Photomatix & Arch Photography

[Claudio Branch]

 

One thing that always annoys me with some photographers using Photomatix is when they save out loads of exposures from a single RAW image and bring them into Photomatix as if that somehow magically creates more of a dynamic range than the original RAW file. Madness.

 

 

That is definately madness!

 

I believe the nature of the problem is that alot of people try to rely solely on a piece of software to create art. The software gives us the power to make alot of bad art very quickly or to make something well thought out and truly inspired.

 

Here are another couple of shots to compare and contrast. The first one is tone-mapped out of Photomatix. The image is really nothing special. The color saturation is weak, the contrast is low, and it is somewhat noisy.

 

The second image is closer to what my eyes saw on that street corner at night plus a little "artistic license" or bias if you prefer.

 

The bottom line is don't fall into the trap of thinking a piece of software (Photomatix, V-Ray, whatever...) is going to make art for you. It won't.

[jomama1152]

Hi Claudio,

I have just now joined this forum.... Boy, am I way out of my league. But I think I just might learn tons of stuff in here. Or be completely frustrated and sit here and cry! Hahaha

[Claudio Branch]

Hi Claudio,

I have just now joined this forum.... Boy, am I way out of my league. But I think I just might learn tons of stuff in here. Or be completely frustrated and sit here and cry! Hahaha

 

Glad you could make it Jo. CGA is a great forum and you will probably still be frustrated and want to cry from time to time. However, you will have plenty of company!

 

Welcome...

[SandmanNinja]

Hi Jo and welcome.

 

By the way, what an AWESOME nickname - JRoc!