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#1 |
Camel Breath
Location: Nr. Perth, Scotland
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![]() Recent bad weather has kept me indoors recently so I have been reprocessing old bracketed sets with 2015 software. To some extent my taste has changed but some of my old stuff processed with nik HDR Efects and Photomatix 4 was just not up to scratch! So, in this thread, I will be showing you 5 sets processed with:
Photoshop CC 2015 and Lightroom CC (both on a friend's PC) Easy HDR v. 3.7, Machinery HDR v. 2.9.60 (trial), Photomatix v. 5.1.1 SNS-HDR v. 1.x. I have also included nik HDR Efex Pro 2 (2012). Yes, it's old software but for the most part it has stood the test of time. Unfortunately this roundup is a bit too early for the new Aurora app, but anyway I don't have a Mac. As I said earlier, 5 image sets were chosen - all were hand-held. One easy, 2 moderate and 2 difficult (not enough exposures or foliage movement). I set myself some workflow riles as follows: Preprocessing. All the RAW images were denoised, CA reduced and had lens correction with DxO Optics Pro. The results were saved as DNG files. Processing. If available, the best preset was selected and then the tone curve tweaked until the histogram did not have a "tail" at either end. No attempt was made to adjust the saturation or colour rendering to see whether the software had a particular weakness - 0EV images are provided for comparison purposes. Image alignment, CA and denoising facilities were used to the full in all the applications. Post-processing. PP was kept to the minimum. If necessary Levels and Shadows/Highlights recovery were applied. After resizing, very mild sharpening was done using Topaz InFocus. Your comments are welcomed and if necessary, I can upload an image set if anyone thinks they can do better than I can! Martin __________________
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#2 |
Camel Breath
Location: Nr. Perth, Scotland
Posts: 19,340
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![]() Set #'1 0EV
![]() EasyHDR ![]() Note halo adjacent to the left hand gutter. Lightroom 6 2015 ![]() Lifeless, "flat" image Photoshop CC 2015 ![]() Lifeless, "flat" image. Machinery HDR ![]() Poor image alignment, particularly in the bottom left corner. nik HDR Efex Pro ![]() Lifeless Photomatix (Contrast Optimizer method) ![]() Drab grey sky and halos above the roofline. Drab foreground SNS-HDR v 1.x ![]() Best, IMO: SNS-HDR |
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http://i544.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps79d51b0c.gif http://i544.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps79d51b0c.gif http://i544.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps79d51b0c.gif Martin Once photography enters your bloodstream, it is like a disease. Software: Too numerous to list but my most used utility is ShiftN for perspective correction Gear: Canon G12, no tripod, no lenses, no flash, no remote, no cases or bags! |
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#3 |
Camel Breath
Location: Nr. Perth, Scotland
Posts: 19,340
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![]() Set #2 0EV
![]() EasyHDR ![]() Good alignment and deghosting Lightroom 6 ![]() Good alignment and deghosting. Background greens a bit too bright Photoshop CC ![]() Good alignment and deghosting, drab Acer leaves. Machinery HDR. ![]() Terrible alignment and deghosting! nik HDR Efex ![]() Good alignment and deghosting, colours a bit over-saturated Photomatix 5 (Contrast Optimizer) ![]() Supeb image alignment and deghosting, colours slightly over-saturated. SNS-HDR 1.x ![]() Poor deghosting, accurate colour rendering Best: nik HDR Efex & Photomatic |
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http://i544.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps79d51b0c.gif http://i544.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps79d51b0c.gif http://i544.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps79d51b0c.gif Martin Once photography enters your bloodstream, it is like a disease. Software: Too numerous to list but my most used utility is ShiftN for perspective correction Gear: Canon G12, no tripod, no lenses, no flash, no remote, no cases or bags! |
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#4 |
Camel Breath
Location: Nr. Perth, Scotland
Posts: 19,340
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![]() Set #3 0EV
![]() EasyHDR ![]() Poor foreground rendering Lightroom ![]() Burned out clouds, "flat" foreground. Photoshop CC ![]() Dull foreground, burned out clouds nik HDR Efex ![]() Horrible halos! I tried my best to eliminate them but failed. Machinery HDR ![]() Photomatix (Contrast Optimizer) ![]() SNS-HDR 1.x ![]() Very good foreground. Best: Machinery HDR and SNS-HDR |
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#5 |
Camel Breath
Location: Nr. Perth, Scotland
Posts: 19,340
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![]() Set #4 0EV
![]() Easy HDR ![]() Lightroom 6 2015 ![]() Dull foreground Photoshop CC ![]() Sky too bright and foreground too dark Machinery HDR ![]() nik HDR Efex ![]() Photomatix 5 (Contrast Optimizer) ![]() SNS-HDR 1.x ![]() Best: EasyHDR, Machinery HDR, SNS-HDR |
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http://i544.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps79d51b0c.gif http://i544.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps79d51b0c.gif http://i544.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps79d51b0c.gif Martin Once photography enters your bloodstream, it is like a disease. Software: Too numerous to list but my most used utility is ShiftN for perspective correction Gear: Canon G12, no tripod, no lenses, no flash, no remote, no cases or bags! |
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#6 |
Camel Breath
Location: Nr. Perth, Scotland
Posts: 19,340
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![]() Set #5 0EV
![]() EasyHDR ![]() Not bad but the foreground does not match m,y memory of this scene. Lightroom 6 ![]() Foreground a bit too dark Photoshop CC ![]() Foreground too dark Machinery HDR ![]() Poor alignment - see stones and vegetation on the left hand side nik HDR Efex ![]() Very natural colours Photomatix 5 (Contrast Optimizer) ![]() Slight over-saturation SNS-HDR 1.x ![]() Very true to life colours Best: nik HDR Efex, SNS-HDR |
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http://i544.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps79d51b0c.gif http://i544.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps79d51b0c.gif http://i544.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps79d51b0c.gif Martin Once photography enters your bloodstream, it is like a disease. Software: Too numerous to list but my most used utility is ShiftN for perspective correction Gear: Canon G12, no tripod, no lenses, no flash, no remote, no cases or bags! |
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#7 |
Camel Breath
Location: Nr. Perth, Scotland
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![]() Resume
This was a bit of a marathon but I think the effort was worth it. The first conclusion, as has been said on this board before, is that there is no one perfect piece of HDR software. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses. Here are some general comment about each application. EasyHDR Intuitive interface and easy to use - unless you want to delve deep into advanced deghosting.Very good image alignment and automatic deghosting. Like earlier versions of Photomatix, EasyHDR would not process DNG files generated by DxO Optics Pro. (I used TIFs instead.) Lightroom 6 Simple interface and very easy to use. Excellent image alignment and deghosting. But it does not tonemap, your images are blended. Photoshop CC I have used Photoshop for many years and am used to it - but I do not like the HDR interface. Like Lightroom it only blends images. Excellent image alignment. Machinery HDR The interface seemed strange at first but I soon got used to it. There are numerous presets which would be helpful to a first time user. However, image alignment and deghostuing are very poor. Worse, the presets are not aligned properly unless you have used a tripod. ![]() nikl HDR Efex A bit quirky but a very powerful set of tools once you get used to them. Very good image alignment and deghosting. Halos are rare but, as you have just seen, they can occur. There is a tendency to over-saturate blue skies. Photomatix 5 The interface is bold, clear but a bit old fashioned. Because of poor eyesight, I like it. If you use the Contrast Optimizer method it is simple to use. For other methods there is a bewildering array of sliders. Halos are rare if you use the Contrast Optimizer method, but occur at the drop of the hat if you use the Details Enhancer method. Results tend to be a bit over-saturated. Reds seem to be particularly prone to this fault. Photomatix often generates images that have an artistic(?) "glow". However, this can be almost eliminated during post processing by using a micro-contrast sharpener. SNS-HDR 1.x The interface is intuitive albeit a bit crowded. (This have been much improved in version 2 alpha). Colour rendering is consistently natural and it handles blues and greens particularly well. Halos are very rare. Image alignment is good but deghosting is non-existent. Martin |
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#9 | |
Camel Breath
Location: Nr. Perth, Scotland
Posts: 19,340
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![]() Quote:
Thanks for your interest. Martin |
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__________________
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#10 |
Photocamel Master
Location: Oakland, CA, USA
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![]() For image set 3 (leaves), I found several of the HDR packages showed alignment/ghosting problems in the background that was not mentioned in the captions. Photomatix, for example, showied alignment/ghosting problems in the background, most noticeable in the lower left. Easy HDR was worse than Photomatix in this respect. The others either passed this test or have already been flagged for poor alignment, but the ones that passed have been dinged for their color rendering. It was also interesting that the the ones that showed up alignment problems in the foreground were okay in the background. Apparently, none was entirely successful with this image, though Photomatix apparently had the best combination of color rendering with least conspicuous alignment problems.
In image set #5 (desert scene) EasyHDR, Photoshop, and Photomatix showed some alignment/ghosting problems in the sky at the upper left. So did Machinery, but the caption already mentions alignment problems for that image. Lightroom 6 shows some bizarre banding effect in the sky at upper right. If I were to select only one HDR software package, based on what I have seen and read here, SNS-HDR would be my best bet for overall rendering unless you have ghosting problems, with Photomatix in Contrast Optimizer mode or Nik HDR Efex being a backup when alignment and ghosting - how do you distinguish between these? - is a problem. In fact, I am thinking about getting one or more HDR packages. __________________
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