Comments on: Understanding HDR part V – Understanding and handling tone mapping

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 11:37:33 +0000

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In reply to Jacob Surland.

Nice — there aren’t many great tutorials on manual exposure blending in combination with luma masks. 🙂

By: Jacob Surland

Jacob Surland — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 06:39:36 +0000

In reply to Tom.

Hi Tom,
My point is that you show never use an image directly from any HDR software. Auto HDR software does not create final images. There’s hand work that has to be done afterwards. I have looked into luminosity masks earlier, and will do again. However I am not particularly fond of HDR made in luminosity masks. They get too sterile too my taste. But that is a matter of taste and taste is different. I believe that the softness, can be used as an asset, if you use it with care. The bigger problem I had on the masts you refer to was halos, and the softness you see does not come from Photomatix, because I had to mask that out. That comes from the raw file. I will look into luminosity masks again, not only because you insist 😉 but also because I have come across other usages it is recommended for. Thanks for the feedback – there will be some posting on various usages go the luminosity masks some time in the future. –Jacob

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 20:51:17 +0000

In reply to Jacob Surland.

Hi, I don’t agree. 🙂

In some there are less softness but the image with the masts on the ships is a great example for when Photomatix and any auto-HDR app get some real problems. My previous comment was a bit harsh by the way but i really think that you (and your readers) would benefit more from exposure blending and luminosity masks and the techniques involved with that.

By: Jacob Surland

Jacob Surland — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 18:03:19 +0000

In reply to Tom.

Hi Tom, this I only partly agree on. True that softness is an possible outcome of photomatix, but look at my photos, I do not have softness. You just have to know how to fix it. And sharpening is not the only answer. I think I will extend this post on how to handle softness. Thanks for the input.
–Jacob

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 09:31:35 +0000

The biggest problem with Photomatix is all that softness that can’t be fixed with sharpening and other tools (something that has no detail can’t get details back no matter how much you choose to sharpen it). None of the examples in your HDR series show a single image that is sharp and they all look “Photomatixy”.

Therefor manual exposure blending and luminosity masks is the way to go if one want to increase the DR of a scene. If you want all that crazy texture use topaz plugins and masks in Photoshop.