Photomatix Essentials 4.2 User Manual © 2017 HDRsoft. All rights reserved. Photomatix Essentials 4.
Table of Contents Introduction.................................................................................................................................................. 1 Section 1: HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography........................................................ 2 1.1 1.2 1.3 What Is HDR Photography?........................................................................................................ 2 How to Take Photos for HDR Processing............................................
Introduction Photomatix Essentials 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 autobracketing exposure functions available on many camera models. This manual first explains the steps for capturing your own bracketed photo sets.
Section 1: HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography 1.1 What Is HDR Photography? The central premise of HDR photography is that there are few situations where a single photograph can capture the true dynamic range (the total range of light in a scene, from very dark to very light) of a scene accurately. In other words, today’s digital camera can’t properly expose everything at the same time in scenes with even moderate contrast ratios.
1.2 How to Take Photos for HDR Processing Taking photos for HDR is easy. All it takes is a different mindset than for traditional photography, which emphasizes taking and editing a single photo, independent from any others. Instead of taking a single exposure of a scene, for HDR you take at least 3 exposures: one optimized for midrange tones (as normal), plus one optimized for highlights and one optimized for shadows.
1.4 Recommended EV Separation Bracketing allows you to extend the dynamic range of your camera so it can capture the full range of light in a scene. Mechanically, you accomplish this by taking multiple photos with different exposure settings. Although there is no single method that is better than all others in every circumstance (indeed, cameras vary in their abilities), a good rule of thumb is to shoot three photos, separated by 2 EV using AEB. However, not all cameras have the same AEB capabilities.
Section 2: Installing Photomatix Essentials Photomatix Essentials is available as a standalone application, and as a plugin compatible with Photoshop Elements (version 6 or later). The plugin and standalone editions of Photomatix Essentials are functionally identical, except for how the application is started and how images are loaded, due to the desktop versus the plugin context. There are also minor differences in how the two versions are installed, as described in the following two sections. 2.
Section 3: Using Photomatix Essentials 3.1 Three Essential Steps The Photomatix Essentials workflow is comprised of three main steps: Step 1. Load a bracketed photo set (or a single photo) into Photomatix Essentials. Step 2. Adjust the Preview of the combined image to your liking. Step 3. Add optional finishing adjustments to the image, and then save it. Once your image is saved at the completion of Step 3, you are returned to Step 1 ready to load your next photos.
3.2 Step 1: Load Bracketed Photos 3.2.1 Load Photos into the Standalone Edition To use Photomatix Essentials, first load a bracketed photo set, or a single photo that you wish to process. There are two ways to do this: • Drag and drop: Drag the photos from a folder on your computer and drop them onto Photomatix Essentials. • Browse: Use the Open dialog box to navigate to the source photos and load them into Photomatix Essentials. NOTE: It is possible to select a single photo if you like.
3. Arrange the folder and Photomatix Essentials so you can drag files from the folder and drop them onto the Photomatix Essentials Step 1 window. 4. Select the files as you would normally. 5. Drag and drop the photos onto the Photomatix Essentials Step 1 window. You can drag and drop files individually or in groups. Photomatix Essentials 4.
3.2.4 Browse for Photos To browse for one or more photos using a file selection dialog box, follow these steps: 1. Launch Photomatix Essentials. The Step 1 window: No photos loaded 2. Click Browse and navigate to the folder on your system where the photo(s) are stored. 3. Select the files as you would normally. 4. Choose Select. Photomatix Essentials 4.
The Step 1 window, with a 3-photo bracketed set loaded 3.2.5 Select / Deselect Loaded Photos Once you load your photos into Photomatix Essentials, you should notice a few things in the interface: • Each photo is displayed as a thumbnail. This makes it easy to verify that the photos are of the same subject and see their relative exposure compared to their bracketed companions. • There is a larger combined thumbnail that shows a preview of the result of processing the photos using default settings.
3.2.7 Alignment and Deghosting Options If you loaded a bracketed photo set, the Alignment and Deghosting Options dialog appears after you click Next: Adjust & Preview in the Step 1 window. Note that you can set an option in Preferences to skip this dialog. The Alignment and Deghosting Options dialog Because bracketed photos are always misaligned when shot hand held, image alignment is an essential feature of HDR processing.
3.3 Step 2: Adjust & Preview 3.3.1 Step 2 Overview The heart of Photomatix Essentials is Step 2. In Step 2, you can choose one of the built-in Presets, or a Custom Preset that you created during an earlier work session. Once a Preset is applied, you can optimize individual parameters to best suit the current image. If your parameter adjustments produce a new attractive effect, you may save these settings as a new Custom Preset for future use. Follow these steps when you enter Step 2: 1.
3.3.2 Working with Presets Photomatix Essentials displays presets as thumbnails on the right side of the Step 2 window. Each thumbnail is a small preview of the effect of that preset on your image. When you click a thumbnail, that preset is selected and applied to the main preview. The parameters at the left of the screen are also updated to reflect the settings contained in a clicked preset. These built-in thumbnail presets are “factory” presets that are provided with the software.
• 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. The default value is 0. • Brightness: Adjusts the overall brightness. The default value is 0. 3.3.4 Contrast Optimizer Settings The following settings belong to the Contrast Optimizer method, which is used by these Presets: Balanced, Vibrant, Enhanced 2, Soft, Monochrome 3.
3.3.6 Exposure Fusion/Natural Settings The following settings belong to the Exposure Fusion method, which is used by these Presets: Natural, Painterly 5, Surreal 2, Soft 4, B&W Natural. • Strength: Sets by how much local contrast is accentuated. Moving the slider to the right tends to brighten the shadows and to show more details in the highlights. Moving to the left produces a more ‘natural’ effect.
3.4 Step 3: Finish & Save The Step 3 window: Finish & Save 3.4.1 Step 3 Overview The settings that you chose in Step 2 have now been applied to the bracketed set source image files, and the resulting full resolution processed image is shown in Step 3. If you wish to adjust the image again using different settings or a different Preset, then close the Step 3 window to return to Step 2.
3.4.4 Save, and Return to Step 1 (standalone edition) Once you are happy with your image, when using the standalone edition of Photomatix Essentials, follow these steps to save the image: 1. If you want to resize the image to a lower resolution, then click on the pull-down menu under Save with size and select the size you want. 2. Click on the ‘Save’ button. 3.
Save, and Return to Photoshop Elements (plugin edition) Once you are happy with your image, when using the plugin edition, click OK in the Step 3 window. Your processed image will then open in Photoshop Elements. You can now save the image as you normally would. Photomatix Essentials 4.
Section 4: Preferences Photomatix Essentials offers a few options that you can adjust in the Preferences window. To access Preferences, click the Preferences… button located at the bottom left of the Step 1 window. 4.1 Skip Merge Dialog When Skip dialog for alignment and deghosting options is selected, alignment and cropping defaults are set here in Preferences.
4.3 Refresh Preview Continuously (standalone edition) Normally, when you adjust a parameter slider in Step 2, the image Preview is adjusted to the new setting immediately after you release the slider thumb. Not before. If you select the Refresh Preview continuously as slider moves option, the image Preview is adjusted every time a slider is moved. Image adjustment feedback is thus more immediate, but a powerful computer is required to take good advantage of this feature. Photomatix Essentials 4.
Glossary AEB mode (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 overexposed. Aperture priority 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.
HDR image Strictly speaking, an HDR image is an intermediary image with 32 bits per color channel (96 bits per pixel). Such an HDR image is the result of merging photos of the same scene taken under different exposure settings, and storing the high dynamic range output in a special HDR image format. This 32-bit intermediary HDR image must be HDR rendered, for proper display on standard monitors or when printed.
Learning More and Getting Help The Photomatix FAQ on the HDRsoft.com website offers several tips, 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 Essentials 4.
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