Photomatix - 'Generate HDR Image' or 'Exposure Blending'

[Geoff79]

Good day all,

Up until now, when I have had 3 shots at different exposures to play with, I have just automatically clicked the 'Generate HDR Image' option and let the program do it's work. Then I tweak it in Photoshop, adjusting contrast, vibrance and sharpness as best I can... just the basics for me at the minute. ;)

However, my attention has just been brought to the 'Exposure Blending' option. I never even noticed it before. Does this option basically do the same, but gives you a little more control over the image before you save it and play with it elsewhere, like Photoshop?

I know it's probably often relient on what you're working with, but what's the main difference between the two, and which is generally better to use when taking landscape/seascape images where more detail in the foreground is required?

Any tips would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[Rattus79]

my experience is that exposure blend in photomatix is not a hdr function but more like using some clever maths to do what you'd do in photoshop with a mask to replace a sky. It tends to give a much more naturalistic result over the generate HDR option.

My experience with this says that for sea scapes and other times when there is plenty of movement in a scene, HDR is not the road to go down and I'd prefer to use a GND filter to balance the image and do it in 1 shot.

the advise i offer is to press the buttons. Play around, there's no stick of dynamite in your computer waiting to go off when you press the wrong button.... (Unless of course Daffy Duck's visited recently)

[Geoff79]

Funny you mention it, as there were webbed foot prints on my keyboard. ;)

Thanks for the info. Sounds like the Exposure blending may be worth a try then. I just printed out a full Photomatix Instruction guide, so I'll go through that too, to get a better understanding.

Totally agree, that ideally I'd prefer to just take the one shot - would save me a lot of hassle. I tried, for the first time, to use my GND Filter, but couldn't quite get the hang of it. The results weren't really coming out any less dark than without... I may need a stronger one? I dunno, just didn't seem to work. I'll try it again, though.

[Rattus79]

The GND you use will vary with the lighting conditions you are working on.
I work out which one/how many to use with the zone system. Have a google. I always used AV mode before I learned about it. Now unless I'm bracketing for HDR I'm always on manual. (reasons strange and unknown, my camera defaults to aperture bracketing when on Manual)

But suffice it to say, that putting your camera into spot meter and measuring the difference between the highlights and shadows will give you an EV range of say +/-10 ev, a 4 stop filter will bring that back to +/- 6 ev, which is more then capable of being captured by any sensor on the market. (this is just an example and 10 ev was chosen purely for the simplicity of the maths involved)