are you aloud to enter as many as you’d like?

This is great.. need some super subjects. HDR max is pretty easy to use.

I especially like the first shot – because of its natural look. So this contest sounds like real fun and it gives a boost to go out there and shoot. Also thanks for inviting your readers to share their HDR work. Looking forward to try out HDR Max. And to see some of the work of others!

The first picture is very good and I honestly think that the last picture is overdone. But it sounds like a fun contest.
Oh a questions -
1. Do the stock photos that are turned into HDR have to be my own or I can use pictures obtained through public domain or maybe the Flickr CC pool ?

@Stephen

I too can’t process the latest Nikon RAW files

If you want to process them and you have a bracketed set you have to go to JPG first.

Hmm, crashes too often for me when opening Canon RAW (CR2), and I’m not about to convert to JPG every time I want to edit..

Seems like a nice tool though, need some more experience to do it right

If I can get the software to run, I will enter the contest. I have some good photos to try with.

I downloaded the free trial version but it stops with an error if I try to run it in trial mode. Still checking to see what works. God I love Windows Vista! (insert hanging man emoticon here)

oh i just did a test run on an image. http://www.flickr.com/photos/andiesmith/3144053322/ I’m loving how easy it is to use. i’m getting less halos with this software than i am with others.

Cool, Trey! Thanks for posting this. I think I will take a shot at this. Just need to find a great subject, shoot and then fiddle with HDR Max. I tried to process a set of handheld shots today, without success. As someone else in this thread pointed out, I guess there is no way to align images with HDR Max. BTW, I like all three of your shots, but the middle one (Montana) really rocks!!

aka wishiwsthr on flickr

For those having problems opening RAW images, it won’t…as far as I know. I tried it and it said the files were the wrong format. So I converted them to jpg’s and it worked just fine.

I’ve also read somewhere that some people recommend doing HDR with jpg and NOT RAW files. Don’t know that I agree with this.

HDR Max is easy to use, once you get used to the different workflow (if you’ve been using Photomatix).

Also, for those who have questions pertaining to the contest itself, go check out the website. All contest details are listed there. (Only original work, up to 3 photos, etc.)

Oops, no image. It’s on my blog here:

http://thephotogformula.com/Blog/227/

Hi, this is my first comment, though I’ve been looking at your images every day since I first came across your site several months ago. I love your images and there isn’t a single page that doesn’t contain something inspiring or jaw dropping in its beauty so my thanks for your wonderful work and may it continue. I just wanted to post a question for Mark from Ariea to answer when he checks in here. I downloaded the trial version, installed and it seems to open my D200 .NEF files fine apart from the lack of auto reading the exposure bracketing information (I can’t remember the settings I used for most of my HDRs so I shouldn’t have to go into lightroom and manually look the exposure increments up). I am however having a problem with saving images once I’m done which is a pain, I tried everything but Bitmap image, it goes through its whole writing image format thing with the pop up progress bar but when its finished there’s no image to be found, not where I saved it or anywhere else on my machine. Having encountered this before with trial software where you can’t save your results or if you do, you have a watermark over the end result to stop you from using the software for profit making purposes without paying for it I have to ask what the deal is here as if we can’t save our work in any way shape or form without buying the software there’s no point in there being a second or third prize since you would’ve already bought the software in the first place. I’m using a powermac G5 Dual 2ghz with 4gb of ram if this info helps.
There is an auto align setting within preferences for the software itself (silly since it should be on the import/process window when you pic your shots like with photomatix.

For those who were experiencing issues loading various RAW image formats, this issue should be resolved. To update HDR MAX with the latest update, go to Help > Updates in the application menu bar. Download the update, make sure HDR MAX is closed and run it.

If you have not installed HDR MAX yet, you will not need to run the update. Version 1.3.2 is up and available to download.

If you have any further problems, please don’t hesitate to contact support@ariea.com for assistance.

Thank you!

Here’s my first try. It does generate some interesting noise if you try to set your smoothing to near 100%.

Hey David, I couldn’t attach an image either. I just left a link to my blog page with the image. Hopefully Trey will clarify this for us!

Trey, feel free to remove all my obnoxious comments (in my attempt to post a picture).

Are the demo pictures here done solely in HDR MAX or did you also do the Photoshop layers steps to them?

Thanks to Mark for looking into my problem. It would appear that while older versions of OSX are supported and the software will run on IBM PowerMacs, you can’t save with it since it isn’t officially supported on the recommended system specs on their page. I can only assume that this runs lightning fast on Intel Macs which is very cool but for those of us who have yet to update to the latest machines, we’ll have to stick with Photomatix for the time being. Oh well, looks like I won’t be able to enter this contest. Best of luck to everyone else!

This is a really impressive piece of software. It is a substantial improvement over Photomatix in both workflow and image quality. The big improvements I see are:

Lack of halos – i have a couple of images that halo badly in Photomatix – not in MAX
Detail – the detail is much crisper using Max
No problems with tonal inversion (reflections that are lighter than the image they are reflecting
Being able to turn exposures on and off to really figure out what is impacting the image, and then do local adjustments on layers in magical

I’ve posted a couple of images that I re-processed with MAX to http://www.jonmccormack.com/upload/JonMcCormack_Temple.jpg and http://www.jonmccormack.com/upload/JonMcCormack_ThreeBrothers.jpg

Mark – I do have a feature request though. It would be great to be able to mask out part of an exposure – this would be helpful when I want to use a darker exposure to put detail in the sky but don’t want that exposure to impact the rest of the image. Just a thought.

Cheers,

J

Version 1.3.2 of HDR Max seems to handle D300 NEF’s now. Are other Nikon users seeing similar results now?

I can’t get it to run I get an immediate Run Error in Vista anyone figure out how to get around that

Ok I have been playing with the software for alittle bit. One annoying thing. When saving the jpg file the OK button is not automatically higlighted. I have to click it instead of just hitting Enter again.

One other annoying little thing that I miss is the rotate feature of other software and cropping. Those are about the only two features I really need on each picture after using Photomatix or Qtpfsgui.

One of the pictures I am going to enter I think
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/HK1Ok0GwlrxJ68E8hXOKJQ?feat=directlink

Thanks to everyone for the comments and feedback thus far.

While still a little ways off, the next major update will incorporate many new features including several that have been requested, so keep the requests coming. In the meantime, smaller features or issues will take priority and updates will be announced as they are made available.

And a kind reminder to send all issues to support@ariea.com. This system helps track problems and address them faster and offer quicker personal support.

Also, when contacting support, remember to include your OS version and provide detailed information about the problem.

Finally, this contest is open to everyone and there are no restrictions on the number of entries that you can submit.

Thank you!

I am going to have to check out the program.
I like photomatix however this sounds promising!

@ scott webb HDR Max looks very promising and more than holds its own against Photomatix, I’ve comapred the two at my site. The price tag is a bit steep though!

Wow, after reading the product write-up, HDR Max is vast improvement over Photomax. The interface looks nice too,. I’ll see if I can borrow an Xp machine. You can’t just make a compile that works on Win2000 Pro? HAHAHA – That’s not that important but there are still a lot of Win2000 Pro Servers out there and a lot of SysOps with cams and a lot of time to fool around on their hands … I’m joking. I am dying to try it out. Brilliant idea Trey! Looks like it’s got killer-ap written all over it LOL ??? Cool! Nice work as usual and I just love Borobudur! I’ll get there one day.

ok, i tried it again, and it worked…it just takes a phenomenally long time to save…..but i think i may like the results better with hdr max, than with photomatix…… More $$ to spend…..

Just processed the first HDR with HDR MAX. I seem to have more noise in the pic than when using Photomatix. I tried Noiseware and that helps greatly to remove the noise. But since I only have the trial I have a grid over the pic… Will try to work a bit more with HDR Max before posting the first pics.

Hi,

Do we send in full-res images or resized images for our submissions?

Thanks,
Nick

Having a long weekend, so re-did several of my photomatix hdr’s with hdr max…seems that some shots are better in photomatix, and others in hdr max….. they’re all here…let me know what you all think!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iliv4bears/sets/72157612051567307/

I don’t know about the rest of you, but HDR Max does not save my images the same way that they look when I am editing them in the program. I made an HDR Christmas tree that looks really great in the program, but when I saved it it looked like Santa Clause came to my house while on LSD. Any ideas?

@Matt

I’m having the exact same problem, what are you running it on? I’m using MAC OSX 10.4.11 and HDR Max 1.3.4.

I’ve emailed Ariea and they were very helpful in suggestions but unfortuantely nothing has worked so far.

This is really annoying me as it gives great results prior to saving

HD MAX is solid….here is one of my recent shots….

http://talkephotography.com/p431818424/h19c44ec8#h19c44ec8

Just downloaded the trial software… It is telling me that my trial has expired. (Running OS X 10.5.6) The trial didn’t last 30 minutes, let alone 30 days!

Hi,

I downloaded HDR MAX, installed it and when I checked the free trial box, it gave me an error. I’m using Windows Vista.

i gave up on hdr max, i was troubleshooting with them about my issues and then they just gave up. might as well stick with cs4 or photomatrix.

Here’s my query (already e-mailed the folks at Ariea, but no response): do the shots have to be submitted as-is once they’ve been run through HDR MAX, or will other adjustments in PS or Lightroom be tolerated? I’d hate to be disqualified for making cosmetic adjustments.

Thanks anyone who has some insight into this!

Hi i would like to know if there will be confirmation mails regarding the mails sent because I have no idea if my mail went through and i think gmail was pretty much berserk at that moment. I also didn’t want to send multiple of the same mails, in case I get disqualified but if it can’t be helped, i will send another mail in. Thank you

Too bad I missed it by one day, so sad. I finally got HDR working properly, I was using shutter priority mode instead of aperture priority mode. Now all is right with th world.

~Jacob

don’t but it. my credit card was processed in 1 minute this am. can’t get the program to activate. no reply from ariea after 6 tries. tomorrow all my trial images from hdr max get a big x on them with this explanation about their tech/customer service. I vented