Impressed with Photomatix Essentials

I took a few AEB shots the other day in foggy conditions. No software options I tried could automatically align the three shots for this image series, except Photomatix. I used the trial of the Essentials (least expensive) version, and it did the job quickly and accurately. I was impressed, so I bought it. With a 15% discount coupon it cost about $33, so an inexpensive way for me to get a quality HDR or Exposure Blend from my AEB shots. I saved as a TIFF, and did some additional improvements with PS Elements 10.

Here's the AEB series and resulting single image that was causing the problems, due to the foggy conditions. It was shot with my G9 and handheld. I used the RAW files for processing.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/picsdennis/7171​346000/

Photomatix is very good in pulling out detail and correcting exposure in the exposure blending mode.
I use it most of the time for landscapes where there is a large contrast between land and sky, don,t really bother with the HDR mode so much but the exposure blending or fusion blend is excellent, sometimes you have too be careful though with the green tones and a little de saturation is required at times.
Usually do an auto fix in Elements 10 for some very fine adjustment.

I agree, and I did use Elements 10 to do some of what you recommended. However, I did want more saturated greens in the above shot, so I did not choose exposure or fusion blending, or even the Natural HDR option.

Dennis