree panoramic viewer This option is intended for a stitched panorama it should not be used for individual frames of a panorama that have not yet been stitched Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual Strength Brightness Local Contrast White Clip de Black Clip Midtone Color Saturation 360 image Fusion Natural Settings 33 3 6 2 Fusion Interior Settings e Highlights Adjusts bright areas in the image Moving the slider to the right brightens the highlights Moving to the left darkens highlights and recovers more highlight details Highlights Shadows Adjusts dark areas in the image Moving the slider to the MALE right brightens shadows and recovers more shadows details Moving to the left darkens shadows Local Contrast e Local Contrast Increases the contrast and sharpness of details in the image Increasing local contrast may have the side effect of making noise more visible and of creating thin halo effects around strong luminosity edges Values near the maximum tend to g
56. the shadows and to show more details in the highlights Moving to the left produces a more natural effect Brightness Controls the brightness of the fused image by adjusting the influence each of the input photos has on the final result Moving the slider to the right gives the overexposed photos more influence resulting in a brighter result Moving to the left darkens the result by giving the underexposed photos more influence Local Contrast Increases the contrast and sharpness of details in the image Increasing local contrast may have the side effect of making noise more visible and of creating thin halo effects around strong luminosity edges Values near the maximum tend to give a surreal look to the image The default value is 2 Shadows Contrast Increases the contrast of shadows in the image by darkening the areas of heaviest shadow and brightening the midtones giving a more realistic effect White Clip Adjusts the amount of highlights clipping Moving the slider to the right brightens the image and increases global contrast Moving to the left decreases global contrast and reduces highlights clipping Black Clip Adjusts the amount of shadows clipping Moving the slider to the right darkens the image and increases global contrast Moving to the left decreases global contrast and reduces shadows clipping Midtone Adjusts the brightness of the midtones which also has an impact on the overall contrast Moving the slider to
57. three offered JPEG is best if you want to go straight to the Web with no further processing TIFF 16 bit offers the highest quality output and is the best format if you plan on processing the image further in an image editor If you would like to automatically reimport the saved image into another photo or image application check Open Saved Images with and select an application from the drop down list If the desired photo application is not on the list click Add application navigate to the folder that contains the application and select it Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 15 3 2 Image Adjustment Interface Image Adjustment Interface Overview The image adjustment interface consists of three main sections The setting Adjustments Panel the image Preview and the thumbnail Presets Panel Preview intro__CovePt_ 2EV_ 2EV_OEV v Preview Selection Mode Image adjustment Preview panel controls 3 2 1 Preview The image Preview displays the result of your current Preset and settings and is updated immediately after a Preset or set ting has been changed The Preview panel provides the following controls Scaling Slider Zooms in or out the refreshed preview from 50 to 150 The preview is not recalculated but quickly scaled Each time Fit or one of the Magnifier icons is clicked the preview is recalculated and the Zoom Slider resets to 100 e Fit Resizes the preview to fill the available space on
58. tix Pro uses the metadata from the image files to perform third frame fourth frame automatic bracketed set detection last frame e Specify a range using the two drop down lists to automatically detect the number of bracketed frames ret part ofa bracketed set and or when the number ef ames per ae racketed set varies Move the Maximum time between two successive frames slider H tiasana not on ine image content Itean metre ny wor right or left to allow more or less time read from the metadata Exposure BracKsted photos with thelr EXIF data preserved If your camera is set on continuous shooting and takes 3 frames second for example then the slider could safely be set on 1 second Advanced Selection options Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 25 Click Select only part of the frames in bracketed set to load only selected frames from a bracketed set 4 2 Specify the total number of frames in each set using the drop down list Select the specific frames to process from the list Select more than one file by holding down the Control key and clicking on the desired frames Batch Processing Single Images To process a batch of single image files follow these steps Ts 7 8 Click on the Batch Single Photos button in the Workflow Shortcuts panel or select Batch Single Photos from the Automate menu In the Source section select the folder where the files are located Optionally you may select a subset of the displaye
59. which also has an impact on the overall contrast Moving the slider to the right brightens the midtones and decreases contrast Moving to the left darkens the midtones and increases contrast Color Saturation Adjusts the color saturation of the image The greater the saturation the more intense the color Setting the slider to its lowest value 10 produces a grayscale image Color Temperature Adjusts the color temperature of the tone mapped image relative to the temperature of the HDR source image Moving the slider to the right gives a warmer more yellow orange colored look Moving it to the left gives a colder more bluish look A value of 0 default preserves the original color temperature of the HDR source image 360 Image Checking this option eliminates the seam between the left and right sides of a panorama viewed in a 360 degree panoramic viewer This option is intended for a stitched panorama it should not be used for individual frames of a panorama that have not yet been stitched Photomatix Pro 5 1 User Manual 31 3 5 Tone Compressor Tone Mapping Settings Brightness Adjusts the overall brightness of the image e Tonal Range Compression Controls the compression of the tonal range Moving the slider to the right has the effect of shifting both shadows and highlights toward the midtones e Contrast Adaptation Adjusts the contrast in relation to the average brightness Moving the slider to the right tends to d

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