#Photomatix essentials review pro
#Photomatix essentials review software

If you move the sliders enough and spend a little time with an image that may have been a touch soft, or was slightly under/overexposed, you can still salvage it and turn it into a pretty remarkable shot. One of the nice things about HDR is it's ability to take mediocre photos and make them good (just being honest here!)

#Photomatix essentials review software

You should take these with a grain of salt considering these aren't necessarily shortcomings, as this software was created specifically to be introductory and beginner level. The default one, as expected, wasn't so beautiful:Īfter doing a few more tests with various images, I was totally impressed with Photomatix Essentials, and the fact that most of the images required very few (if any) tweaks to the slider. So only having those 5 sliders was a big concern. Each photo I shoot is so unique and difficult that using a preset, unless it's one I've pre-saved, just ends up in ugly, flawed photos. Using 3 RAW format photos I had a preview ready in less than 10 seconds.įrom there you only have 5 sliders to deal with and numerous presets.įor me, presets in HDR rarely look good. What happens after that was particularly remarkable. You open up Essentials and immediately you're presented with a basic screen to drop in your brackets – super simple.

#Photomatix essentials review pro

Here was the original image that I edited with Photomatix Pro 4: People moving around in the distance by the candles.Detail in the stars that you don't want to lose.Shot at night under (many) candlelights.Some components that make this shot a little tough: To put it through it's paces I decided to use one of my favorite images (a night shot in Petra, Jordan), that I remember as not being the easiest in the world to get right. If there's one thing that I discovered very quickly about Photomatix Essentials its that it is the fastest way to create a high quality HDR image. First Impressions of Photomatix Essentials Thankfully, I was totally, and completely wrong. This is where I thought it would be very difficult for HDRsoft to bring the quality of their Pro version into a stripped down “beginner friendly” version of Photomatix. Don't balance the lighting just right and the image looks fake – and don't even get me started with ghosting in images. Venture too far into the surreal, and you end up with an ugly mess. Well, in my experience the more inexpensive pieces of software that promise quick, “plug and play”, photos never quite lived up to expectations. When it comes to creating high quality, lifelike HDR, it's older brother Photomatix Pro is one of the best pieces of software around (along with HDR Efex Pro) – so I should have had high expectations, right? When I first jumped into Photomatix Essentials I didn't know what to expect – and frankly my expectations weren't extraordinarily high. Bonus: To receive 15% off your Photomatix purchase type in HDRpromo15 into the Photomatix Order Page.