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Do I need to buy a second license if I install Photomatix on another computer? |
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One license entitles you to install and register Photomatix Pro on other computers you use. The same applies to Photomatix Pro Plus, Photomatix Light and/or the Photoshop and Aperture plugins if you purchased a license of those software. |
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However, a license is limited to one user. This means you will need to buy an additional license if you wish to install and register the software for another user (unless the other user is your spouse or close family member, as we make an exception in such cases). |
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The other computer may run on any of the two supported platforms. That is, if you have bought a license for Photomatix Pro for Windows for instance, you may use your license for the Mac OS X platform version of Photomatix Pro, provided the user of the software is the same.
However, if you purchased Photomatix Pro before version 2.4, the license key will be different (see question below). |
| |
If you are on Windows, you can of course install the 64-bit edition of the software on the other computer, regardless of which edition you had installed on the first computer. The license you bought is for Photomatix Pro -- it entitles you to install and register any edition (i.e. 32- or 64-bit) or platform version (i.e. Windows or Mac) of our software. |
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I haven't yet received my serial code, when will I get it? |
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Our resellers Plimus and share-it email your license information immediately after purchase
if you have ordered by credit card. If you did not receive this email, this is either due to a delay on the server of the reseller or because the email has been rejected by your spam filters.
Please try our automatic resending of license key or contact us to request the resending of your
license information. |
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My hard drive crashed and I lost my license key. Can you send it to me again? |
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Yes. Please try our automatic resending of license key. |
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My photo computer is not connected to the Internet. How can I install your software on it? |
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Your computer does not need to be online to install Photomatix on it, as long as you do have another computer with an Internet connection to download it. You will just need to copy the downloaded file on a flash drive, USB key or other type of removable drive (or download it directly on it) and transfer it to your computer that does not have access to the Internet. |
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The procedure is detailed below depending on your platform: |
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On Windows:
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Go to the download page of Photomatix Pro or Photomatix Light depending on the software you want to install on your offline computer. |
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Click on the "Download Photomatix Pro" or "Download Photomatix Light" link in blue. |
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When prompted, choose Save (Internet Explorer) or Save File (Firefox). |
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On the Save As dialog box, navigate to the location you would like to save the file and choose "Save". If the removable drive (e.g. flash drive, USB key, ...) is inserted in your online computer, save the file to it directly. Otherwise, copy the file to the removable drive after having saved it. |
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Use the removable drive to transfer the downloaded file to your offline computer. The name of the file depends on the software, its version and the edition. For instance, if you have downloaded the 32-bit edition of Photomatix Pro 3.2.9, the name of the file will be: PhotomatixPro329x32.exe. |
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Double-click on the transferred file to install Photomatix on your offline computer. |
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On Mac:
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Go to the download page of Photomatix Pro or Photomatix Light depending on the software you want to install on your offline computer. |
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Click on the "Download Photomatix Pro" or "Download Photomatix Light" link in blue. |
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Copy the downloaded zip file to the removable drive (e.g. flash drive, USB key, ...). You can also directly copy the "Photomatix Pro" or "Photomatix Light" application file to the removable drive if you prefer. |
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Use the removable drive to transfer the file to your offline computer. |
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Can I switch my Windows license to Mac? (or vice-versa) |
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Yes. In fact, you do not need to switch your license as the license allows you to install the software on another computer, regardless of its platform as explained above.
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However, license keys differ depending on the platform version if you have purchased Photomatix Pro and if it was before version 2.4, i.e. before April 2007. You will need in this case to contact us to request the key for the other platform.
If you have purchased Photomatix Bundle or Photomatix Light, then the license key is the same on both platforms.
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Please note that you will still have to choose between one of the two platform versions of the software when ordering a license (which is just because we need to track sales per platform). The purchased license will be valid for both platforms, though you may have to request the license key for the other platform as explained above.
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How do I upgrade to the latest version? |
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To upgrade to a new version, please download the new version from the download page and install it on your computer. There is no need to uninstall your current version of Photomatix before installing the new one. |
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If you want to get informed about releases of new versions, please subscribe to our announcements |
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The upgrade to Photomatix Pro version 3 is free of charge for licensed users of Photomatix Pro version 2. In case you had purchased the Windows version of Photomatix Pro prior to version 2.0 (i.e. before September 2004), then you will need to get a new registration key for version 2. |
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What is your upgrade policy? |
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At the time you purchase a license of our software, you are guaranteed at least one year of free upgrades. In the practice, you are likely to be able to upgrade for free for more than one year. |
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For instance, the upgrade to Photomatix Pro version 3 was free of charge for all licensed users of version 2.x. That is, if you had bought a license of Photomatix Pro version 2.0 in 2004, then you will still get free upgrades to sub-releases of version 2 in 2007, and free upgrade to version 3. |
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Similarly, the upgrade to the upcoming version 4 or Photomatix Pro will be free of charge for all licensed users of version 3, i.e. for all customers who purchased a license of Photomatix Pro after the 27th of March 2008. |
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To upgrade to the latest version, please see question above. |
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I purchased Photomatix Light. Is there an upgrade price to Photomatix Pro? |
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Yes. You can purchase a license of Photomatix Pro for the US$60 cost difference. Please submit the form on this page to access the upgrade pricing. |
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How do I transfer Photomatix to a new computer? |
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The best way to transfer Photomatix to a new computer is to download the latest version of the software to your new computer. To do this, go to the download page, and install the downloaded file to your new computer. |
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In case your new computer is not connected to the Internet, you will have to transfer the installation file as detailed above |
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I have a new computer. How can I download Photomatix again? |
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To download Photomatix Pro or Photomatix Light again, please go to the download page. |
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Is there a way to get the watermark off a photograph processed before buying the license? |
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If you have a license of Photomatix Pro, it is possible to remove the 'Photomatix' watermark from photographs processed when the software was still in trial mode, but only if the resulting image was not post-processed.
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Click on the 'Automate' menu and select "Batch Single Files" | |
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Check the "Remove watermark" option (this becomes enabled after registration) | |
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Browse to the folder where your image(s) having the watermarks are located, and make sure that the images in this folder do have the watermark added to them. | |
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Click on the "Run" button | |
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Important note: The removal of the watermark requires that the image was not retouched after the watermark was added to it. If you changed the brightness or contrast of the image, cropped it, or resized it, then Photomatix will not be able to remove the watermark anymore. |
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I uninstalled the previous version before installing the upgrade, and was not asked to enter my keycode again. Is this normal? |
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Yes, this is normal. Uninstalling Photomatix Pro only removes the components of the software, not your licensing information. The Windows version of Photomatix Pro stores this information in your registry (HKEY_CURRENT_USER) and the Max OS X version in your preferences (com.multimediaphoto.photomatix.plist). |
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If you wish to unregister Photomatix Pro as well as remove its default settings, please proceed as follows depending on your computer platform: |
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On Mac: Locate the file
~/Library/Preferences/com.multimediaphoto.photomatix.plist (where '~' is your User directory)
and move it to the Trash. |
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On Windows:
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Click on "Start" (normally located on the bottom left of your computer) | |
| · |
Click "Run" on the "Start" menu | |
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Type "regedit" (without the quotes) on the open box, and then press ENTER | |
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In Registry Editor, locate and click the directory: "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MultimediaPhoto\Photomatix" | |
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Select the Photomatix folder, and click "Delete" on the "Edit" menu | |
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Click Yes on the confirmation dialog |
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My registration key won't work |
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If you have purchased a license for our software, then the registration
key emailed automatically to you must work. Please try not to type the registration information but instead
copy and paste the License Key (and the User ID if applicable) from the email.
This way you will avoid any typing error. Also, please note that the registration information is case sensitive.
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Compatibilities |
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Does Photomatix work with Photoshop Elements? |
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Photomatix Pro or Photomatix Light is a stand-alone application, which means it does not need another imaging application to run. |
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Once you have tone mapped HDR images with Photomatix Pro or Photomatix Light, the resulting images are compatible with any image editing software, i.e. you will be able to further process them in Photoshop Elements if you need to. |
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Is your software compatible with Photoshop CS5? |
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If your question relates to Photomatix Pro of Photomatix Light, those are stand-alone applications, and thus run independently from Photoshop. Images saved with Photomatix Pro or Photomatix Light are of course compatible with Photoshop CS5. |
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If your question relates to our Tone Mapping plug-in for Photoshop, then the answer is in the Tone Mapping Plug-In FAQ. |
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Is Photomatix Pro compatible with Mac OS 10.6/Snow Leopard? |
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Yes, the current version of Photomatix Pro is compatible with Snow Leopard. You can upgrade for free to the latest version by downloading it from the download page. |
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Photomatix Light is compatible with Snow Leopard as well. |
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Will Photomatix work on Windows 7? |
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Yes, Photomatix Pro and Photomatix Light works fine on Windows 7. |
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Does Photomatix work on 64-bit OS? |
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Yes, Photomatix Pro and Photomatix Light work fine with the 64-bit edition of Windows XP, Vista and 7, and work fine on 64-bit Mac OS. Moreover, Photomatix Pro for Windows is available as 64-bit edition and Photomatix Pro and Photomatix Light for Mac OS X are 32/64-bit Universal, and thus take advantage of the 64-bit capability of your OS.
|
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How do I know whether my OS is 64-bit? |
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On Windows 7:
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Click on the "Start" button (the button with the Windows logo), then click on the 'Control Panel' menu option | |
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In the 'Control Panel' window, click "System and Maintenance" and then click "System" | |
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Under the 'System' section, view the "System type". If your OS is 64-bit, it will be "64-bit Operating System". | |
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On Windows Vista:
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Click on the "Start" button (the button with the Windows logo), then click on the 'Control Panel' menu option | |
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In the 'Control Panel' window, click "System and Security" and then click "System" | |
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Under the 'System' section, view the "System type". If your OS is 64-bit, it will be "64-bit Operating System". | |
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On Windows XP: Given that Windows XP 64-bit is rather rare, you will most likely already known it if your OS is 64-bit, but if you would still like to check, here is how:
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Click on the "Start" button (the button with the Windows logo), then click on the 'Control Panel' menu option | |
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In the Control Panel window, double-click "System". | |
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On the General tab, view the "System type". | |
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On Mac OS X:
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Open your Terminal application (which you will find under "Applications/Utilities") | |
| · |
Copy/paste the following command:
ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi | |
| · |
Press the Enter key | |
| If the result includes <"EFI64">, then your Mac is 64-bit enabled. | |
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What are the system requirements? |
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On both platforms:
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1 GB of RAM (more recommended, the more the better) |
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500 MB of available hard-disk space (more recommended) |
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1,024x768 or greater monitor resolution |
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Color monitor with 16-bit color or greater video card |
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Windows platform:
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Photomatix Pro: Windows Vista and Windows 7, or Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP with .NET 1.1 framework or higher (if the .NET framework is not installed, the installation wizard of Photomatix Pro will invite you to download it from Microsoft's website). |
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Photomatix Light: Windows Vista and Windows 7, or Windows XP with .NET 2.0 framework or higher (if the .NET framework is not installed, the installation wizard of Photomatix Pro will invite you to download it from Microsoft's website). |
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Mac OS X platform:
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Photomatix Pro: Mac OS 10.3.9 or higher - Photomatix Light: Mac OS 10.5/10.6 |
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G3, G4, G5 or Intel processor |
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Does Photomatix support RAWs from the Nikon D3s, Canon 5D Mark II, 1D Marck IV and 550D/T2i? |
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Yes, the current version of Photomatix Pro supports RAWs from these camera models. The upgrade is free of charge and available from the download page. |
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Note: For best results, we recommend that you convert your RAW images prior to combining in Photomatix as further detailed here. |
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What are the file formats and RAW files supported? |
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Photomatix Pro opens and saves images in the following formats:
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JPEG |
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TIFF (8-bit, 16-bit and Floating Point) |
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Radiance RGBE |
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OpenEXR |
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The following formats are supported in read mode only:
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PSD |
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PNG (Mac version only) |
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Photomatix also supports Raw files from Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Sony, Olympus, Minolta, Pentax, Panasonic, Sigma, Phase One and Leaf, as well as Digital Negative (DNG). If your camera model is recent, though, you may have to wait till a further version of Photomatix Pro before it gets supported. |
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A list of camera models for which the current version of Photomatix Pro and Photomatix Light support RAW files is
available here. |
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Tips & Tricks |
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What camera do I need to get good results with your software? |
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Photomatix works with differently exposed photos. To get good results, it is important that each one of the source
photos are taken with a sufficiently different exposure in order to properly cover the dynamic range of the scene.
Taking three photos separated by two EVs (i.e. two full-stops), or five photos separated by one EV,
will be sufficient for most outdoors scenes. |
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Many digital cameras include an Auto Exposure Bracketing function that makes the process of taking several exposures
easier and faster. If you select Aperture Priority and then use Auto Exposure Bracketing, the camera will automatically
take 3 or more shots at different exposure times when you press the shutter release button. |
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A camera offering the Auto Exposure Bracketing option is therefore recommended for taking HDR pictures. However, this
option won't be useful if the maximum EV step possible with Auto Exposure Bracketing is less than one EV for your
camera. If your camera offers less than that (for instance 0.7 or 2/3 EV), then Auto Exposure Bracketing won't be useful and you will have to
change the exposure times manually. |
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A list of camera models with their AEB settings is
available here. |
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A two-EV spacing is best for capturing images intended for HDR. However, a one-EV spacing is still OK if the camera
can take 5 or more frames with Auto Exposure Bracketing.
|
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I have a RAW file. Can I make different exposures with it to use in your software? |
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Yes, you can still use Photomatix when you have shot only one exposure in RAW mode. The big advantage, of course, is that you just need one image, so there is no need to use a tripod or to remember to auto-bracket, and it will also work if the subject is moving. |
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However, the range of "workable" exposures you can get from a RAW file is limited. If you are shooting a high contrast scene, you are unlikely to match the results you would have with taking the scene under different exposures that can cover the whole dynamic range. |
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There are three techniques for using Photomatix Pro with one single exposure taken in RAW mode:
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Technique 1: Open your RAW file in Photomatix Pro to convert it into a pseudo-HDR image, then tone map it. |
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Technique 2: Convert your RAW file into a 16 bits/channel image in your favorite RAW converter, open it in Photomatix Pro, and tone map it. |
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Technique 3: Create two or three exposures in your RAW converter and combine them in Photomatix Pro (or Photomatix Light) as it they were "real" bracketed shots |
|
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Technique # 3 gives the best results. Also, it has the advantage of working with Exposure Fusion. Technique # 1 is the easiest, but you will get less good results with it than with the two other techniques. |
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To optimize the results achieved with a single-exposure capture, it is important to ensure the lowest noise level at capture time. For this, set the lowest ISO possible (ISO 100 for instance) and expose for the shadows when taking the RAW image, i.e. overexpose your shot. Even though the histogram of your camera may indicate that highlights will be lost, you should still be able to recover them during RAW conversion (unless the scene is too high contrast, but then a single image will not
be sufficient for good results with Photomatix). There are two examples obtained this way here. |
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Deriving "fake" exposures from a single RAW file (technique 3 above) is theoretically an improper way of creating a 32-bit HDR image. If you intend to use the HDR image file for 3D rendering, then you should not use this technique, as you will not get accurate linear pixel values required for image based lighting. However, if you are only interested in the tone mapped result, then creating "fake" exposures is a valuable technique, as long as you get improved results over technique 1 or 2. |
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You can see some examples obtained with technique 3 in this user gallery for instance. Also, this tutorial on RAW HDR Processing details the technique. |
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On the other hand, some high end cameras have sensors with a depth of 14 bits, which means two f-stops more of dynamic range. It is definitely a good idea to try the Tone Mapping tool of Photomatix Pro on the 16-bit TIFF file derived from the the RAW data of such cameras. Also, the dynamic range of the RAWs of the Fuji S3 and S5 Pro is higher than RAWs of other DSLRs. |
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Do I need to process bracketed RAW files to TIFF format first? |
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Yes, it is recommended to first process your bracketed RAW files in your favorite RAW converter, and then combine the converted TIFF or JPEG files in Photomatix. This is particularly recommended with Exposure Fusion, given that Exposure Fusion is intended for images that have been fully processed, either in-camera or through a RAW converter. |
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When generating an HDR image, having Photomatix directly process the RAW files is theoretically better for the accuracy of the 32-bit HDR image produced -- the data in RAW files represent the linear luminance values captured by the camera sensors, which is exactly what is needed for an HDR image. Also, the calculation of HDR values can rely on the exposure information retrieved from EXIF data when RAW files are used. |
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However, the RAW conversion of Photomatix Pro and Photomatix Light is not as good as the RAW conversion done in Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture, DxO or other applications specialized in RAW conversion. |
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This is why you should process your bracketed RAW files in an application that is specialized in the RAW conversion task. Then, use the converted output as source images for Photomatix Pro or Photomatix Light. |
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If you have Lightroom and Photomatix Pro, it is easy to integrate both processes with the free Lightroom Export Plug-In to Photomatix Pro. |
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When using a RAW converter with files intended for HDR merging, you should disable sharpening and uncheck all tonal and exposure-related automatic settings (especially the Exposure adjustment setting but also adjustments for contrast, shadow, etc.) which should be set to zero. This does not apply to files intended for Exposure Fusion, though. For Exposure Fusion, it is better to process your RAW files using the auto-settings of the RAW converter. |
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As a side note: Though shooting in RAW is definitely better than shooting in jpeg for the dynamic range, this is not really relevant anymore when several exposures are used -- if your bracketed shots properly cover the scene's dynamic range, jpegs will work as well as RAWs for creating an HDR image.
|
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What is the ideal exposure range and exposure spacing? |
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The ideal exposure range is the one that covers the dynamic range of the scene you are shooting. So, the exposure range depends on the scene.
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For many outdoors scenes, 3 exposures spaced one or two EVs apart may be sufficient. However, for an interior with an outside view on a sunny day, for instance, the dynamic range can be quite high. |
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An E.V. (Exposure Value) is also referred to as a stop (or full-stop when it is one E.V.). One E.V. increment corresponds to a doubling of the amount of light hitting the camera's sensors. This means that a range of 8 E.V. can be achieved with exposure times ranging from 1/250 to 1 sec. for instance, assuming a fixed aperture and ISO setting. If you set your camera to +/-1EV step increments, you will need 9 frames to achieve that range. If you set it to +/-2EV, you will need 5 frames. |
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Regarding the exposure spacing, an increment of 1.5 or 2 E.V. is generally recommended. The advantage compared to an exposure spacing of one-EV is that it will limit the number of shots required to span the dynamic range, and therefore reduce the risks of mis-registrations and ghosting. It will also reduce storage needs and make for faster processing in Photomatix. On the other hand, a one-EV spacing -or lower- does have one advantage, which is to better smooth out noise when merging to an HDR image.
|
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| › |
How do I select the exposures? |
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To get good results with Photomatix, your capture sequence must include photos that correctly expose highlights and photos that correctly expose shadows. The latter is especially important to avoid noise showing in the processed HDR image. |
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The number of photos you need depends on the scene. It also depends on the Exposure Value (EV) spacing separating the photos. If you take them in one-EV steps (e.g., -1, 0, +1 EV), you will need more photos than if you take them in two-EV steps (e.g., -2, 0, +2 EV). We recommend shooting in two-EV steps whenever possible. |
| |
In the lightest photo of the sequence, the darkest shadows should be at least in the mid-tones. You can check that with your camera's histogram preview in playback mode. In your most overexposed photo, the left part of the histogram should be empty until 1/3rd of the histogram's width. If this is not the case, you will have to add one or more photos taken with longer exposure times. |
| |
Another option is to re-shoot the exposure sequence with the normal exposure set one or more EVs higher if your most underexposed image in the exposure sequence was too dark. This is the case when the histogram of your darkest image is completely empty on the right half. |
| |
High contrast scenes can be grouped into roughly two types depending on their dynamic range:
| · |
Medium dynamic range scene: Most landscapes and other types of outdoor scenes fall into this category. Three exposures taken in two-EV steps (i.e. -2, 0 +2 EV), or five exposures taken in one-EV steps, are usually sufficient for this type of scene. |
| · |
High dynamic range scene: A typical example is the interior of a room with a view
outside the window on a sunny day. You need to take at least five exposures in two-EV
steps (or nine exposures in one-EV steps) to capture this type of scene, but you may need
more. Taking the exposures manually is recommended in these cases. |
|
| |
Here is how to select the exposures when you need to take the exposure manually for the High dynamic range scene case described above.
| · |
Set your camera in manual exposure mode and select an aperture that is the most appropriate for your scene (e.g. f/8 for a motionless scene) and the lowest ISO setting. |
| · |
Measure the light in the highlights you want to preserve (in Av mode to point only the highlights, otherwise with spot metering). Take a shot with this exposure - let's name it time T1 - and look at the histogram to check that no important area is burned out. |
| · |
Measure the light in the shadows by pointing (or spot metering) the darkest area where you want to see details - let's name it exposure time T2. |
| · |
The ratio log2(T2/T1) gives you the number of E.V. needed to capture the dynamic range. We recommend an EV spacing of two f-stops apart for Photomatix (see question above), so your lowest exposure will be exposure time T1, the next one will be two stops more (i.e. T1 multiplied by 4), and so on till you get at the longest exposure time T2. | |
| |
If you cannot achieve the number of shots and exposure settings with the Automatic Exposure Bracketing function of your camera, then you will have to bracket more than once or set each exposure individually. When you need to manually change the exposures or brackets, using a tripod will be necessary. |
| ^ |
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| › |
How can I get good results when shooting a room with a bright view in the window? |
| |
The dynamic range of the inside of a room with a view outside the window on a sunny day is particularly high, much higher than the dynamic range of a typical outdoor scene. |
| |
The key to getting a good result with such scenes is to take enough exposures to properly cover the dynamic range. In most cases, you will need at least five exposures spaced two EVs apart. If you take less, you may get washed-out highlights, or noisy shadows, or black artifacts due to "holes" in the coverage of the dynamic range. |
| |
The best way to make sure you have taken enough exposures is to measure the light as explained above. Also, set the EV steps to +/- 2 if your camera allows it, but no more than 2 in order to ensure a "smooth" coverage of the dynamic range. If your camera does not allow more than a +/- 1 EV increments, remember that you will need more exposures than with a two-EV spacing.
|
| |
Then, when it comes to processing the shots, we recommend trying both Exposure Fusion with "H&S - Adjust", and "Generate HDR" followed by Tone Mapping with Details Enhancer. |
| ^ |
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| › |
How did you take the Grand Canal picture on your example page while the boats were moving? |
| |
Taking differently exposed shots for HDR only works well with stills. For a scene with motion, the resulting image will show "ghosting" artifacts.
|
| |
Most cameras have an automatic bracketing exposure function which lets them take three or more shots successively while automatically changing the exposure. This is still not fast enough in most cases of moving scenes, but in the case
of the Grand Canal photo shown on our example page it was, as the boats' movements are almost unnoticeable in the final tone mapped image. There were two reasons for that:
| 1. |
The boats were moving slowly. |
| 2. |
The three shots were taken with a camera offering a high burst rate (the 1D MKII which can take up to 8.5 frames per second). |
|
| |
Photomatix Pro includes an option that reduces ghosting artifacts for moving objects. When this option does not work well with your images, you can also try the ghost repair technique detailed in this tutorial (note that when the tutorial mentions HDR image, it refers to the tone mapped image in fact).
|
| ^ |
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| › |
What is the best workflow: Exposure Fusion or HDR Tone Mapping? |
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This depends on the dynamic range of the scene, the characteristics of the differently exposed images and the effect you want to achieve. Our recommendation is to systematically try both, using Batch Processing from the Automate menu. |
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What we usually do for any set of image, is to first run the batch with the three following methods:
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Tone Mapping with Details Enhancer |
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Tone Mapping with Tone Compressor |
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Highlights & Shadows - Adjust | |
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The table below lists the main pros and cons of both processes. |
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Pros |
Cons |
| HDR Tone Mapping |
| · HDR image file can be saved, enabling to tone map the same image with other methods or other settings. |
| · Ability to preserve details in shadows and highlights even when the dynamic range is particularly high |
| · High degree of parametrization, i.e. tone mapping methods can offer many settings to adapt image to one's liking |
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| · When source images are noisy, tone mapping may further increase noise. |
| · In spite of the availability of settings, controlling the tone mapping operation is not easy. |
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| Exposure Fusion |
| · Fusing the images has the effect of reducing noise |
| · Fused image is close to the source images giving it a "natural" look |
| · Easy-to-understand process, no or few parameter setting |
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| · Lack of local contrast when dynamic range is high, "flat-looking" results in some cases |
| · Memory required for Exposure Fusion increases with the number of source images and bit-depth. |
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I am getting noisy tone mapping results. Is there a way to avoid this? |
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The Tone Mapping method "Details Enhancer" enhances local details a lot. If the local details of your HDR image are noisy
(you can easily see that in the HDR viewer), then the noise will be enhanced as well, unfortunately. |
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If you have generated the HDR image directly from RAW files, then the noise may be avoided by converting your RAW files to TIFFs or JPEGs in your favorite RAW converter first. Then, process the converted files in Photomatix. |
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If you still get noise when using JPEG or TIFF as source files, then you will have to apply a noise removal tool to the source images. |
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If your scene is motionless (i.e. without moving objects), you should still be able to avoid having to use noise removal tools if you follow the two rules given below: |
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| Rule 1: |
Set a low ISO setting (ISO 100 or lower) |
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Overexpose sufficiently, ensuring that the lightest image of your exposure sequence has its shadows in the mid-tones. |
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If you are using Photomatix with a single RAW image instead of differently exposed photos, then the chance of getting noisy results is higher, unfortunately. In this case, you should expose for the shadows by slightly overexposing your shot. |
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Photomatix also offers Exposure Fusion. Combining your photos with the Exposure Fusion methods is an effective way of reducing noise. The resulting combined image will show less noise that the individual source images taken under different exposures. We recommend in particular the "Adjust" fusion method.
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How do I reduce/eliminate "halo" effects with tone mapping? |
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Increasing the value of the Highlights Smoothness setting (under the "miscellaneous" section) is useful for reducing halos around objects placed against bright backgrounds. The other adjustments that may help are lowering the Strength and/or increasing the value of the Smoothing setting.
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An easier way to avoid halo artifacts is to either use the Tone Compressor method for tone mapping your image, or to process your bracketed photos with Exposure Fusion using the 'Adjust' method. The latter is particularly recommended if you are looking for natural-looking results.
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Using Photomatix |
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I created an HDR image, why can't I save it as JPEG? |
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An HDR image stores color information in 32-bit precision and as such can't be directly saved in a Low Dynamic Range format such as JPEG. |
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An HDR image in itself is not very interesting for photographers since it can't be correctly displayed on monitors and even less printed. This is why the HDR image you created from several exposures needs to be further processed for photographic use. It needs to be tone mapped so that the values of the image data fit into the limited range that your monitor can display. |
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Once you have applied the Tone Mapping tool to your HDR image, the details in highlight and shadows captured with your multiple exposures will then become visible on screen and you will be able to save the result as JPEG (or as 16-bit TIFF image if you choose this option). |
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My camera does not shoot RAWs. Can I still use your software with JPEG pictures? |
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Definitely. Photomatix does NOT require images in RAW format. Photomatix works with images taken under different exposure settings, and works great when those images are JPEGs as well. |
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Most results shown on our example page have been produced from differently exposed jpegs, by the way. |
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So, the important feature to look at in a camera is Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB): the ability to automatically take three or more exposures, preferably in two EV steps as detailed here. The higher the number of auto-bracketed frames, EV step and frame rate speed, the better it is for HDR processing. |
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What is the maximum file size that I can work with? |
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The file size to consider for Photomatix is the size expressed in number of pixels, i.e. width X height. Since Photomatix has to decompress the images for processing, the compression factor of the input images does not make any difference in the ability to process large files. |
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The maximum file size (in number of pixels) that you can process with Photomatix depends on the following:
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the RAM your computer has |
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whether your OS is 32 or 64-bit |
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the pixel depth of your images |
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the number of bracketed photos you are combining |
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the number of other memory-hungry applications opened on your computer |
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the free space available on your hard drive |
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the processing mode (i.e. whether you are running Photomatix Pro in batch mode or from the interface) |
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Additionally, it is important to note that there is an upper limit to the amount of RAM that is made available to applications like Photomatix. On Windows XP 32-bit, this limit is as low as 2 GB, regardless of your RAM. That is, it will still be 2 GB via virtual memory if you computer has less than 2 GB RAM, but it won't be more than 2 GB if your computer has 4 GB RAM (unless you enable the /3GB switch). |
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Then, external memory fragmentation further limits the memory available to Photomatix, by making it impossible to allocate a contiguous block of memory large enough to contain the whole images data. External memory fragmentation is a problem on Windows OS, and particularly on Windows XP. It means that the system does not organize the available memory efficiently, making it unable to re-use the memory that Photomatix has released. |
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When combining large source images, please use Batch Processing available from the Automate menu. |
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When you create a large HDR image file that you want to tone map in Photomatix Pro, you will have to save the HDR image in the Radiance format (.hdr extension) to avoid out-of-memory issues.
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For an idea of the memory necessary to process your images, the following formulae give a rough estimate of the amount of memory needed (in bytes) |
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For the method "Highlights & Shadows - Auto" with Batch Processing:
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width * height * 3 * (bit-depth/8) * (numberOfImages + 1) |
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For the method "Highlights & Shadows - Adjust" with Batch Processing:
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width * height * 3 * (bit-depth/8) * (numberOfImages + 1) |
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For Tone Mapping with Details Enhancer an HDR image file opened in preview mode or using Batch Single Files (option "360° image" unchecked):
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For three 8,000 x 4,000 images with 8 bits per color channel, this will give approximately:
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32,000,000 * 3 * (3 + 1) = 384 MB with "H&S - Adjust" |
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32,000,000 * 18 = 576 MB with Details Enhancer |
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For "Generate HDR", the amount of memory is roughly the same as for "H&S - Auto", which can be quite high when the source images are in 16 bits/channel mode and/or when there are many of them. |
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However, there is an option in Batch Processing that avoids memory limitation by creating the HDR image file one strip at a time, provided the source images are TIFF files. When this option is checked, Photomatix Pro will only load, process and write a given number of rows from the source images instead of the entire images. This way, you can create an HDR image stored in Radiance (.hdr) format from any number of large source images, even on a computer with limited RAM.
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How does your software handle color profiles? |
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Photomatix processes the RGB values of your source images directly, without converting them to another color space. This means that the resulting images produced by Photomatix will be in the same color space as the one specified by the ICC color profile of your source images. |
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When a color profile for the source images is available, Photomatix embeds it into the resulting tone mapped or combined image. |
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Please note, though, that in the case of a tone mapped image, the color profile can only be passed through if the Generate HDR and Tone Mapping steps are done in the same session. If you have first saved the HDR image file, then the ICC profile information will be lost and the Tone Mapping step won't know the color profile anymore. This means that you will have to assign the color profile of the original source images to the tone mapped image yourself. |
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However, since version 3.0, Photomatix Pro saves the name of the color profile in the header of the HDR image file when this is saved as Radiance (.hdr extension). This means you will not have to re-assign the color profile, provided the HDR image file has been saved as Radiance and the color profile is either sRGB, Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB.
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Additionally, Photomatix Pro is color managed for the display as well. This means it will show the correct color values based on the ICC profile of the image and the color profile set as display profile for your monitor.
On Mac OS X, the display profile is set under System Preferences->Displays->Color.
On Windows, it is under Settings->Control Panel->Display->Settings->Advanced->Color Management.
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I can't get sharp results with your software! |
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Lack of sharpness on tone mapped HDR images is often due to the use of Shutter priority mode instead of the recommended Aperture priority mode when bracketing shots. |
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It it important to set your camera to Aperture priority when shooting with Automatic Exposure Bracketing. This way, only the shutter time will vary, and the Aperture will remain the same. If you set it to Shutter priority instead, the depth-of-field will change between the shots, and this will lead to inferior results on the combined image. Additionally, there may be vignetting issues too. |
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Are there ordering rules for loading the images? |
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No. You can load the images in any order, regardless of their Exposure Value. |
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Creating an HDR image requires to assign an exposure to each source image. Photomatix automatically retrieves the exposure information from EXIF data. When the images do not have EXIF data, Photomatix will let you enter the exposure values manually, or automatically estimate them when running in batch mode. |
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What are the differences between Exposure Fusion and HDR/Tonemapping? |
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Both processes start from the same source files: differently exposed Low Dynamic Range (LDR) images. And both attempt to produce as final result an LDR image that shows tonal details of the entire dynamic range captured by the different exposures. |
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The differences are in the process itself. Exposure Fusion consists in combining the differently exposed images in such a way that highlight details are taken from the underexposed photos and shadows details from the overexposed ones. Since the bit-depth does not change throughout this process, the basis of Exposure Fusion algorithms is a type of weighted average of the source images. |
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One of the advantage or Exposure Fusion is that it is easy to understand and you can see what you are doing. Also, it is rather familiar to photographers who are used to doing this process manually in image editing applications. Another advantage of Exposure Fusion is that it reduces noise. |
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HDR Tone Mapping is composed of two steps. The first step creates an HDR image from differently exposed photos. This HDR image can not be displayed correctly on a Low Dynamic Range monitor, which is why a second step called Tone Mapping is necessary. Tone Mapping consists in scaling each pixel of the HDR image, so that details in highlights and shadows show correctly on monitors and prints (those details are available in the HDR image but not directly visible in both highlights and shadows because of the low dynamic range of the display). |
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Tone Mapping algorithms vary from a simple gamma curve (which is often what cameras are doing when converting 12-bit RAW data to 8-bit JPEGs) to more complex operators commonly divided into two categories:
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Global operators: mapping depends on the pixels' intensity and global image characteristics, but not on spatial location |
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Local operators: mapping takes into account the pixels' surroundings (in addition to intensity and image characteristics). |
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The main advantage of global operators is fast processing. Local operators require longer processing times but they are better at producing a "good-looking" photograph (the human eye adapts to contrast locally). In Photomatix Pro, the Tone Mapping method "Details Enhancer" belongs to the category of local operators and the method "Tone Compressor" to the category of global operators. |
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The pros and cons of Exposure Fusion vs Tone Mapping in Photomatix Pro are detailed under the section below. |
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Does Photomatix make use of dual and quad processors? |
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The current version of Photomatix Pro supports multiple processors for the Tone Compressor tone mapping method and parts of the Details Enhancer method. Further versions will add multi-threading support for the alignment and fusion methods. |
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However, it is important to note that most processes of Photomatix are memory-intensive, which means that multi-processor support will not speed up processing times as much as one may expect. For a memory-intensive process, the bottleneck regarding processing times comes from memory accesses rather than a high number of operations. This means that the processor has to stay idle for many cycles, waiting for data to be fetched in memory. Adding more processing power in this case will just waste even more cycles. |
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So, multi-core support will not improve much the processing speed of the most memory-intensive functions of Photomatix, and may even increase processing times because of the overhead incurred. However, there are still processes in Photomatix that are not particularly memory-intensive and can thus benefit from multi-threading -- the Tone Compressor tone mapping method is probably the best example, but some parts of the Details Enhancer method can benefit from it as well. |
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How many images can I merge? |
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With Photomatix Light, the number of images you can merge is limited to 5. |
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With Photomatix Pro, the number of images you can merge is unlimited. However, The fusion method "Highlights & Shadows - 2 images" merges only two images. If you have loaded more than two images, Photomatix Pro will let you select the images to process. |
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For HDR generation and all other fusion methods, you can merge as many images as you want. |
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When you have 3 or more bracketed shots and are using the "Exposure Fusion" functions of Photomatix Pro or Photomatix Light, we recommend that you also try to merge fewer images, eliminating for instance images that do not add much values (e.g. an underexposed image where even the highlights are too dark to provide interesting details). |
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Can I use your product for combining multiple scans? |
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Yes, Photomatix can be used to combine two or more scans from the same film scanned under different exposure settings.
There is an example produced with 3 scans from a film's negative
here. You may also try with scanned slides,
but it is better to do it with negatives, as the dynamic range for film's negatives is higher than for slides.
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We would recommend combining the differently exposed 16-bit outputs from your
scanner with the Exposure Fusion method named "H&S - Adjust". Since this fusion method is mostly automatic, it is recommended to use the Batch Processing function to
process the 16-bit scans to avoid out-of-memory issues.
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The scans will need to have the same size before processing them. Also, the option "Align images" will have to be checked in order to correct for possible mis-registration of the scans.
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Error messages and unexpected results |
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When I try to run Photomatix for Windows, I get an error message just after launching it |
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If the error message makes reference to a "process id" and "thread id" and/or includes "application has generated an exception that could not be handled", "the application or DLL is not a valid Windows image", "application failed to initialize properly" or "fatal execution engine", then the error is most likely related to a corrupted installation of the .NET framework on your computer.
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You could try uninstalling and reinstalling the .NET Framework on your PC. An easier alternative is to download our special version of Photomatix Pro which embeds the .NET Framework, and thus should solve the issue. |
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You can download this special version directly from the link below. Please note that the download is substantially larger (16 MB) than the usual download of Photomatix Pro for Windows. |
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Download Photomatix Pro 3.2.9 with the .NET framework embedded (17 MB). |
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It is recommended to uninstall any version of Photomatix Pro installed on your computer before installing the .NET Framework embedded version. |
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When installing a newer version, I get the message "Error trying to replace existing file: DeleteFile failed; code 5" |
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This error message means that you are running Photomatix Pro at the same time you tried to install the new version. To avoid this error, please make sure to close any instance of Photomatix Pro that is already open, and then download and install the new version. |
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The Tone Mapping preview does not look the same as the final output image. |
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This should only happen if you use the Details Enhancer method to tone map the image. The preview is pre-computed by tone mapping a low resolution version of the original image. The low resolution version does not contain the same pixel values as the entire image. That is, the input is different, and this makes the Details Enhancer algorithm behave differently.
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The preview has for purpose to give you an indication of how the final tone mapped image will look like, and how changes in the settings influence it. It is not an exact representation of the final result, unless you use the Tone Compressor method to tone map the image. |
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When the final result is not like you wanted it, you can undo the Tone Mapping (from the HDR menu on Windows and the Edit menu on Mac) and try the Tone Mapping again using other settings.
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The differences should be less noticeable when the Strength is low, the Smoothing control is in slider mode, and the White Point and Black Point are set to their default values. |
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Using Photomatix for panoramas |
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I am stitching panoramas. How should I integrate Photomatix in my workflow? |
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As you know, getting a seamless panorama is best achieved by maintaining a constant exposure when shooting the panorama's views. The problem is that the right exposure is different for each view. Photomatix Pro can help solve this dilemma. |
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First of all, you will need to shoot each one of the panorama's angles of view at different exposures (for instance three exposures at 0, -2, +2 EV). Those exposures should remain the same for all of the angles of view of your panorama.
This is easy if your camera has an auto-bracketing function -- set the exposure to manual mode, then select auto-bracketing after having set the appropriate aperture (the bracketing function will change the shutter speed automatically). |
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If your panorama software supports 32-bit HDR stitching, then you can use Photomatix to create the 32-bit HDR images in input of stitching, and later on to tone map the 32-bit HDR panorama once it has been stitched. In this case, integrating Photomatix in your workflow is not different than with standard images and you don't need to read the rest of this section. Please refer instead to the section on large files. |
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If your panorama software does not support 32-bit HDR stitching, there are two possibilities for integrating Photomatix in your panorama workflow:
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Stitch-then-HDR: create multi exposed panoramas and process them in Photomatix |
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HDR-then-Stitch: process your bracketed images in Photomatix and stitch the tone mapped or combined images |
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We are using the first workflow, i.e. Stitch-then-HDR. This means producing one panorama for each exposure level and then merging those panoramas in Photomatix. |
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However, the Stitch-then-HDR workflow assumes that the differently exposed panoramas are stitched the same way, i.e. using the same control points for each panorama. This can only work if your stitching software makes it possible to replicate the stitching parameters used for one panorama to another panorama, so that it can stitch your differently exposed panoramas exactly the same way. This is possible, for instance, with software based on Panotools (see below) and with Autodesk Stitcher (see below). If this is not the case (e.g. with Panoweaver), you will have to use Photomatix prior to stitching, i.e. merging your bracketed shots for each one of the angle of views and then stitch together the resulting images. |
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The second type of workflow, HDR-then-Stitch, avoids multiple stitches per pano, which is an advantage if your pano is composed of a limited number of views. The drawback, however, is that this approach may not work well with the dynamic range increase techniques that take the most advantage of local contrast, especially the Tone Mapping tool. Because local contrast is specific to a given view, those techniques produce images with different tone levels, making them more difficult to stitch. |
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It does not necessarily mean, though, that you won't be able to stitch images obtained via HDR Tone Mapping. We have heard for instance that Autodesk Stitcher does a good job at stitching tone mapped images produced by Photomatix Pro. If you have similar experiences with other stitching applications, please let us know. |
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In any case, we recommend using Photomatix in batch mode for processing panoramas. The Batch Processing of Photomatix Pro has been designed with the needs of panographers in mind. |
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Autodesk Stitcher returns an error "Image size must be the same" when I load HDR images produced with Photomatix. |
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When the Align images option is selected and your bracketed images are slightly misaligned, Photomatix will by default crop the images after having corrected the alignment shifts. This means that the width and/or height of the resulting HDR image will slightly differ from the width and height of the source images, and also differ from the width and height of the other HDR images as the alignment correction is specific to a bracketed set. |
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To bypass the cropping of the resulting image after alignment, please check the option Don't crop located next to the Align images option on the Batch Processing window. When the Don't crop option is checked, Photomatix will not change the size of the images after alignment and Stitcher will not complain.
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My tone mapped panorama shows a straight vertical seam line. Is there a way to get rid of it? |
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Yes. To get rid of the seam when tone mapping an HDR panorama with the Details Enhancer method, you will have to check the option "360º image" before running the Tone Mapping. |
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Please note that checking this option increases the memory requirement for processing the image quite a lot.
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If you are tone mapping with the Tone Compressor method, then the option is not needed as you will never get a vertical seam line when using a global type of tone mapping operator such as Tone Compressor. |
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Could you detail how you stitched the panoramas shown on your samples page? |
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The panoramas shown on the examples page of this site have been stitched with Panorama Tools (also known as PanoTools). |
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In order to produce identically stitched panoramas per exposure, we did the following:
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Loaded the images shot at the middle exposure into PTGui |
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Set the control point and stitched a first panorama for the middle exposure |
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Saved the project file (.pts) |
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Then for each one of the other exposure sets:
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Loaded the images belonging to the same exposure into PTGui. |
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Selected Apply Template and chose as template the project file created for the middle exposure. |
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This gave us one panorama at each exposure level. We then processed the differently exposed panoramas in Photomatix Pro. |
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Important note: the Align Images option should always be unchecked when processing panoramas that have been rendered at different exposures, that is when processing in Photomatix already stitched panoramas, one panorama per exposure. |
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For the two panoramas processed with the Tone Mapping tool, we also used Enblend, applying it to the differently exposed panoramas. Enblend was particularly useful in this case as it removed the stitching seams that the tone mapping tool would otherwise have enhanced as local details. |
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One note about using Enblend with Photomatix. The TIFF file produced by Enblend should be flattened before processing it in Photomatix. If you intend to use the tone mapping tool, then it is recommended to ensure that the transparent background becomes black (i.e. pixel values at 0) and not white when flattening the image, or even better to crop the panorama. |
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Do you have any advice for shooting virtual tours? I'm a beginner and using a 360º one-shot lens. |
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Select a small aperture (e.g. f/8 or higher f-stop number if you camera supports it). This is important to ensure a sufficient depth of field with one-shot systems. |
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Select a low ISO setting (e.g. 100). |
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Set your camera in Aperture Priority mode, so that only the exposure times (i.e. shutter speed) vary when you are taking the bracketed shots. |
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Select Auto Exposure Bracketing (in continuous shooting mode). The camera will automatically vary the shutter speed and shoot the scene at different exposures. |
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Set the stop spacing for auto-bracketing at +/-2. If this is not possible with your camera, +/- 1.5 should be still OK. If the maximum stop-spacing on your camera is lower than that, you will have to vary the exposure times manually. |
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Make sure to take enough exposures to correctly cover the dynamic range of the room. If there is a bright window, you
will probably need 5 exposures spaced by two EVs or even more (which means you will have to bracket twice if your
camera can not take more than 3 autobracketed frames in 2 EV steps). |
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If there is a bright window, it is a good idea to switch on all available lighting in the room. |
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For a good quality panorama, we recommend stitching multiple views rather than using a one-shot system.
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Miscellaneous |
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How do I get informed about your product updates? |
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Please subscribe to Photomatix announcements to receive notifications of upgrades. |
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Note that we have a strict privacy policy. This means we do not use the email addresses of customers, unless they explicitly requested to be notified about upgrades by subscribing to the announcements.
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When does Photomatix Pro version 4.0 come out? |
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We prefer to release a new version when it is ready rather than to release it according to a marketing schedule. This means that Photomatix Pro 4.0 will come out when our engineering team considers it to be ready for release.
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The upgrade to version 4 will be free of charge for customers who bought a license of Photomatix Pro 3, as further detailed above.
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How do I change my email address to my new one? |
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It is not necessary to change the email address you used to purchase a license of Photomatix as we have a strict privacy policy which precludes us from using your email address for anything other than our records. This means that if you wish to get informed of new versions of Photomatix, you will have to explicitly request it by subscribing to the Photomatix announcements. |
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When you need to be resent your license key while you don't have access to the email address you used to order a license, please contact us mentioning your old email address. |
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The upgrade to version 4 will be free of charge for customers who bought a license of Photomatix Pro 3, as further detailed above.
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Is there a wish-list for Photomatix? |
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Definitely. Please use our contact form to let us know about your suggestions/feature requests. Thanks in advance. |
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Why do you charge for your Aperture plug-in while the Lightroom plug-in is free? |
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Though Aperture and Lightroom are similar type of applications, their plug-in architectures are quite different. |
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Our plug-in for Lightroom is just an Export plug-in. This means the plug-in itself can't do anything interesting without the stand-alone Photomatix Pro. The photos you export via the plug-in are processed in Photomatix Pro for HDR tone mapping or exposure fusion. |
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By contrast, our plug-in for Aperture is an Edit plug-in which works completely independently from the stand-alone Photomatix Pro. An Edit plug-in is similar to a Filter plug-in in Photoshop. The images you edit with the plug-in remain in Aperture and are processed by the plug-in itself. |
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You do not need Photomatix Pro to tone map images with the Aperture plug-in, which is why the Aperture plug-in is sold separately from the standalone Photomatix Pro (or bundled with it in Photomatix Pro Plus). However, you do need Photomatix Pro to use the Lightroom plug-in. |
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Is there any chance you will release a Linux version of Photomatix? |
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We have no plans for releasing a Linux version of the software. |
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However, it is possible to run the Windows version of Photomatix Pro under Linux through Wine. |
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To run Photomatix Pro after version 3.0, you will need to install the .NET framework under Wine. The instructions to install Wine and the .NET framework under Fedora and Ubuntu are
detailed here. |
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In case you don't mind using the command line, then there is native Linux build of the command line version of Photomatix Pro available upon request. |
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Can I install two different versions of Photomatix Pro in parallel? |
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Yes. |
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In the case of the Windows version of Photomatix Pro, there used to be issues of conflicting DLL versions when running two instances of the application prior to version 2.5. However, since version 2.5, the updated DLLs get separate file names. This means you can run two versions concurrently after having installed each version in a separate folder.
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