Monday May 18, 2009

Photomatix

Photomatix is a great piece of software and it is what I currently use to process my HDRs.  I talk a lot about it here in my Photomatix Review.

It is also mentioned extensively in my HDR Tutorial.

You can buy Photomatix from the HDR Soft website. I think it’s only about $99 and you can get another 15% off with the Photomatix Coupon Code “STUCKINCUSTOMS“.

I also get asked a lot “Why not just HDR Photoshop?” My answer is always, simply, that Photomatix does a much better job of creating a high-quality HDR image.

Here are some images that have been made with Photomatix:

Fourth on Lake Austin

Farewell India

Merry D3Xmas from Trey and Stuck In Customs!

I've reached the end of the world

Sunflowers at Sunset, oh and I'm making a short film

Hong Kong from The Peak on a Summer Night

The Open Road

About Me
  • http://bhutan-360.com Gelay

    In Photmatix, there is an additional option called exposure fusion. In your opinion, how does it compare to HDR?

  • John

    All your pictures look fake and overworked. So what does it bring you if you use “Phptomatix”???

    /John

  • Bob Wilber

    Your photographs are the finest I have ever seen, and the last person to comment (John) does not understand that you are not just snapping great photos, you are turning them into world class art with your processing.

    As I said, they are the most inspirational photos that I have ever seen. They so moved me that I have decided to dedicate a major portion of the rest of my life to learning how to create works like these.

    Robert from Ohio

  • http://www.seanmcewan.com sean mcewan

    I’m learning again!!!!!!!!!!!! :) have been bored for years doing it as a professional and now i can see greater and more creative options and opportunities to investigate, looking at your work makes me realize that i can improve a great photo and still keep to my old skool rules plus push the boat out a little for the greater good of what we see and photograph by not adding anything in thats not already there. Brilliant

  • http://jeremiahtrue.com Jeremiah True

    Your work is very good, but having myself just gotten into the world of HDR, I like Photomatix but don’t feel that it always produces realistic images. I appreciate the artistic feel that this can give to an image, but think that it takes them from being photographs into a different space of manipulated photographs. The contrast range is amazing, but in some images, like the cityscape, it looks more like a painting than a photo.

    Again, great work. I’ll check back regularly.

  • http://www.momentsbybettyjean.com Betty

    Your pictures are amazing… as for john.. I wouldn’t listen to him. This is an art form that not a lot of people can accomplish.. Many of your pictures took my breathe away! Keep up the good work.. I can’t wait to look through more of your pictures!

  • http://Davidvaughan.com David vaughan

    I am interested in photommatix and want to improve my real estate interior images. Can I use and it looks realistic and not too overdone or fake. Dont want fake at all,

  • Johnny Cool

    First off, let me say that I “like” some of your HDR images. However, I can’t say that I’ve ever seen (so far) an HDR image that actually looks “realistic” compared to the source digital photograph. Then again, digital photographs (just like images from film in the past), seldom render what the human eye “sees”. There is always a degree of compromise.

    I think that a “normal” scene has a dynamic light range of something like 50,000:1. Traditionally, most media representations were in the vicinity of 300:1. Mapping the higher range (if you can really capture it) to a lower one has its problems. Correct me if I’m wrong, but HDR techniques attempt to capture more of the available light range than is at first obvious (to the camera’s sensor), usually by employing multiple exposures at different exposure levels and then recombining them using tone mapping.

    Essentially, HDR is one way to digitally manipulate images. And IMHO, that’s exactly what most of the ones I’ve seen look like. Just as Jeremiah True commented above, “it takes them from being photographs into a different space of manipulated photographs”. Well, there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as we remember that those images are not simply “photographs” any more. Many HDR images look “stunning”, “jaw-droppingly awesome”, etc. And many look over-done and patently horrible. Like “art” in general, it’s a subjective thing.

    I’ve been using Photomatix Pro for a couple of years now. I love and hate some of my results. I love to see the expressions on people’s faces when they see one for the first time, especially if I do a fake job on one of their images (one exposure).

  • Frank

    I did some serious film photography when I was first married. After raising eight children and watching fifteen grandkids grow I now have the time to return to this hobby. One of my favorite painters is Thomas Kincade, the ‘Painter of Light’. Your HDR work reminds me of his style. I am very excited about learning digital photography and the HDR process!

  • Randy Dietmeyer

    Hey Trey! I love most of your photos. You do HDR better than “most” do (including myself) who tend to go overboard and turn their pics into a noisy mess after loading up Topaz Adjust and applying some extreme effect. I love Topaz myself but have learned to really REALLY tone things down with it and find myself using onOne more than anything.

    The problem I find with HDR photo’s, even well done ones, is that while they have an immediate WOW factor when first seeing them, they are actually kind of fatiguing to look at over the long hall. My all time favorite photographer, Peter Lik, has art you can hang in your home and stare at for hours -and he only uses film, with all post processing occurring in the dark room!

  • http://www.4buddhist.com blackblood

    Agree with John.
    Most people who love color will love Photomatrix.
    But They will be bored later.
    In my opinion,Photos must be combine with soul.
    Each Photos need Souls.

  • http://sorebuttcheeks.blogspot.com/ steroids

    photomatrix is def the most popular hdr software.