HDRI and Photoshop CS3 Extended

[Don Bryant]

I'm just curious if anyone here at Hybrid might be working with HDRI using Photoshop CS3 Extended. If so what are your impressions?

Thanks,

Don Bryant

[ike]

I've been using PhotoMatrix for black and white HDR night images digitally captured. Works really, really well. I have CS3 but at first blush PhotoMatrix seems much more capable.

[Don Bryant]

I've been using PhotoMatrix for black and white HDR night images digitally captured. Works really, really well. I have CS3 but at first blush PhotoMatrix seems much more capable.

There seems to be some confusion about HDRI editing in CS3 and CS3 Extended. CS3 Extended allows use of some of the standard editing tools that CS3 does not.

Please also note that I am not talking about Tone Mapping rather the abitily to edit a 32 bit image using layers, brushes, etc.

There is a lot of other interesting features available in CS3 Extended that leverages 32 bit editing capabilitys that can be used with LDR or 16 bit images. I'm trying to decide if I should upgrade to the extended version.

Thanks,

Don Bryant

[sanking]

There seems to be some confusion about HDRI editing in CS3 and CS3 Extended. CS3 Extended allows use of some of the standard editing tools that CS3 does not.

Please also note that I am not talking about Tone Mapping rather the abitily to edit a 32 bit image using layers, brushes, etc.

There is a lot of other interesting features available in CS3 Extended that leverages 32 bit editing capabilitys that can be used with LDR or 16 bit images. I'm trying to decide if I should upgrade to the extended version.

Thanks,

Don Bryant

Don,

I have Photoshop CS3 Extended and must say that it works very well for HDR files. You probably know that I know virtually nothing about digital but I have always been very interested in my B&W work in capturing scenes of very high contrast. I recently purchased a small point and shoot digital camera (Canon G9) which allows me to capture RAW files at 12.1 mp. I used the camera extensively during a recent trip to Mexico, and ran into a lot of high contrast scenes that allowed me to make exposures for HDR images. The G9 is pretty neat because it will make three exposures at a time (on a tripod of course).

As I say, I know virtually nothing about digital, but using the automated HDR feature of CS3 Extended has worked out great in processing the RAW files from the Canon. I mean, it is like a piece of cake, and then once you get it processed you can do lots of editing in 32 bit. The only thing that I find really missing is curves.

In any event, I am attaching an HDR image from my trip to Mexico. The range from shadows to highlights on this shot was about 17 stops and it could never have been made in color with just one exposure. I posted the same file on the LF forum but thought you might be interested since you are talking about upgrading to CS3.

Sandy

[Don Bryant]

Don,

I have Photoshop CS3 Extended and must say that it works very well for HDR files. You probably know that I know virtually nothing about digital but I have always been very interested in my B&W work in capturing scenes of very high contrast. I recently purchased a small point and shoot digital camera (Canon G9) which allows me to capture RAW files at 12.1 mp. I used the camera extensively during a recent trip to Mexico, and ran into a lot of high contrast scenes that allowed me to make exposures for HDR images. The G9 is pretty neat because it will make three exposures at a time (on a tripod of course).

As I say, I know virtually nothing about digital, but using the automated HDR feature of CS3 Extended has worked out great in processing the RAW files from the Canon. I mean, it is like a piece of cake, and then once you get it processed you can do lots of editing in 32 bit. The only thing that I find really missing is curves.

In any event, I am attaching an HDR image from my trip to Mexico. The range from shadows to highlights on this shot was about 17 stops and it could never have been made in color with just one exposure. I posted the same file on the LF forum but thought you might be interested since you are talking about upgrading to CS3.

Sandy

Sandy,

I saw your posts on the LF Forum and was surprised that you were using a digi-cam. I probably will upgrade to CS3 extended since it only costs $149 to upgrade.

I think you would be very interested in reading this book on the subject:

The HDRI Handbook

http://www.hdrlabs.com/book/

It is a very good introduction to the subject and includes a disk with software and sample images written by Christian Bloch, a noted authority in the HDRI field. Bloch discusses CS3 Extended tools and provides work files you can play with yourself. Highly recommended.

I too am interested in the possibilities with extending the dyanmic range of B&W photography, of course in the end when the image gets put on paper we are forced to squeeze everything back down to a LDR presentation.

I'm also interested in Tone Mapping using software tools such as Photomatix Pro and FDRTools to name just two, but we will leave that subject for another discussion. Thanks for sharing.

Don