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- #Photomatix pro software how to#
- #Photomatix pro software update#
- #Photomatix pro software software#
- #Photomatix pro software windows#
Photomatix Pro offers three primary options for working with merged images. With HDR Efex Pro, users can make selective adjustments with Control Points Lastly, HDR Efex Pro gives the user a vignette effect tool to create interesting creative looks. HDR Efex Pro users can modify color, brightness and contrast on local areas quickly and easily without leaving the plug-in interface.
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#Photomatix pro software software#
This feature alone may make the price of HDR Efex Pro worth it– you gain a tremendous workflow advantage by being able to make local adjustments to your image without having to change software applications. For those unfamiliar with Nik Software’s U Point technology, Control Points are a way of making “smart” selections within your image without the need for brushes or masks, and they work remarkably well. Second, HDR Efex Pro users gain selective adjustments via Control Points. For advanced users, this is a great tool for adjusting image contrast and color. HDR Efex Pro offers a couple of controls that Photomatix does not. The Photomatix Pro 4 interface is modular, with multiple windows. This is useful when you are working with panoramic images and you want to apply identical tone-mapping settings across numerous files. One thing I do like about the Photomatix controls, however, is that they are “sticky.” In other words, when you open the application, the control sliders are default to your last used settings. Users will need to spend more time learning the Photomatix controls to properly fine-tune their images. For example, you get a different set of controls when choosing between the Tone Mapping and Exposure Fusion options, and still another set of controls when you choose between the Details Enhancer and Tone Compressor options within the Tone Mapping module. The Photomatix controls are also slider-based, but the controls themselves differ between tone-mapping modules. The HDR Efex Pro window is the same across all host applications The tools are slider-based, and will be very familiar to anyone who has used other Nik products (or any other image editor, for that matter). With HDR Efex Pro, the tool set remains the same regardless of the tone-mapping options you choose.
#Photomatix pro software windows#
Photomatix uses a multiple menu approach to its interface, and sometimes you can accidentally bury menus underneath other windows on your computer screen. All of the controls are within the same window, as are image previews, histograms, and preset thumbnails. Nik Software has applied a unified graphical user interface for HDR Efex Pro.
#Photomatix pro software update#
Nik Software has announced that an update to offer 32-bit Photoshop support is due in early 2011. HDR Efex Pro does not currently operate within 32-bit versions of Photoshop (you need CS4 or higher on PCs, CS5 on Macs, and a 64-bit OS). Both HDR Efex Pro and Photomatix Pro support 32-bit smart objects with Photoshop CS4/5 Extended. You can run HDR Efex Pro as a stand-alone program, too, but it is not designed with this workflow in mind. Photomatix Pro is also available as a stand-alone application, and it supports drag and drop file loading (which is very convenient). Host Platformsīoth HDR Efex Pro and Photomatix Pro are available as plug-ins for Photoshop, Lightroom, and Aperture. I like both programs, so here’s a quick comparison and review. In October, 2010, Nik Software released HDR Efex Pro, a plug-in for Photoshop/Lightroom/Aperture that performs HDR tone-mapping. While there are lots of HDR software options available today, I have always gravitated towards using Photomatix Pro ( for my images, because I was able to get good results for my natural landscapes. I’ve seen a lot of bad attempts at tone-mapping, and part of the reason is that the on-board Photoshop tools just aren’t very easy to use. Tone-mapping controls not only the global image contrast, but also local contrast (micro-contrast) between adjacent tones.
#Photomatix pro software how to#
Tone-mapping is where you tell the software how to squish the 32-bit/channel (HDR) image into a 16-bit/channel color space. The big challenge with HDR in Photoshop has always been the tone-mapping step. I’ve been dabbling in high dynamic range (HDR) photography since 2005, when Adobe released Photoshop CS2 and the “ merge to HDR” command. Sunrise over the Maroon Bells, Aspen, CO.
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