HDR - which program?

[Ellen]

Hi all,

I recently downloaded a trial version of Photomatix Pro for HDR's... and I am quite liking the results, but its US$99 to buy!! anyone use something else thats a bit cheaper? Can I do HDR's in photoshop elements 7? Because I already have that....

Thanks heaps!
Ellen

[ricktas]

I use photomatix, but in Photoshop CS2/CS3 you can do it as well. I cant recall where the menu is, but its the same place as photomerge (for making pano's), not on my PC at present, and dont have PS available to check.

[Ellen]

Thanks Rick.... Is it worth paying 99 bucks for photomatix?? I think I would use it a bit but wow thats pretty expensive?!

[Buddah]

Hi Ellen

Like Rick, I use Photomatix Pro - in preference to the HDR feature in CS3. Because I use it an awful lot, I reckon it's money well spent.

[Paper_Mache_Man]

How about CS4? I mean how do they compare, not an alternative! lol

[ricktas]

I cant say how it compares to CS4, I havent tried to do an HDR is CS4, mainly cause photomatix does such a damn good job. Paid for it, so might as well use it..eh..

If I get a chance over the coming weekend, I might have a go at one in CS4 and report back

[Bax]

To do the HDR in CS3 I think it's in File - Automate

Fairly sure that's the menu anyway. My photomatix is playing up at the moment, not sure what's happened but I'll be using Photoshop until I figure out what's going on with the settings.

[djvkool]

hi

I tried to use the CS4 before but it is a bit complicated, I was told to try by creating a 'fake' HDR (through RAW, save a picture 5 times each time with difference exp comp), tried that in CS4 but doesn't seems to work, haven't tried with Photomatix yet though

[ving]

PSP12 has a built in HDR proggy. works pretty well, but i am not into it really.

[Bax]

hi

I tried to use the CS4 before but it is a bit complicated, I was told to try by creating a 'fake' HDR (through RAW, save a picture 5 times each time with difference exp comp), tried that in CS4 but doesn't seems to work, haven't tried with Photomatix yet though

The joy of photomatix is that you can drop the RAW straight into it rather then creating your different exposures from the RAW. Photomatix will extract all it can from the raw.

[old dog]

Excuse my ignorance but I have PS version 1 I assume. It just says PS. Will photomatix work here. Would love to try it out. Also, can you work a pic with one raw file?

[mcdesign]

Excuse my ignorance but I have PS version 1 I assume. It just says PS. Will photomatix work here. Would love to try it out. Also, can you work a pic with one raw file?
Yes you can just use one RAW file. I have tried using PS4 without sucesss, can't understand how it works or how to 'tweak' the images. I too have Photomatix, well worth the money I feel. Margaret

[Jules]

I have Photomatix and I quite like it. At the time I bought it, I had a 20% discount code from a photography magazine, so it made it a little less expensive.

[N*A*M]

you can also try LR/Enfuse for exposure blending

[jev]

If you find Photomatix too expensive, you could try:
- Traumflieger's DRI (http://traumflieger.de/desktop/DRI/dri_tool.php) (freeware)
- IdImager's Dynamic Range Increase (http://www.idimager.com/?page=freeware) (freeware)
- MediaChance's Dynamic-Photo HDR (http://www.mediachance.com/hdri/index.html) (US$55)

I've used all three with good results.

[Ellen]

Thanks everyone for all your replies! I might just buy photomatix, everyone seems pretty happy with it. Thanks Jev for the other options, I'll try those before I buy photomatix.
Thanks!!