may exposure blending software looking for

[mantra]

Hi
i'm looking for a exposure blending software

i take many shots with different exposure

i would like to use a free software or buy one

i don't look for an pure hdr software

i don't like hdr results ,seems fake

i 'm looking a software that give me natural photos

and a software that let me control shadow ,midtones , hightlight

i installed photomatix 4 trial
but it has so much control feature in blend process

thanks
have a have shooting

cheers

[Wolfman]

Checkout Enfuse Gui : http://software.bergmark.com/enfuseGUI/Main.html

if you use it right it will look natural and there is also a version of Enfuse you can use in Lightroom instead of stand alone.

[mantra]

Originally Posted by Wolfman

Checkout Enfuse Gui : http://software.bergmark.com/enfuseGUI/Main.html

if you use it right it will look natural and there is also a version of Enfuse you can use in Lightroom instead of stand alone.

thanks
but i don't find many sliders to control shadow ,midtones and so on

[mistermonday]

Mantra, I have been getting excellent results with the Edit>Auto Blend command in PSCS5. I first do File> Scripts > Load Files into Stack checking the "Attempt to Align" option. This loads the files as layers into a single image stack and aligns them. Then I select all the layers and Edit>Auto Blend Layers. Usually use 5 images 0, -1, -2, +1, +2 ev.
While Auto Blend does not offer you any controls, it does give you a exceptional blend which usually means you don't need to correct your shadows or highlights. And for any fine tuning, you can apply any one of the standard PS commands / curves from there.
Regards, Murray

[mantra]

Originally Posted by mistermonday

Mantra, I have been getting excellent results with the Edit>Auto Blend command in PSCS5. I first do File> Scripts > Load Files into Stack checking the "Attempt to Align" option. This loads the files as layers into a single image stack and aligns them. Then I select all the layers and Edit>Auto Blend Layers. Usually use 5 images 0, -1, -2, +1, +2 ev.
While Auto Blend does not offer you any controls, it does give you a exceptional blend which usually means you don't need to correct your shadows or highlights. And for any fine tuning, you can apply any one of the standard PS commands / curves from there.
Regards, Murray

thank you so much
i do the same steps with 7 shots
but now i get 7 layers /photos
the first below with a white mask
the other 6 layers/photos above with black masks

no what should i do ?
keep only the layer with white mask and discarge the layers with black maskes

i did with jpg , do you blend raw files?

i sould say that i did a short tast
load one raw file , saved from 1 raw files many jpg with different exposure
1)Load Files into Stack
2)Auto Blend Layers

but the sky for example ,the highlight are blow away
thank you so much

[mistermonday]

i do the same steps with 7 shots
but now i get 7 layers /photos
the first below with a white mask
the other 6 layers/photos above with black masks
now what should i do ?
keep only the layer with white mask and discarge the
layers with black maskes

The type of masks (black vs white) will vary depending on what PS thinks is the most efficient way to work, so don't pay attention to it. You can not delete any of those 7 layers because PS has used parts of all of them to make up the composite view. You should do one of the following:

- Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E to create a "Merge All" layer on top of the stack and proceed to make any additional edits to that layer OR
- Maintain a fully editable workflow by adding adjustment layers (like curves or clone or colororing, etc) on top of the stack.

Your choice depends on your workfow philosophy.

i did with jpg , do you blend raw files

I mostly RAW files. PS then has the most latitude. Using original images which were taken with exposure bracketing by the camera will not be as good as original RAW images which were bracketed by the camera. That is because the camera will make a whole bunch of decisions when compressing a file to jpg and a lot of imaportant data is lost.
As for taking a single image and importing it 7 times into PS Camera RAW to make 7 different exposures, that does not work very well. You can not artificially strech a single exposure into 7 exposures because that single orig exposure has in itself a very limited range. If you only have a single exposure you would be better off just importing the image into Camera RAW and making the best set of adjustment that you can right there, one time.

Regards, Murray

[mantra]

Originally Posted by mistermonday

The type of masks (black vs white) will vary depending on what PS thinks is the most efficient way to work, so don't pay attention to it. You can not delete any of those 7 layers because PS has used parts of all of them to make up the composite view. You should do one of the following:

- Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E to create a "Merge All" layer on top of the stack and proceed to make any additional edits to that layer OR
- Maintain a fully editable workflow by adding adjustment layers (like curves or clone or colororing, etc) on top of the stack.

Your choice depends on your workfow philosophy.



I mostly RAW files. PS then has the most latitude. Using original images which were taken with exposure bracketing by the camera will not be as good as original RAW images which were bracketed by the camera. That is because the camera will make a whole bunch of decisions when compressing a file to jpg and a lot of imaportant data is lost.
As for taking a single image and importing it 7 times into PS Camera RAW to make 7 different exposures, that does not work very well. You can not artificially strech a single exposure into 7 exposures because that single orig exposure has in itself a very limited range. If you only have a single exposure you would be better off just importing the image into Camera RAW and making the best set of adjustment that you can right there, one time.

Regards, Murray

thank you so much really!