Merge to 32-bit Plugin

Purpose

Merges bracketed photos and saves the merged image as Floating Point TIFF file.

This plugin does not render the Floating Point TIFF file it creates. If you want to create HDR photos from Lightroom with Photomatix HDR Tone Mapping and Exposure Fusion, please download instead the Photomatix Plugin for Lightroom, which is included for free in Photomatix Pro.

Difference with Lightroom CC Merge to HDR

Since Lightroom CC/6, Lightroom includes a feature to merge to HDR, and therefore the same feature as the Merge to 32-bit Plugin.

However, the Merge to 32-bit Plugin doesn't use the same algorithms as Lightroom CC to merge, align and remove ghosts. Also, Lightroom sets the default rendering for the merged image differently when it is created by Lightroom's built-in Merge to HDR. The results of the Merge to 32 Plugin look therefore different from the results of Lightroom's Merge to HDR.

Additionally, Lightroom's Merge to HDR saves the merged image as a 16-bit Floating Point DNG file, while the Plugin saves it as 32-bit TIFF file by default (with an option to save as 16-bit Floating Point TIFF).

Requirements

This plugin requires Lightroom 4.1 or higher.

Download Links

Merge to 32-bit Plugin 1.2 for Windows 64-bit  (Windows 10 / 8 / 7 - 64-bit)

Merge to 32-bit Plugin 1.2 for Windows 32-bit  (Windows 10 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP - 32-bit)

Merge to 32-bit Plugin 1.2 for Mac OS X  (10.5 or higher)

Using the Plugin

1. After installation, restart Lightroom if you are on Windows (or used the installer on Mac)
2. Select bracketed photos from either the Filmstrip or the Grid.
3. Right-click to invoke the contextual menu.
4. Select Export and then Merge to 32-bit HDR
5. Select the desired options and click on the Merge button
6. In case the merged image does not show once the merge has completed, click above the filmstrip and check All Photographs.
7. You can then adjust the merged image in Lightroom's Develop module.

Important Note

The Floating Point TIFF file that this plugin creates is meant to be rendered using Lightroom Develop module, and not Photomatix HDR processes.

Images shown in the user gallery of the HDRsoft.com website were not created using the Merge to 32-bit Plug-in.

Merging to 32-bit without the Plugin

Photomatix Pro can already merge to HDR to create a 32-bit HDR file accepted by Lightroom as described below. The Merge to 32-bit Plug-in for Lightroom adds convenience, but is not necessary if you have Photomatix Pro.

1. Open Photomatix Pro and click on the Load Bracketed Photos button.
2. On the dialog to load the photos, check the Show 32-bit unprocessed image box.
3. Select the desired option on the Merge to HDR Options dialog, and click OK
4. Once the merge is completed, choose File > Save As....
5. Select the Floating Point TIFF (.tif) item on the File Format combo-box and click OK.
6. Import the saved TIFF file into Lightroom.

Update log

9-Mar-13 - Updated in v1.1

• Bug fixed: In Lightroom 4.4, the merged TIFF files created by the plugin were dark and looked "wrong".
• Added Deghosting Strength setting (referred to as "Detection" in Photomatix).
• Added German localisation
• Moved the listing of the plugin on the contextual menu to an 'HDRsoft' submenu instead of 'Photomatix'.
• Bug fixed: Camera model metadata was not correct when merging photos from the Fuji X10.
• Bug fixed: On Lightroom Export panel, the Preset for the Merge to 32-bit Plugin included the File Naming and Image Setting sections whereas there was no need for them.
• Bug fixed: License key was still showing on Plug-in Manager dialog after plugin had been unregistered on computer (by removing Registry setting on Windows or Preferences file on Mac)