TONE MAPPING

I've not see a discussion on this subject, I have the software just a few days

now. I would like to hear/read techniques in this method. Its a wonderful art

style, I have several unposted photos which I feel would up my artistic

ability. Anyone out there proficient in this method? Lets take a walk thru

the park and discuss it....

Lorenzo

meh. It's all just more button pushing to me. Like HDR, it just looks over processed normally.

I'm sure people use it to good effect, but often it just looks like somebody took a photo into

PS and ran a bunch of filters. Get what you can in camera. A good shot might be improved

with a little processing, but doing something akin to tone mapping and hdr can easily ruin a

good shot to begin with and very rarely makes a mediocre/boring shot interesting.

...this collection of

<a href="http://www.hdrsoft.com/resources/dri.html#tone_mapping">

FAQ's taken from the Photomatix site about Tone Mapping </a> gives quite a good Overview of the process.

Tone mapping to produce a pleasing image of a HDR scene is something I have started using and am enjoying the outcome.

I don't like the overly processes look that can appear in HDR images, but I have a feeling that they result, because people tend to apply tone mapping to images that don't really need it. All they really need is some proper exposure at capture and some good regular processing. However when people tone map these images, they change the color to ridiculous looking images that have a very plastic look.

Some like that look. I personally don't.

However, you can produce very natural results when the image warrants the technique.

As an example of my own, here's one from last Sunday:

http://peterstacey.com/pics/LPS14_HDR2WEB2.jpg

To me, this has a natural look and was produced from 6 bracketed exposures.

Like I said at the start, I'm only a recent convert to HDR, but I'm definitely happy with the results I'm getting so far. So, I'd be happy to discuss the technique I have developed so far.

One thing I should say is that at the moment I'm not using Photomatix. I'm using CS3 and using merge to HDR under the automate function.

My understanding is that the HDR function in CS3 is improved over CS2 (I never used it in CS2 before I upgraded) and I'm finding it to be both quick and acceptable in terms of results.

I am planning on trying Photomatix as well to see if there is any difference.

Regards,

Peter