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[OM] Re: photoshop upgrade question

Subject: [OM] Re: photoshop upgrade question
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2006 21:45:03 -0700
swisspace wrote:
> I can't find the info on the adobe site, so maybe someone on the list 
> can help.
>
> Many years ago I bought photoshop 5 for PC, now I use a mac and was 
> thinking of upgrading to the CS2 version - mainly for its ability to 
> combine images for HDR. I looked at the gimp plugin but never manged to 
> figure it out with my limited time.
>   
Fighting back upstream to the original question...  What are you 
planning to use the HDR function for?

I've played with this process in a number of ways, especially with  P&S 
<http://www.moosemystic.net/Gallery/tech/Process/CombExposure/Combos/> 
and. 
<http://www.moosemystic.net/Gallery/tech/Process/CombExposure/SanSe.htm>

Playing with it with DSLRs, I've become convinced that it's mostly 
unnecessary. I believe much of this use is either because it's a cool 
toy or because people haven't learned how to use their equipment and 
editor very well. I'm not saying not to bracket in tricky situations, 
but that the properly exposed one will almost certainly have everything 
you need with any combining.

DSLRs shooting RAW have a much wider dynamic range that most people seem 
to be aware of. And then some folks are doing two RAW conversions at 
different brightnesses and combining them in an "HDR" way. Really 
unnecessary if you have decent tools. Any decent RAW converter can 
nicely put everything that the camera captured into a single 16 bit 
output file, PSD or TIFF or whatever, which can easily handle a huge 
dynamic range.

Depending on the individual JPEG engine and the noise, even some P&Ss 
are capable of capturing much more dynamic range than the users are 
aware of. Where I needed to ocmbine exposures with the F10, I don't with 
the F30, or at lest won't over a much wider range.

Good scanners and software also may be capturing more brightness info 
that you think.

The big thing that leads people astray is the assumptions that many 
cameras and much software make. In a lot of ways, we are still in the 
era of the automated 4x6 print. the algorithms make assumptions about 
the dynamic range of the display device(s) and compress and/or clip the 
top and bottom of high brightness range subjects.

Unless you know this and are willing to learn how to "roll your own" 
tonal distribution, it's easy to think that your equipment doesn't have 
what it takes to handle high brightness ratio scenes. I'll bet it does.

I've got CS2 with HDR - and I've never used it. And trust me, the old 
image tinkerer, I would if it got me anything. If I were still using the 
F10, I would try it.

Rant over; if you are back at PS5, you are missing all sorts of other 
powerful, useful tools that have come along since.  For example, 
ShadowHi is really powerful for recovering those highlights and shadows 
that you thought weren't there.

Moose


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