HDR software and processing discussion

[ManWearPants]

There are 2 parts to this thread.
Part 1 - What HDR software do you use and what is your workflow?
Part 2 - What kind of HDR image is desirable?

I have been trying out the below 3 softwares

1) HDR Luminance 2.01
2) Picturenaut 3.0
3) Photomatix 4.0

HDR Luminance crash everytime I do tone mapping so I stopped using it. Anyone has the same problem with it crashing?

Picturenaut do not have details about what the various adjustments do so not too sure if I am doing anything right. Furthermore, it says to have to convert raw to tiff before processing. Anyone knows how to use it? It is afterall a freeware.

So left with Photomatix. It is simple enough to use. However, it does not mentioned if processing in raw will give best IQ, or have to convert to tiff like Picturenaut. Also the enhanced, compressed and fusion tone mapping left me thinking what we are using HDR for - to have a dramatic high detailed or a natural looking image. The former look more picturesque but it is not what the eye sees.

 

[ManWearPants]

This is the original scene

This is fusion auto, generated by Photomatix. Natural looking and kept both highlights and shadow details

This is details enhanced painterly, generated by Photomatix. I think has the wow factor but look very unreal.

So what adjustments to make to retain realism and yet have the wow factor of a HDR photo?

 

[zeunice]

I like the last photos. Yes it looks unreal but its very sharp.
Been trying to edit my landscape photos at cs4 but still im not contented with the outcome.
Any idea where can download a trial version of photomatix 4?

 

[DiggrDuggr]

A trial version of Photomatix 4.0 is available at hdrsoft.com

The versatility of the program is amazing and the post processing options are endless. The more you use it the more you learn of the capabilities and options of the program. To me, it allows a person to better portray the emotions and feelings they want to accentuate in the photo. I find that each photo I take has distinct characteristics that guide me in the portrayal of the emotion and passion I want, be it surreal or natural. The great thing about Photomatix is that you can easily see and experiment with the final product before you do the processing.

The pre-formatted tone options allows you to see the different looks and feels while the detailed adjustments of each format allows you to fine tune to your liking. In the end, it is your photo and your choice as to how you want the final product to look.

Photomatix allows you to work in RAW, JPEG or TIF formats; each has its advantages and disadvantages. I prefer to do all my work in RAW and save the final processing as JPEG. The TIF files are very nice but you better have terabit sized drives as the file sizes can exceed 100 Meg.

I will not comment on the other 2 HDR programs as I have not tried them.

Thanks for reading

Digital Dug

 

[ManWearPants]

I like the last photos. Yes it looks unreal but its very sharp.
Been trying to edit my landscape photos at cs4 but still im not contented with the outcome.
Any idea where can download a trial version of photomatix 4?

I also found that Photomatix can handle alignment and removal of ghosting better than Picturenaut. My image is taken handheld of 3 exposures but from the output, it is still quite sharp.