HDR Soft Pro - 5.0 - Macintosh User Manual

HDR soft

Photomatix Pro

Version 5.0

User Manual

TOC link

Table of Contents

Introduction ��1

1 Taking Photos for HDR ��2

1�1 Setting up the Camera ��3 1�2 Selecting the Exposures ��3 1�3 Using Film-Based Cameras ��4

2 Loading and Pre-Processing Images ��5

2�1 Merging Bracketed Images ��5 2�1�1 Loading Bracketed Images ��5 2�1�2 General Pre-Processing Options ��7 2�1�3 The Deghosting Options Window ��9 2�1�4 Using the Selective Deghosting Tool �� 10 2�1�5 Using Automatic Deghosting �� 11 2�1�6 Pre-Processing Options for RAW Files �� 12 2�2 Working with Single Image Files �� 13 2�2�1 Options for Single RAW Image Files ��13

3 Adjusting Images Using Tone Mapping or Exposure Fusion ��14

3�1 Image Adjustment Workow �� 14 3�1�1 Undoing Adjustments and Reprocessing an Image �� 15 3�2 Image Adjustment Windows �� 16 3�2�1 Image Adjustment Interface Overview ��16 3�2�2 Preview ��16 3�2�3 Preset Thumbnails panel ��17 3�3 Tone Mapping Details Enhancer Settings ��19 3�4 Tone Mapping Contrast Optimizer Settings �� 21 3�5 Tone Mapping Tone Compressor Settings �� 22 3�6 Fusion Settings �� 23 3�6�1 Fusion/Natural Settings ��23 3�6�2 Fusion/Real-Estate Settings �� 24 3�6�3 Fusion/Intensive Settings �� 25 3�6�4 Fusion/Average, /Auto, /2 Images Settings ��25 3�7 Replace Selection with Source �� 26 3�7�1 Selecting the Area to be Replaced �� 26 3�7�2 Fitting the Selection to the Area’s Edges �� 27 3�7�3 Replacing the Selected Area �� 28

4 Automating with Batch Processing ��29

4�1 Batch Processing Bracketed Photos ��29 4�1�1 Using Batch Processing �� 29 4�1�2 Custom Settings or Multiple Presets Window �� 30 4�1�3 More Preprocessing Options ��31 4�1�4 32-bit HDR File Creation Advanced Settings �� 31 4�1�5 Batch Processing Subfolders �� 32 4�1�6 Advanced Selection Options �� 32 4�2 Batch Processing Single Image Files ��33

5 Tips and Techniques ��34

5�1 Integrating Lightroom with Photomatix Pro �� 34 5�2 Processing RAW les in Third-Party RAW Converters �� 34 5�3 Dealing with Noise ��35 5�4 Photomatix Pro and Color Management ��35 Glossary �� 36 Resources �� 38

Photomatix Pro 5.0 User Manual

Each section title above links to its section below.

All page footers link back to this Table of Contents.

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 with your own bracketed images�

Photomatix Pro 5.0 User Manual 1

This manual contains information about how to use Photomatix Pro to adjust images using dierent Tone Mapping or Exposure Fusion 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, Adjusting Images Using Tone Mapping or Exposure Fusion for detailed information about the dierent settings that are available�

1 Taking Photos for HDR

The shooting phase is essential for getting good results with Photomatix� 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� Taking the exposures manually is recommended in these cases�

Three exposures of a medium dynamic

range scene, taken in two-EV steps

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)�

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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�

• Use a tripod whenever possible� Even though Photomatix Pro oers automatic alignment of hand-held photos, using a tripod is almost always better�

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�

Canon Rebel T2i/550D LCD showing

AEB with +/-2 EV increments selected

• Set the camera to Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB)

• If possible, use the camera’s self-timer setting, a cable release or

AEB settings on a Nikon D7000

(3 frames, at +/- 2 EV)

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 Selecting the 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.

Note

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 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�

In scenes with extreme dierences between light and dark details, you should change the exposures manually to ensure you capture a wide enough range to cover your scene�

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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 Section

1.2� 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�

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2 Loading and Pre-Processing Images

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�

2.1 Merging Bracketed Images

Photomatix Pro merges bracketed images that are in 8 bit or 16 bits/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�

2.1.1 Loading Bracketed Images

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

• Drag and drop the les into Photomatix Pro

• Use the Workow Shortcuts panel to load the les

Dragging and Dropping Bracketed Image Files

To drag and drop a group of image les to Photomatix Pro:

Note

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 dened. It also applies to the

case when you have not used the Automatic Exposure Bracketing function of the camera to take the exposures.

Note

Drag the image les for the exposure sequence at the same time, so the les are

properly processed by the merge.

• Windows: Drag the les from Windows Explorer and drop

them on the open Photomatix Pro program�

• Macintosh: Drag the les from the Finder and drop them

on the Photomatix Pro icon on your Dock�

Note

Newer camera models may not be supported by older versions of Photomatix Pro. To ensure your camera is supported, upgrade to the latest version.

Note

If you have Lightroom, you can use the Lightroom Export Plug-in to load images into Photomatix Pro. Refer to Section 5 for more information.

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Using the Workow Area or the File Menu

To load images using the Workow Shortcuts panel or the File menu:

1� Click Load Bracketed Photos in the Workow Shortcuts panel

Select Load Bracketed Photos from the File menu�

Note

The Loading bracketed photos dialog displays�

Selecting bracketed photos to load

2� Drag and drop the les into the Loading bracketed

photos dialog

If you check the Show 32-bit unprocessed image box, you will be able to save the unprocessed merged image in an HDR image

le format such as Radiance or OpenEXR.

Saving the 32-bit HDR image is useful when you want to be able to process the image with other tone mapping settings later without having to pre-process and merge your bracketed photos again. However, you will still need to pre-process and merge the photos if you want to use exposure fusion.

You will have to click the Tone Map / Fuse

button, in the Workow Shortcuts window, to

go to the next step if you choose to Show 32bit unprocessed image.

The order of the les in a bracketing

sequence does not matter.Photomatix Pro automatically sorts the images based on the exposure information

EXIF metadata. If exposure information is not available in the EXIF data, Photomatix Pro

directly evaluates the relative brightness of the photos.

Click Browse� A dialog displays prompting for location of the les�

Note

in the image les'

3� Select the les to load, using one of the following methods:

• Click the rst le, then press and hold the Control key (Windows) or Command key (Mac)� While holding down the Control or Command key, click each of the other les you wish to select�

• Click the rst le, then press and hold the Shift key� While holding the Shift key down click the last le� This will select all the les in-between the rst and last le�

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 les, Photomatix Pro displays a dialog prompting your input of the relative Exposure Values of the images� Photomatix Pro also displays this dialog if two or more source images have the same exposure metadata�

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2.1.2 General Merge to HDR Options

After the bracketed images are selected, you can customize the steps performed before merging the images, such as aligning the images or removing 'ghosts'� Refer to the following list for a description of the options when merging bracketed images:

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 photographs have camera movement but even images shot on a tripod may have some slight camera movement as well, such as movement caused by wind, for example�

• taken on tripod: Select this alignment method when you used a tripod to take automatic bracketed photos� This method is fast, but corrects only for horizontal and vertical camera movement, and not for rotation or other types of motion� (Note: This method was named 'by correcting shifts' in Photomatix Pro version 4 and earlier�)

• hand-held: Select this method when you did not use a tripod or when the images are dicult to align� The 'hand-held' method corrects for several types of camera movement, including horizontal and vertical motion, rotation, and forward and backward movement� When the 'include perspective' option is selected, it corrects for every kind of minor camera movement� (Note: This method was named 'by matching features' in Photomatix Pro version 4 and earlier�)

Selecting options to merge to HDR

Note

• Include perspective correction: This option requests that the 'hand-held' alignment method corrects for all types of camera movement, including rotation in all three dimensions, as well as horizontal, vertical, forward, and backward motion�

• Crop aligned images: This option removes the unneeded borders resulting from alignment adjustments� Unchecking it disables this, so that the resulting image has exactly the same width and height as the source images, but may have white areas around the edges��

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.

• Maximum shift: Sets the maximum mis-registration shift that the alignment attempts to correct for, expressed as a percentage of the image dimensions� This setting does not need adjustment in most cases� A situation when adjusting this setting may be useful is when the camera barely moved between the bracketed shots� In this case, setting a maximum shift lower than 12% will restrict the number of alignment corrections searched, thereby reducing the risk of selecting an improper alignment correction�

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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 activates the Deghosting Options window, which will 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�

The deghosting option is effective when you apply a Tone Mapping method (Details

Enhancer, Contrast Optimizer, Tone Compressor) or the Fusion/Natural method. It is not effective for the other Exposure Fusion

methods.

Note

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� 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� Or, if you wish, noise reduction can be applied to all images in the set�

Noise reduction options

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�

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2.1.3 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

The Deghosting Options window provides two deghosting methods:

• A Selective Deghosting Tool

• An adjustable Automatic Deghosting algorithm�

The Selective Deghosting Tool enables you to lasso-select 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 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 with scenes with many small changes image to image, which are not practical to manually lasso� 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�

best exposed for the selected area's

The two alternate Deghosting method panels

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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�

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�

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

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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 slider sets the 'aggressiveness' of ghosting detection�

A high Deghosting setting removes more ghosting artifacts, but increases the possibility and severity of unwanted artifacts� Try to use a setting as low as possible, to preserve the quality of the merged HDR image�

If you need high settings to remove ghosts completely, it is recommended that you use the 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, but with no 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

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