High Dynamic Range Digital Photography For Dummies®

Chapter 9. Tone Mapping for Fun and Profit

In This Chapter

• Developing a tone mapping workflow

• Tone mapping with Photomatix

• Tone mapping with Photoshop

• Comparing different approaches

• Automated bracket processing

• Batch-processing single files

Earlier chapters lay a broad yet detailed foundation of knowledge about high dynamic range digital photography strong enough for you to begin tone mapping. This chapter takes you through the process of tone mapping using two of the leading HDR applications, Photomatix Pro and Photoshop, using their respective Details Enhancer and the HDR Conversion routines. I also show you how to use Photoshop Elements 8 to tone map an HDR image.

Following that, you find tips and techniques on how to get the best images out of Photomatix, and how to batch-process brackets or single files automatically.

Tone Mapping with Photomatix Pro

It's time to get down to the practical matter of tone mapping an HDR image in Photomatix Pro. If you need additional clarification on the meaning of the settings, see Chapter 7.

Note

You don't have to perfect an image in tone mapping. You can continue to edit in your graphics application.

Getting ready to tone map

Before you can tone map, you must complete the photography and have your bracketed (or single Raw) images ready. Here's a checklist to make sure everything is in order:

• Photos taken: Check. Have two or more bracketed photos ready, shot ...