Digital Photographer's Software Guide - Bertemes - Net

Price level: Approx. $400 (single user)
Address: info@hdrshop.com
www.hdrshop.com
Photomatix Pro
Chapter 21 ■ High Dynamic Range 239
Vendor: HDRsoft SARL
Purpose: Merge tool for high dynamic range (HDR) image creation using bracketed exposures
Description
A stand-alone program for Mac and Windows, Photomatix Pro enables you to create
images with a high dynamic range using a combination of auto-bracketing at different
exposures and merging. Its features include automatic blending, unlimited stacking,
easy comparison of results, and batch processing.
Photomatix can merge any number of bracketed photos, a process that also eliminates
noise in the final image, adding further to image quality. The vendor also recommends
it for creating panoramas, which are nearly always composed of high contrast scenes
owing to the extra-wide angle of view, towards and away from the sun.
To reduce the extreme tonal range so that you can use conventional output such as
prints, there is a tone mapping tool that’s also available separately as a Photoshop CS2/3
plug-in.
Comments
The vendor illustrates Photomatix Pro’s capabilities with images that are both beautiful
and surreal. Low cost, effective, quite fast, but perhaps needing a better interface, this
package is a very good introduction to HDR imaging. As with most HDR software,
you must be prepared to examine the documentation and observe good practice by using
a tripod, rather than rely on the program’s image alignment facilities. If the right procedures
are followed, the results should exceed those obtainable with Photoshop’s “local
adaptation” method.
Version: Photomatix Pro 3.0 (2008)
OS: Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, or Vista; Mac OS 10.3.9 or higher
RAM: 256MB or more
Supported file formats: Opens and saves JPEG, TIFF (8-bit, 16-bit and Floating Point), Radiance
RGBE, and OpenEXR; Reads only BMP, PNG (Mac OS X version only), and PSD
Price level: Approx. $100, Tone-mapping plug-in for CS2 and up $70, Bundle $120
Address: HDRsoft SARL, 10 av. du professeur Grasset, Bat. B, 34090 Montpellier, France
www.hdrsoft.com