Operating Instructions
1Photomatix Essentials 3.2 User Manual
Section 1: HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography
The central premise of HDR photography is that there are very few situations where a single photograph can
capture the true dynamic range (the total range of light in a scene, from very dark to very light) of a scene
accurately.
In other words, today’s digital camera can’t properly expose everything at the same time in scenes with even
moderate contrast ratios. This results in two main problems (which sometimes happen together in the same
photo):
• Blown highlights: When the exposure is raised to
make sure the foreground or subject is properly
exposed, brighter ar eas of the scene suer. They
“blow out” and turn white because they have very
little or no usable data in them.
• Lost detail in shadows: Conversely, when bright
areas of a scene are pro tected (by lowering
exposure), there is not enough light to register
details on the camera’s sensor in dark areas of the
scene. These turn to shadow and black ness.
HDR photography solves these problems by taking enough photos (traditionally 3) to contain the entire
exposure range of the scene. With that data in hand, Photomatix Essentials can merge the di erent photos and
process them to rescue details from shadows and keep highlights from blow ing out.
Aside from that practical rationale, HDR photography oers photographers and photo editors a new and powerful
tool with which to take and “develop” their photographs and present them in a unique and inspirational way.
Introduction
Photomatix Essentials processes multiple exposure bracketed photos into a single image either by a process
known as fusing the exposures together or through a process known as HDR (High Dynamic Range) tone
mapping.
This manual is organized into three major sections. The rst section is a general description of HDR pho tography
and how to shoot it. The second section is a detailed tutorial on how to use Photomatix Essentials. The third
section explains how to use the Image Alignment, Ghost Removal and Noise Reduction features oered by
Photomatix Essentials. At the end of the manual is a glossary of some of the terms associated with HDR.