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Re: HDR Help with Photomatix?
I have had a bit of a play with Photomatix myself but I am not an expert. The HDR file is a very large file (32 bits per channel. I think). You can also generat these HDR files with PhoroShop CS2. You may notice that the HDR file still looks very high contrast but if you use the HDR viewer in PhotoMatix, you can see the different areas of your HDR file rendered for viewing on your monitor. You will find lots of detail in the shadows and highlights. As you have found, this type of file is not suited to a final output.
You need to apply "Tone Mapping" to render the HDR to a lower range such as 16 bit or even 8 bit. This can be found under HDR> Tone Mapping (assuming that you are using the full version of PhotoMatix). In the Tone Mapping Window you can adjust the final appearance and set the output file to 16 bit or 8 bit. The 16 bit output file is TIFF but you can choose TIFF or JPEG for the 8 bit version.
I have downloaded Photomatix Basic which does a reasonable job of blending 2 images. I have also down loaded Photomatix Pro as a Trial and that is what I used to try the HDR followed by Tone Mapping. I am quite impressed with the Tone mapping. I spent many hours manually blending 3 different RAW exposures of a very high contrast Dawn shot. Photomatix did this in a couple of minutes and I have to admit did a better job than I did.
While I am just experimenting at this time, I will upgrade from PS CS to CS3 in a few weeks so I may use the CS3 HDR capability. I believe that Photomatix have a "Tone Mapping" Plug In for PhotoShop which I may buy. I hope this helps.
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