Detail in Highlights and Shadows using PhotoMatix.

Without any additional lighting!

Every now and then a product comes along that can radically change how we do our jobs. When shooting interiors we are always struggling to reproduce the natural light effects we see by adding light to fill in shadows and bring the exposure up to a point were the windows will hold. We have all been searching for a fast and easy way to combine two shots, one for the interior and one for the windows so the image looks natural.

We have tried several HDR (High dynamic Range) software tools and have not been satisfied by the look of the results, until now. We found a program, written by a French company, called Photomatix. All the images shown here were created by taking 3-5 exposures of the scene and combining them into one, using PhotoMatix.

As you can see from the image sets there is one for the highlights, one for the shadows and a few in between. PhotoMatix combines these to create an image that has detail throughout, and unlike other programs we have tried, a pleasing result.

The controls are pretty simple. The example above is a screen from the Combine Adjust function. The preview is an accurate representation of the final. You can adjust the resulting gamma of the image and how the radius effects the sharpness of the blend. If the images are slightly out of alignment the program will realign them before assembly, and the preview shows that too.

You can input and output 8 or 16 bit images, and the software is available for both mac and pc and there is a batch function also.

A fully functional demo is available in the store. We have only covered one of the many features of this program.

Download the demo and try it for yourself. You can purchase through the store once you've seen what PhotoMatix can do.

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