Dynamic Photo HDR

[Steve Clarkson]

Anyone know anything about Dynamic Photo HDR from www.mediachance.com (http://www.mediachance.com)?

I just read an article about it today and it sounds like something anyone engraving photos would want to own. It costs $55.

If you're not familiar with it, apparently it's software that will automatically correct a photo when the light areas end up too bright or the dim areas are too dark. The software is for both Windows and Macs. The software has two modes -- a full-bore professional mode that creates an HDR (high dynamic range) photo out of multiple exposures and a semi-pro mode that creates a simulated HDR photo out of a single picture.

So is anyone familiar with HDR photos or this software?

[Rodne Gold]

There is no way , in digital photography , that you can recover blown highlights - IE overexposed light areas. If you are scanning an already compromised photo - there is even less you can do to get it right.

[Stephen Kane]

HDR combines a number of photos - typically a minimum of 3, with one underexposed, one normal exposure and one over exposed into a new 'corrected' photo.
These guys statement that you can work with one 8 bit jpeg image in their 'pseudo-hdr' process is no more than adjusting an image using photoshop -imho.

[Rodne Gold]

A lot of Cameras these days have an inbuilt system to optimise dynamic range too.
Canon has settings on their current DSLR's has "auto lighting optimiser" and "highlight tone priority" which all do similar things...
The combination of 3 pics etc is nothing new , plenty Photoshop freebies and macros/scripts to do this ..look at DSLR/photography forums for these.
At the end of it ll , you cannot guestimate or synthesise info that is not there.

[Frank Corker]

Mediachance stuff is generally really good, the owner Roman Voska is a Czeh who I think lives in Canada now. All of his products are written and created by himself to deal with his particular intrests. When he started with digital photographing, he was noticing that quite often there were big issues with the lighting and this HDR program was to help correct.

What has been said before is correct, it is a combination of pictures to get a good result from all. If you have a look on the site there used to be some free stuff there which help with colour casting errors and noise removal. Most of his stuff you can download on a try and buy policy, I would suggest, you take the opportunity as you have little to lose.

I'm not advertising his stuff here, nor am I an agent, I have bought programs from him before, I still use them, they are in easy reach of a short pocket and I would certainly recommend them.

[Steve Clarkson]

Whether it works or not remains to be seen. What really interested me was the "simulated HDR".....even if it is just an automated photoshop adjustment on steriods....I'm sure it would do it better than I can.

Well, if anyone has an extra $55 to throw away and is willing to test it, please let us know how well it works.

Frank, why am I not surprised that you know the guy? LOL!

[Steve Chalmers]

If you want to get a feel for HDR photography, then you can use Photoshop to do it for you. While the results are probably not as good as a dedicated piece of software would give you, it certainly would give you the opportunity to see if you like dealing with HDR.

Most newer digital cameras allow you to shoot 3-7 shots at a time, and allowing you to set the f stop range. I've found 2 stops under exposed. . .1 dead on. . .and 2 stops over exposed will give you a pretty good HDR photo.

That is if you like the effect of HDR.

Steve

[Phil Salvati]

It sounds like you are talking about "bracketing".

You can program most SLR cameras today to take three pictures of the same frame.... one under exposed a half or full stop or so...one right and one over.

Having digital capabilities makes experimenting much less expensive than it was when I was learning!

P

[Robert Alexander]

Steve I tried most of the HDR software including Dynamic Pro. It did not have the features that I liked. For about another $50 more you can get Photomatix, which I have used for the past year. When engraving a photo which was done using HDR there is a big difference when it is engraved with a laser.
Also most of the HDR software will let you have a free trial, so you can try it and see if is what you need.

The two photos I have uploaded show what can be done with HDR vrs. Normal photo

[Steve Clarkson]

Steve I tried most of the HDR software including Dynamic Pro. It did not have the features that I liked. For about another $50 more you can get Photomatix, which I have used for the past year. When engraving a photo which was done using HDR there is a big difference when it is engraved with a laser.
Also most of the HDR software will let you have a free trial, so you can try it and see if is what you need.

The two photos I have uploaded show what can be done with HDR vrs. Normal photo


See, that's what I thought it could do. So you recommend using HDR for engraving rather than simply using photoshop? Is that a photo you took with your own camera or a photo that someone gave you?

[Tom Cole]

IF you have a digital camera that is capable of of saving "raw" images (i.e. canon's CR2 type) then you can correct photos that are off in exposure to a certain point with software. you can also correct color balance, color temperature, sharpness, lens aberations, size and resolution and a host of other problems in software and then export them as TIFFs or JPEGs.
the downside is that raw images are HUGE, my canon saves single pictures that are 20 megabyes apiece.

[Robert Alexander]

See, that's what I thought it could do. So you recommend using HDR for engraving rather than simply using photoshop? Is that a photo you took with your own camera or a photo that someone gave you?


Steve
I would use HDR for all engraving except for close up portrait photos. The human face does not look very good in most HDR shots. Also all my HDR shots including the ones posted here are taken by me with my Pentax K200 digital SLR in jpeg format, no massive raw files. And using Photomatix software for post processing. As for Photoshop I have it but don't us it. It is too complex for what I need.:confused: But I love and use Photoshop Elements 7 for doing any photo fixes or stiching together panoramic lanscape photos:). I am planning on doing some cheap wall tiles( get some 12"x 12" glass spray some paint on the backside reverse engrave it and paint over the engraved area with black paint)with some HDR photos in the near future. You can make some great looking large murals with HDR.

[Stuart Orrell]

Well, this has opened my eyes a bit.

I'm no way an expert in photography or image manipulation but this HDR stuff seems to really bring out more of what the human eye sees than the camera's eye.

Just found this link and wanted to share it with you. It shows a tutorial for use of photoshop for HDR. It also goes a step further to show what the photomatrix plugin can do.
http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/HDR_ps/hdr-ps.htm
(I'm not affiliated with any of these products, just thought it was a cool example of HDR)

[Darren Null]

There's also Deep Sky Stacker...freeware software that was designed for astronomy, but also does HDR as a side-effect....it stacks images for a high dynamic range or massive exposure times.
Photoshop's built-in (CS3+) HDR stuff works fine for me.

Also a second vote for Mediachance's products. Real Draw Pro is superb.