Samuli Vahonen
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Carsten the last one is best I have seen with Fusion, typically they don't look very good. The one on last page "[email protected]" look unreal somehow, but if I evaluate it as graphical art (as computer or pencil drawing) then I find it very enjoyable, like the cartoonish approach (little like "best" computer games with their crappy HDR emulations).
Wilhelm, I really like the rendering style of 28-85, and you use it to interesting subjects (from rendering point of view). Very nice set from concrete hell. I would assume "brightness errors" (e.g. darger surrounding around lightpole on right) are caused by excessive use of "highlights" slider, not by lens in IMG_9013?
carstenw wrote:
Anyway, I wish the sliders in Photomatix Pro were as intuitive to use as you hint at, i.e. lift shadows and so on, but instead there are sliders like Sharpness (which is actually a contrast slider with other side-effects, and so on. I would love for Photomatix Pro to be completely redesigned, and for all sliders to become more traditional, as well as some local tools to be added, like Dodge and Burn, but I doubt this will happen. Getting the look you want from this program is truly frustrating. Even after having done many dozens of shots with it, I still haven't found a better approach than trying all presets, picking the best, and tweaking all sliders repeatedly, truly a UI failure....Show more →
I'm less frustrated to the sliders, but I have used PhotoMatix Pro few more years than you. Most of the problems you tell don't seem to bother me (mostly I shoot landscapes, which are easier for HDR processing but I do also shoot same kind of stuff you shoot, including more difficult scenery for HDR). I run same settings most of my photos (+always minor adjustments with smoothening sliders), but if I fail on shooting then my life becomes as frustrating as yours...I have saved two presets what I use; normal and backlight (and 10 others for cases in which I failed on shooting; "normal lighter" and "normal darker" etc. but they never work again so there is no point saving them, but at the time I saved them I didn't know that). Like always I try to do my best at shooting so less time spend on computer. Here are few hints, which I would recommend you to try:
- (sorry didn't mention in my previous post about PhotoMatix usage, I more or less assumed that importance of this is known, but thinking more of it it's not mentioned in instructions etc. so it may not be so obvious) make 100000000% sure your exposures are always so that middle frame is "correct" (or always 2/3 stop over, whatever but the point being your middle exposure is always the same compared to preferred rendering)....
- .... if you fail then scrap the frames which throw you off from your normal (e.g. you shoot 9 frames but notice that your middle exposure is not your middle exposure --> throw frames in trash until your middle exposure is middle exposure)
- standardize shooting process, always 3 frames with 1 1/3 stop steps for example (I know Nikon limits you to 1 stop increments), don't experiment with different shooting process and then complain you are frustrated to post processing  how I see it "one shooting process = one or few HDR processes", if you want work more and harder on computer then changing the shooting process all the time is the best way to keep you busy 
- don't try to capture scene with 25 stops of DR, no matter how you mangle the data in HDR software it will not end up looking good, the "[email protected]" is close to have too much, in this kind of scene human eye starts to have problems seeing darkest shadows
From 2009 summer holiday to Norway. This one is from Vestvågøy with Contax Distagon T* 2.8/28 @ f/11, HDR (1/30s, 1/80s, 1/200s - in Aperture I adjusted 0.7 stops more light to each frame in order to avoid complicated and frustrating adjustment process in PhotoMatix Pro) - larger (not example of HDR, but I try post some pictures when I post something here)
_972px.jpg "2026 © Samuli Vahonen")
Samuli
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