Comments on: Photomatix Review http://www.stuckincustoms.com Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:50:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Lindsay http://www.stuckincustoms.com/photomatix-review/#comment-1032911 Lindsay Mon, 16 Aug 2010 07:29:45 +0000 http://stuckincustoms.com/?page_id=2047#comment-1032911 Thank you for this tutorial. I think it is the most comprehensive tutorial I have seen. The fact that I love your images helps! Thank you for this tutorial. I think it is the most comprehensive tutorial I have seen. The fact that I love your images helps!

]]> By: Steve Clarke http://www.stuckincustoms.com/photomatix-review/#comment-955465 Steve Clarke Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:32:44 +0000 http://stuckincustoms.com/?page_id=2047#comment-955465 I just discovered a typo, and I wanted to correct it so that it makes more sense (sorry about that!)Here it is again: . Second, and more importantly, a big thank you Trey, for being the catalyst that forced me to think outside of the current photographic paradigm. I am certain that you have touched people’s creativity and thought processes in ways that you will never know. Your continuing contributions have, without a doubt, advanced this current photographic revival and driven this fairly static art form called photography forward in leaps and bounds! I just discovered a typo, and I wanted to correct it so that it makes more sense (sorry about that!)Here it is again:
.
Second, and more importantly, a big thank you Trey, for being the catalyst that forced me to think outside of the current photographic paradigm. I am certain that you have touched people’s creativity and thought processes in ways that you will never know.
Your continuing contributions have, without a doubt, advanced this current photographic revival and driven this fairly static art form called photography forward in leaps and bounds!

]]> By: Steve Clarke http://www.stuckincustoms.com/photomatix-review/#comment-955131 Steve Clarke Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:38:42 +0000 http://stuckincustoms.com/?page_id=2047#comment-955131 2010-06-30 Hi Trey, I just finished watching an online sneak peak of Nik Software's upcoming ‘HDR Pro’ application and I must admit, it looks pretty darned impressive. Nik seems to have handily raised the bar for HDR software vendors. Sadly it seems to make Photomatix 3 appear to be pretty primitive, comparatively. I notice that Photomatix have been holding off on their version 4 release, I assume in order to see what Nik would be doing with their entry into the marketplace. Let's hope that Photomatix respond with an equally impressive and competitive v4 release. Competition is good for HDR! Nik HDR appears to be wrapping the functionality of several of their products into this latest release. Most notably and impressively, the complete functionality of Viveza's ‘Upoint’ technology is wrapped into Nik HDR. I currently use Viveza on many of my HDR's (the underlying technology of which made it’s debut in Nikon's Capture NX software), in order to correct colour, saturation, warmth, etc., on an entity specific basis. I'm particularly excited about the potential of Nik HDR because the power of ‘Upoint’ is that it permits such corrections to be applied in very specific areas of a photo while allowing the rest of the photo to remain unchanged. You mentioned on this site and in your book ‘A World in HDR’ how the human eye takes in a scene on an entity by entity basis, and our mind then stitches together all those disparate pieces to form our memory of that time or place. Reading your explanation (lacking and poorly paraphrased on my part, I’m sure), switched on a light for me... I then understood why I would so often look at a photo and think, “gee, that sure did look better in real life.” Memories are vivid, but single photos, no matter how good, always seemed to be missing some intangible quality that left them lacking. HDR processing with Photomatix makes those photos significantly closer to what I remembered, but as my critical ‘HDR eye’ has developed, I have found that while the broad brush approach of Photomatix produces a great result, that result is often a trade off for a good overall look versus accuracy in all areas of the photograph. Post processing a Photomatix HDR photo with Viveza transcended this problem as it is the best way I have found to translate my memory of a scene into a photo that I feel accurately represents what I saw. Thus my excitement about Nik’s upcoming HDR release! So, just a couple of things: First, have you seen the Nik HDR Pro software yet and if so what are your thoughts on it’s functionality versus Photomatix 4? Second, and more importantly, a big thank you Trey, for being the catalyst to force me to think outside of the current photographic paradigm. I am certain that have touched people’s creativity and thought processes in ways that you will never know. Your continuing contributions have without a doubt advanced this current photographic revival and driven this fairly static art form of photography forward in leaps and bounds! 2010-06-30
Hi Trey,
I just finished watching an online sneak peak of Nik Software’s upcoming ‘HDR Pro’ application and I must admit, it looks pretty darned impressive. Nik seems to have handily raised the bar for HDR software vendors. Sadly it seems to make Photomatix 3 appear to be pretty primitive, comparatively. I notice that Photomatix have been holding off on their version 4 release, I assume in order to see what Nik would be doing with their entry into the marketplace. Let’s hope that Photomatix respond with an equally impressive and competitive v4 release. Competition is good for HDR!
Nik HDR appears to be wrapping the functionality of several of their products into this latest release. Most notably and impressively, the complete functionality of Viveza’s ‘Upoint’ technology is wrapped into Nik HDR. I currently use Viveza on many of my HDR’s (the underlying technology of which made it’s debut in Nikon’s Capture NX software), in order to correct colour, saturation, warmth, etc., on an entity specific basis. I’m particularly excited about the potential of Nik HDR because the power of ‘Upoint’ is that it permits such corrections to be applied in very specific areas of a photo while allowing the rest of the photo to remain unchanged.
You mentioned on this site and in your book ‘A World in HDR’ how the human eye takes in a scene on an entity by entity basis, and our mind then stitches together all those disparate pieces to form our memory of that time or place. Reading your explanation (lacking and poorly paraphrased on my part, I’m sure), switched on a light for me… I then understood why I would so often look at a photo and think, “gee, that sure did look better in real life.” Memories are vivid, but single photos, no matter how good, always seemed to be missing some intangible quality that left them lacking.
HDR processing with Photomatix makes those photos significantly closer to what I remembered, but as my critical ‘HDR eye’ has developed, I have found that while the broad brush approach of Photomatix produces a great result, that result is often a trade off for a good overall look versus accuracy in all areas of the photograph. Post processing a Photomatix HDR photo with Viveza transcended this problem as it is the best way I have found to translate my memory of a scene into a photo that I feel accurately represents what I saw.
Thus my excitement about Nik’s upcoming HDR release!

So, just a couple of things:
First, have you seen the Nik HDR Pro software yet and if so what are your thoughts on it’s functionality versus Photomatix 4?

Second, and more importantly, a big thank you Trey, for being the catalyst to force me to think outside of the current photographic paradigm. I am certain that have touched people’s creativity and thought processes in ways that you will never know. Your continuing contributions have without a doubt advanced this current photographic revival and driven this fairly static art form of photography forward in leaps and bounds!

]]> By: Rachael Towne http://www.stuckincustoms.com/photomatix-review/#comment-942933 Rachael Towne Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:38:02 +0000 http://stuckincustoms.com/?page_id=2047#comment-942933 Thank you for this wonderful review of Photomatix. I just purchased the software myself...well the light version anyway. I plan to upgrade to the pro version soon. I'm absolutely fascinated with HDR images. When they are done very well, such as yours are, the results are absolutely magical. Some people criticize HDR as looking too painterly or unreal. I think that this look is what I actually love about HDR. Sometimes the effect can be almost TOO real. The purpose of HDR, beyond the technical aspect of exposure merging, is often described as a way to evoke the same feeling from a scene as actually looking at it. I often feel more from looking at an HDR image than from looking at the actual scene. I like that... Thank you for this wonderful review of Photomatix. I just purchased the software myself…well the light version anyway. I plan to upgrade to the pro version soon. I’m absolutely fascinated with HDR images. When they are done very well, such as yours are, the results are absolutely magical. Some people criticize HDR as looking too painterly or unreal. I think that this look is what I actually love about HDR. Sometimes the effect can be almost TOO real. The purpose of HDR, beyond the technical aspect of exposure merging, is often described as a way to evoke the same feeling from a scene as actually looking at it. I often feel more from looking at an HDR image than from looking at the actual scene. I like that…

]]> By: lior shapira http://www.stuckincustoms.com/photomatix-review/#comment-912851 lior shapira Tue, 08 Jun 2010 12:48:42 +0000 http://stuckincustoms.com/?page_id=2047#comment-912851 Thanks for the info! A small typo in the 'What are Your Results So Far?' section - you write 'Photoshop Pro 3' but you mean 'Photomatix Pro 3' cheers, lior Thanks for the info! A small typo in the ‘What are Your Results So Far?’ section – you write ‘Photoshop Pro 3′ but you mean ‘Photomatix Pro 3′

cheers, lior

]]> By: Photomatix Pro and Photoshop HDR Comparison http://www.stuckincustoms.com/photomatix-review/#comment-906375 Photomatix Pro and Photoshop HDR Comparison Sat, 05 Jun 2010 05:48:37 +0000 http://stuckincustoms.com/?page_id=2047#comment-906375 [...] Photomatix Review [...] [...] Photomatix Review [...]

]]> By: Photomatix 4.0 Preview http://www.stuckincustoms.com/photomatix-review/#comment-904761 Photomatix 4.0 Preview Fri, 04 Jun 2010 06:00:08 +0000 http://stuckincustoms.com/?page_id=2047#comment-904761 [...] Photomatix Review [...] [...] Photomatix Review [...]

]]> By: New Zealand Campers – a Kea Camper Review http://www.stuckincustoms.com/photomatix-review/#comment-903357 New Zealand Campers – a Kea Camper Review Thu, 03 Jun 2010 07:09:43 +0000 http://stuckincustoms.com/?page_id=2047#comment-903357 [...] Photomatix Review [...] [...] Photomatix Review [...]

]]> By: Maitland http://www.stuckincustoms.com/photomatix-review/#comment-888531 Maitland Tue, 25 May 2010 22:23:53 +0000 http://stuckincustoms.com/?page_id=2047#comment-888531 Some of these images are quite lovely (good composition, subject matter,) but others are a bit eerie, somehow overdone, unnatural and creepy. Does Photmatix always produce images with such unnatural results? Certainly, there are many instances I think HDR can be very useful especially when trying to photograph some scenes with more contrast than can be captured by a single frame. Ansel Adams would have loved this software, I am sure, but his photos never looked gimmicky. Just because we have the technology does not mean it has to be used or overused! Sigma's Photo Pro 4 is fantastic with things like highlight and show control. It works with Sigma raw very well. Please keep up the (basically) good work! Some of these images are quite lovely (good composition, subject matter,) but others are a bit eerie, somehow overdone, unnatural and creepy. Does Photmatix always produce images with such unnatural results?

Certainly, there are many instances I think HDR can be very useful especially when trying to photograph some scenes with more contrast than can be captured by a single frame. Ansel Adams would have loved this software, I am sure, but his photos never looked gimmicky. Just because we have the technology does not mean it has to be used or overused!

Sigma’s Photo Pro 4 is fantastic with things like highlight and show control. It works with Sigma raw very well.

Please keep up the (basically) good work!

]]> By: Farrukh http://www.stuckincustoms.com/photomatix-review/#comment-768948 Farrukh Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:16:15 +0000 http://stuckincustoms.com/?page_id=2047#comment-768948 This is a test comment.... This is a test comment….

]]> By: leoh jitsu http://www.stuckincustoms.com/photomatix-review/#comment-760523 leoh jitsu Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:09:06 +0000 http://stuckincustoms.com/?page_id=2047#comment-760523 very good....................... very good…………………..

]]> By: Daily Bubble - HDR Photography | Enjoy Every Bubble http://www.stuckincustoms.com/photomatix-review/#comment-735346 Daily Bubble - HDR Photography | Enjoy Every Bubble Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:42:12 +0000 http://stuckincustoms.com/?page_id=2047#comment-735346 [...] Photographer Trey Ratcliff is well known for his HDR Photography and has written a book on the subject.  Visit his travel blog (Stuck in Customs) here (Stuck in Customs) to see his photos as well as his free tutorial on how to do produce a HDR image.  He also has a review of the Photomatix software program on his blog here (Photomatix Review). [...] [...] Photographer Trey Ratcliff is well known for his HDR Photography and has written a book on the subject.  Visit his travel blog (Stuck in Customs) here (Stuck in Customs) to see his photos as well as his free tutorial on how to do produce a HDR image.  He also has a review of the Photomatix software program on his blog here (Photomatix Review). [...]

]]> By: Page not found http://www.stuckincustoms.com/photomatix-review/#comment-728878 Page not found Mon, 11 Jan 2010 07:19:04 +0000 http://stuckincustoms.com/?page_id=2047#comment-728878 [...] Photomatix Review [...] [...] Photomatix Review [...]

]]> By: MizzGinn http://www.stuckincustoms.com/photomatix-review/#comment-723124 MizzGinn Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:56:13 +0000 http://stuckincustoms.com/?page_id=2047#comment-723124 These pictures are absolutely beautiful. The Christmas picture melts my heart. I might NEED to buy this program. Thank you for sharing!!! These pictures are absolutely beautiful. The Christmas picture melts my heart. I might NEED to buy this program. Thank you for sharing!!!

]]> By: Barbara Yasuhara http://www.stuckincustoms.com/photomatix-review/#comment-723037 Barbara Yasuhara Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:32:51 +0000 http://stuckincustoms.com/?page_id=2047#comment-723037 Ok, I am ready to buy, is it just me, or is the link to buy now not here???? Ok, I am ready to buy, is it just me, or is the link to buy now not here????

]]> By: erwin http://www.stuckincustoms.com/photomatix-review/#comment-720239 erwin Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:43:33 +0000 http://stuckincustoms.com/?page_id=2047#comment-720239 Really interesting collection! But do you really like these shadows, which Photomatix produces in difficult lightning situation? Sometimes they look like some artwork and improve the image. But in cases like the picture of the fire works and the one of Dresden they are really disturbing and ugly. Really interesting collection!
But do you really like these shadows, which Photomatix produces in difficult lightning situation? Sometimes they look like some artwork and improve the image. But in cases like the picture of the fire works and the one of Dresden they are really disturbing and ugly.

]]>