Photomatix 5 beta is now available. During image sequence setup, there is now an option to tell the software whether the images were captured using a tripod or handheld. There are fewer built-in presets, but that could change with the official software release. The Fusion presets, for example, are missing, but there are still plenty of Exposure Fusion controls in the left hand tool bar. What is most striking is the speed of the new software: it is much faster than version 4.2.7. Purchasers of version 4.2.7 are entitled to the new version 5 at no additional cost.
A Lightroom plug-in is included with version 5 beta. This allows you to export images from Lightroom directly into Photomatrix. If you use Lightroom's lens correction and other development tools, this direct export could form the basis for an efficient workflow.
Not all multi-exposure scenes can be improved through HDR techniques. For example, the Sherando Lake at the Fall Equinox looks better without HDR processing. After merging with HDR, the water part of the image was degraded: the circular ripple was less distinct as were the tree reflections. These results are due to the image merging process and the changing patterns in the water -- no HDR software can avoid scene movement between exposures. On the other hand, South Lake at Sherando was processed with Photomatix. Since the water was fairly still, Photomatix enhanced the image through the merge (rocks underwater in the foreground are more distinct) and the tone mapping brought out the colors very nicely.
The image rendered below was processed using Photomatix 5 beta (available here). I used 3 images captured at -2, 0 and +2 EV from a tripod. All 3 images were corrected for lens aberration using DxO Optics Pro 8 before being loaded into Photomatix. I applied the Photoshop curve tool to the Photomatix result to adjust the desired exposure level.
Copyright 2013 Philip N. Wheeler. All Rights Reserved.
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