Rick Sammon's HDR Photography Secrets for digital photographers

Chapter III. Photomatix: The Most Popular HDR Program

There is a reason Photomatix from HDR Software (www.hdrsoft.com) is by far the most popular HDR program available: It is powerful, affordable and easy to use. What's more, as you will discover, making HDR images with this program can help you awaken the artist within.

Photomatix can help you create different types of images, such as the artistic one that opens this chapter or the realistic one that closes it. Photomatix can also help you create a dramatic HDR image that has an even wider dynamic range than your eyes, as pictured on the last page of this chapter.

Here is the HDR image of my friend Chandler, whom you "met" earlier in this book. I dressed up this image by adding an Acid Burn frame from onOne Software's PhotoFrame Professional (www.ononesoftware.com). This is the artistic version of the image. It was created with Photomatix's Detail Enhancer. You'll see a more realistic version of the scene that was created from the same set of images in just a few pages.

This chapter covers the basics of Photomatix. Just keep in mind that the best way to get good at using this program is to play, play and play some more with the adjustment sliders. They are the keys to your creative potential here.

Getting Started

The first step in creating ...