HDR Soft Photomatix Pro Instruction Manual

Photomatix Pro 6

User Manual

TOC link

Table of Contents

Introduction �� 1

1 Taking Photos for HDR �� 2

1.1 Setting up the Camera ............................................................................................................................................3

1.2 Exposure .......................................................................................................................................................................3

1.2.1 Selecting Exposures .................................................................................................................................................4

1.2.2 Interiors with Bright Windows, and other High Contrast Scenes.............................................................4

1.3 Using Film-Based Cameras .....................................................................................................................................5

2 Loading and Pre-Processing Images �� 6

2.1 Merging a Bracketed Photo Set ...........................................................................................................................6

2.1.1 Loading a Bracketed Photo Set ............................................................................................................................6

2.1.2 Merge to HDR Options ............................................................................................................................................8

2.1.3 The Deghosting Options Window .................................................................................................................... 10

2.1.4 Using the Selective Deghosting Tool .............................................................................................................. 11

2.1.5 Using Automatic Deghosting ............................................................................................................................ 12

2.1.6 Options for Raw Files ............................................................................................................................................13

2.2 Working with Single Image Files ...................................................................................................................... 14

2.2.1 Options for Single Raw Image Files ................................................................................................................ 14

3 HDR Rendering Images �� 15

3.1 HDR Rendering Workow....................................................................................................................................15

3.1.1 Workow Dierences when using the Lightroom Plugin .......................................................................16

3.1.2 Save As dialog ..........................................................................................................................................................16

3.2 Image Adjustment Interface .............................................................................................................................. 17

3.2.1 Preview .......................................................................................................................................................................17

3.3 Working with Presets ............................................................................................................................................ 18

3.3.1 Preset Thumbnails Panel ...................................................................................................................................... 18

3.3.2 Built-in Presets ......................................................................................................................................................... 18

3.3.3 Custom Presets ........................................................................................................................................................18

3.3.4 Saving Custom Presets ......................................................................................................................................... 19

3.3.5 Favorite Presets ....................................................................................................................................................... 19

3.4 Color Adjustments ................................................................................................................................................. 20

4 Brush Selection Tool �� 21

4.1 Selective Adjustment Workow ........................................................................................................................ 21

4.1.1 Brush Strokes and Selections ............................................................................................................................ 21

4.1.2 Adding Selective Adjustments, Removing Selective Adjustments ...................................................... 22

4.1.3 Brush Tool Usage Example: Adjusting Color .................................................................................................22

4.1.4 Brush Tool Usage Example: Blending Source Photos ................................................................................ 23

4.2 Brush Tool Palette. ..................................................................................................................................................23

5 Finishing Touch ��25

5.1 Contrast and Sharpen ........................................................................................................................................... 25

5.2 Crop and Straighten .............................................................................................................................................. 25

6 Automating with Batch Processing ��26

6.1 Batch Processing Bracketed Photos ................................................................................................................26

6.1.1 Using Batch Processing ........................................................................................................................................ 26

6.1.2 Custom Settings or Multiple Presets Window .............................................................................................. 27

6.1.3 More Merge Options ............................................................................................................................................. 28

6.1.4 Batch Processing Subfolders .............................................................................................................................. 29

6.1.5 Advanced Selection Options.............................................................................................................................. 29

6.2 Batch Processing Single Images .......................................................................................................................30

7 Tips and Techniques ��31

7.1 Integrating Lightroom with Photomatix Pro ................................................................................................ 31

7.2 Processing Raw les in Third-Party Raw Converters .................................................................................. 31

7.3 Dealing with Noise .................................................................................................................................................32

7.4 Photomatix Pro and Color Management .......................................................................................................32

8 Appendix: Rendering Settings ��33

8.1 Color and Blending Settings ..............................................................................................................................33

8.2 HDR Settings - Details Enhancer ....................................................................................................................... 34

8.3 HDR Settings - Contrast Optimizer ..................................................................................................................36

8.4 HDR Settings - Tone Compressor ...................................................................................................................... 37

8.5 HDR Settings - Tone Balancer .............................................................................................................................38

8.6 HDR Settings - Fusion ...........................................................................................................................................39

Glossary �� 41

Getting More Information and Help ...............................................................................................................................................43

All sections above are clickable links� Click any page footer below, to return to this TOC�

Introduction

Cove Point Lighthouse photo © Ferrell McCollough

Photomatix Pro works with photographs of the same scene taken under dierent exposure settings. These dierently exposed images of the same scene are often called “bracketed” images in reference to the autobracketing 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.

This manual contains information about how to use Photomatix Pro to render images using dierent HDR Rendering methods. All of the methods are accessed from one window within the application, making it easy to try dierent settings to achieve the results you want. Refer to Section 2, Loading and Pre-Processing Images and Section 3, HDR Rendering Images for detailed information about the dierent settings that are available.

Photomatix Pro 6.0 User Manual 1

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 capture 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:

• 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 ve exposures taken in one-EV steps, are usually sucient for this type of scene.

• 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 ve 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 lm-based cameras. The only requirement is that the exposure can be adjusted when taking pictures. If you use a lm-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 scene, taken in two-EV steps

Photomatix Pro 6.0 User Manual 2

1.1 Setting up the Camera

• Set your camera to Aperture priority (the "A" setting) so that only shutter speed will vary between the exposures.

• Set a low ISO such as ISO 100, or lower if available.

• Turn o the ash. The ash may try to balance the exposure of all the images, when the goal instead is a range of exposures.

• A tripod is typically recommended, but is not required, as Photomatix Pro includes options to automatically align hand-held bracketed sets.

DSLR cameras and some compact digital cameras oer Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB). This 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 overexposed. Follow these steps if your camera oers AEB mode:

• Select the Continuous shooting mode on the camera’s drive setting. Consult your camera manual for model-specic instructions for using this setting.

• Set the camera to Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB).

• If possible, use the camera’s self-timer setting, a cable release or a wireless shutter release to minimize camera shake.

• Set the exposure increment to +/- 2 for optimal exposure range. If your camera does not oer +/- 2 exposure increments, select the maximum possible. Consult the camera manual for modelspecic instructions for choosing this setting.

1.2 Exposures

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 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.

Canon Rebel T2i/550D LCD showing

AEB with +/-2 EV increments selected

AEB settings on a Nikon D7000

(3 frames, at +/- 2 EV)

Note

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 of 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 sucient, 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 ve images taken with an exposure increment of +/- 2, or nine images taken with an exposure increment of +/- 1.

Photomatix Pro 6.0 User Manual 3

1.2.1 Selecting Exposures

The number of exposures to shoot depends on the dynamic range in frame, the exposure dierence between the darkest and brightest areas of the scene. Your brightest exposure must capture the darkest areas of the scene, and the darkest exposure must capture the brightest sections of the scene.

The total number of exposures also depends on the Exposure Value (EV) spacing between each exposure. If you shoot your exposures in 1 EV steps, you will need more exposures to capture the entire dynamic range of a scene than if you shoot them in 2 EV steps. We recommend shooting in 2 EV steps whenever possible.

A typical outdoor scenes will usually require 3 shots at 2 EV spacing (i.e. -2, 0, +2. Very high contrast scenes, such as a interior with a bright window in the frame, will typically require 5 frames, at 2 EV steps, and sometimes more.

A 2 EV spacing has several advantages compared to an 1 EV spacing. It requires fewer shots to span the dynamic range, and therefore reduces the risk of ghosting in non-static scenes. It also reduces storage needs and makes for faster processing in Photomatix. On the other hand, an 1 EV spacing -or lower- does have the advantage of better smoothing out noise when merging to an HDR image.

1.2.2 Interiors with Bright Windows, and other High Contrast Scenes

Capturing a particularly high contrast scene, such as a room interior which includes a bright window, requires more bracketed exposures. The key to getting a good result with such scenes is to take enough exposures to properly cover the dynamic range. In most cases, you will need at least ve exposures, spaced 2 EVs apart. If you take fewer exposures, you may get washed-out highlights or noisy shadows due to "holes" in the coverage of the dynamic range.

To help determine the exposures required in scenes with extreme dierences between the lightest and darkest details, you can use the HDR Exposure Calculator tool available in the "HDR Tutorial for real estate photographers" linked below.

When using Photomatix Pro to edit real estate photos, we recommend you display just the "Architecture" category (using the presets lter menu, above the thumbnails list on the right). The presets with "Interior" in their name are optimized for room interiors with bright windows, and provide a good starting point when working with high contrast scenes in general. The presets "Interior" and "Interior 2", are particularly good at keeping a balanced and "photorealistic" look, while still preserving highlights. For real estate interiors in particular, please refer to these real estate shooting tips.

The steps listed below apply to any scene with very high contrast. If you are taking real estate interiors with bright windows, see more specic instructions in the HDR tutorial for real estate photographers.

These steps listed below apply to any scene with very high contrast:

1. Set the ISO below 400.

2. Set your camera to Aperture priority, and set the aperture for the scene, based on the depth of eld you are trying to achieve or other considerations.

3. Set your camera to Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB). If you are not familiar with the AEB functionality of your camera, see the Automatic Exposure Bracketing Setup page or consult your camera's manual..

4. Using the AEB option, set the EV spacing to +/- 2 EV if your camera supports it, otherwise to the highest EV spacing it supports.

5. Switch your camera’s to spot metering mode. Aim the camera at the darkest area of the scene and adjust the shutter speed until your camera indicates a correct exposure. This will be the shutter speed for your most overexposed photo.

Photomatix Pro 6.0 User Manual 4

6. Aim the camera at the brightest area of the scene and adjust the shutter speed until your camera indicates a correct exposure. This will be the shutter speed for your most underexposed photo.

7. [Optional]: To check the shutter speeds you just measured, it is a good idea to take a photo for each meter reading and look at the camera’s histogram. If the histogram graph touches the left side, this indicates that there is lost shadow information. If the graph touches the right side, this indicates burned out highlights.

8. Using this HDR Exposure Calculator enter the shutter speeds you measured in Steps 5 and 6.

9. Switch the camera to Manual mode and Set the Shutter Speed determined by the HDR Exposure Calculator for the rst bracketed set.

10. Select the Continuous Shooting mode on the camera and release the shutter to take the rst set of bracketed photos.

11. Take the other photos or bracketed photos determined by the HDR Exposure Calculator, if any. Note that you will need to use a tripod if you cannot cover the range with just one bracketed set.

1.3 Using Film-Based Cameras

• Follow the camera setup listed at the top of Section 1�1 and the tips on selecting exposures in Sections 1�2 and 1�2�1. Keep in mind that you will not have the option of previewing the live histogram to

determine your exposure range.

• Scan lm 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 o your scanner’s auto-exposure options. This allows you to manually control the exposure.

• Make sure you select the Align images option in Photomatix Pro when combining your images.

Photomatix Pro 6.0 User Manual 5

2 Loading and Merging Photos

This section describes how to load and merge bracketed image les of a scene taken under dierent exposure settings, as well as how to load single images into Photomatix Pro. See Section 2.2 regarding how to load a single image le for HDR rendering.

Photomatix Pro works with bracketed images that are in 8-bit or 16-bit/channel mode, as well as Camera Raw les.

Supported le types include JPEG, TIFF, PSD, DNG, and Raw les from many camera models. Photomatix Pro is updated frequently to add support for Raw les 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 Merging a Bracketed Photo Set

2.1.1 Loading a Bracketed Photo Set

To load bracketed image les, do one of the following:

Drag and drop images here, or load images using a standard dialog

Note

The term “bracketed images” refers to a sequence of images of the same scene taken under dierent exposure settings. A bracketed image set can be produced using a camera's

Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB)

function, if available. Without AEB any camera can still be used to produce a bracketed set, manually.

• Drag and drop the les onto the Photomatix Pro app (the screen shot, shown above), or onto the app icon.

Note

• Click on the Browse & Load button in the above window, which opens at start up. The Open le dialog then appears, allowing you to select an image le set to process.

1. Select image les to load, using one of the following methods:

• Click the rst le, then press and hold the

Command [Mac] or Ctrl [PC] key. While still holding down the Command/Ctrl key, click each of the other les you wish to select.

Photomatix Pro 6.0 User Manual 6

Drag and drop all image les for a given bracketed exposure sequence all at the same time, so that they will be properly processed and merged.

Note

If you have Lightroom, you can use the Photomatix Plug-in for Lightroom to load images into Photomatix Pro. Refer to Section 7 for more information.

• Click the rst le, then press and hold the Shift key.

While still holding the Shift key down, click the last le. This will select all the les in between the rst and last le.

2. Click Load, and the selected image les will be loaded into the Selected Photos window.

The Selected Photos Window

Before merging your bracketed set into a single image le, review the thumbnails and deselect any photos you may wish to not include in the merge (for example, a duplicate photo).

Click Next: Choose Merge Options, if your bracketed set is complete and correct.

Entering Missing Exposure Values

If exposure information cannot be located in the metadata

of the image les, or if there are any duplicate EV values, the Selected Photos dialog will display estimated relative

Exposure Values.

Note

The order of the les in a bracketing sequence does not matter. Photomatix Pro automatically sorts the images based on the exposure information in the image les' EXIF metadata. If exposure information is not available in the EXIF data, Photomatix Pro sorts the images by evaluating the relative brightness of the photos.

If the estimated Exposure Values are incorrect, you can either click on and edit each one of them individually, or set global EV Spacing for the bracketed set.

Click Next: Choose Merge Options, once you've set the missing Exposure Values.

Merge options are covered next, in section 2.1.2

Single Image Files

Please refer to Section 2.2, which describes options for loading a single image for HDR rendering.

Selected photos, ready to "Choose Merge Options"

Set or adjust missing exposure settings

Photomatix Pro 6.0 User Manual 7

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 2 pages for a description of the options for merging a bracketed photo set�

• Section 2.2 describes options for loading a single image for HDR rendering.

Alignment Options

The Align source images option is checked by default. It corrects misalignment problems when the camera 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.

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.

You can customize alignment settings depending on how the given bracketed set was taken:

• Include perspective correction: This alignment option

corrects for all types of camera movement, including rotation in all three dimensions, as well as horizontal,

Selecting options to merge to HDR

vertical, forward, and backward motion.

• 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 the time required for alignment, but may be necessary when handheld shots are taken when it is windy, or when using a long zoom lens.

The alignment Preset drop-down menu lets you select pre-dened alignment settings that are appropriate for particular shooting situations. The four presets oered 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 advantage of being faster. The Hand-held (large shifts) preset is for photos taken in conditions where signicant camera

The Align source images option should not be checked when your source images are stitched panoramas or when they are "fake exposures" derived from a single Raw le.

Note

movements are dicult 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 6.0 User Manual 8

Deghosting Options

Deghosting addresses the problem of artifacts that appear when combining the bracketed images of a dynamic scene. For example, if the moving subjects are people walking, the people will appear multiple times in the combined image, once for each frame, faded and in a dierent position as if they were “ghosts”. This is why artifacts that arise from movement in a scene are commonly referred to as “ghosting” and the 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 & 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 for details on this window.

Noise Reduction Options

The Reduce noise on option processes source photos with a high-quality noise reduction algorithm, and is recommended when processing Raw les directly in Photomatix Pro.

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%.

Noise reduction options

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.

Show 32-bit Unprocessed Image

This option opens the merged, but not yet processed, bracketed image set in a viewing window. This allows you to save the merged-but-unprocessed le in an HDR image le format such as Radiance or OpenEXR. Saving the 32-bit unprocessed merged image is useful when you want to be able to process the image with other settings later without having to load and merge your bracketed photos again. However, you will still need to load and merge the original photos again if you want to use Exposure Fusion.

Note

If you check Show 32-bit unprocessed image, when the unprocessed image is displayed you will have to click the HDR Rendering button, in the Workow Shortcuts window, to continue to the next step.

Photomatix Pro 6.0 User Manual 9

2.1.3 The Deghosting Options Window

The Deghosting Options window

Select Show options to remove ghosts in the Preprocessing Options window, to subsequently access the Deghosting Options window.

The Deghosting Options window provides two deghosting methods:

• A manually applied Selective Deghosting Tool

• An adjustable Automatic Deghosting algorithm.

The Selective Deghosting Tool enables you to lassoselect the specic areas of the image that require processing to remove ghosting caused by image to image movement of elements in the scene. Photomatix Pro uses the single image that it deems best exposed for each selected area's brightness, as the default deghosting target image. You may change the automatically selected deghosting target image to any other image of your choice using the tool.

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 are not practical to lasso manually. This deghosting method has the disadvantage of potentially degrading image quality, depending upon the nature of the scene, 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.

Two Deghosting methods: Selective, Automatic

Photomatix Pro 6.0 User Manual 10

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 for 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.

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.

A dotted selection being marked for deghosting

Right-clicking a marked selection, to choose a dierent replacement photo

Photomatix Pro 6.0 User Manual 11

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 satised 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 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.

When automatic deghosting is used, one of the source photos is used 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, but you can select one of the other photos instead by clicking on its thumbnail.

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.

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.

Automatic Deghosting tools

Note

Deghosting works with all HDR rendering methods (Details Enhancer, Contrast

Optimizer, Tone Balancer and Tone Compressor) and with the Fusion/Natural

method. Deghosting however is not applicable to any of the other Exposure Fusion methods.

Photomatix Pro 6.0 User Manual 12

+ 32 hidden pages