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Comparisons Photoshop HDR Conversion / Photomatix Tone Mapping

	The first images (left or top) were produced with HDR conversion method "Local Adaptation" of Photoshop CS2/CS3 and the second (right or bottom) with the Tone Mapping method "Details Enhancer" of Photomatix Pro. We tried to be as fair as possible and show the results obtained after attempting to find the best parameter adjustment for Photoshop Local Adaptation.
	The 32-bit HDR images used as input were created with the respective application from the same differently exposed shots, which are shown on our example pages here and here.

Click on the images to enlarge

	Photoshop Local Adaptation (adjusted settings)		Photomatix Tone Mapping (default values)

	Photoshop Local Adaptation (default values)
	Photoshop Local Adaptation (adjusted settings)
	Photomatix Tone Mapping
		Photoshop Local Adaptation's results look a bit "flat". By contrast, Photomatix Tone Mapping's result is able to recreate the natural lighting of the original scene.

	Photoshop Local Adaptation
	Photomatix Tone Mapping
		Photoshop Local Adaptation's result is quite good with this image. There is some loss of local contrast though, especially in the shadows, contrary to Photomatix Tone Mapping which is able to retrieve local details in the interior.

	Photoshop Local Adaptation (default values)		Photomatix Tone Mapping

Obviously, the default values for Local Adaptation do not work here. So, we ajusted the settings as shown on the screenshot below. The result looks much better but details in the shadows are lost. By contrast, the result of Photomatix preserves all details in highlights and shadows with almost no parameter tweaking.

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