HDR/Photomatix Question

So I'm just trying to HDR some bracketed shots from today, everything is ok there, till I go to tone map...

I want to recreate what it's showing me in the main window, I can't seem to get it, example attached, is there a set of settings which recreate that?

I love the way it is before tone mapping...

Thanks for any ideas!

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

Lol you like the version before it's tone mapped? That would be the .hdr file.
Simply go to File > Save or something and save it as .tif or whatever it can save as. Then open it in Photoshop and there you have the version you see before tone mapping..

Every time I merge several photos together, the "before tone mapping" image looks horrible... Is that just me?

Swift1 wrote in post #4123245
Lol you like the version before it's tone mapped? That would be the .hdr file.
Simply go to File > Save or something and save it as .tif or whatever it can save as. Then open it in Photoshop and there you have the version you see before tone mapping..

I understand, and I tried that already, I get this in PS:

Then, down sampling to 16bit allows me the same kinda controls as tone mapping... But why can't there just be a "match preview" button in Photomatix... ughhhhhhh

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

jordan.meeter wrote in post #4123378
Every time I merge several photos together, the "before tone mapping" image looks horrible... Is that just me?

Seems to be hit and miss for me, some are better before, some are better after, depends on the content of the photo.

jordan.meeter wrote in post #4123378
Every time I merge several photos together, the "before tone mapping" image looks horrible... Is that just me?

I agree.

Well.... I really liked this before tone mapping image: (Note this is a screenshot of the tiny PM picture... I still can't get it to match full res)

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

you do realise that computer monitors aren't capable of displaying 32bit hdr images, and the preview you see only shows part of the full dynamic range that's viewable at any one time. use HDR>Adjust View to higher or lower the exposure level for the HDR preview.
you have to use tonemapping compression to view the image normally on the screen.

To me, i think you should try to cut the smoothing, up the contrast and increase the black point.

The photomatrix "first try" never looks good to me, you got lucky, lol.

In all honesty, the screenshot doesn't look all that dynamic to me, i think you should use it as a starting point and try to give it a bit more range and punch.

Ughhhhh, I fully understand how HDR works, etc, etc, etc...

Obviously Photomatix has a built in default profile for rendering a preview of the image on the screen... (since I'm looking at it). I just wanted to know what those settings were so I could recreate them. I would assume they would be the default settings, unfortunately they were not.

In the meantime, using curves, downsampling, saturation, contrast, and an hour of my time I recreated the result reasonably in CS2.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

MikeMcL wrote in post #4124913
To me, i think you should try to cut the smoothing, up the contrast and increase the black point.

The photomatrix "first try" never looks good to me, you got lucky, lol.

In all honesty, the screenshot doesn't look all that dynamic to me, i think you should use it as a starting point and try to give it a bit more range and punch.

That's very true, it wasn't exactly dynamic, I just hit the HDR button, and the preview it gave me I loved, regardless of how I got there :P So I wanted to save it, and continue working

I'm still going to play with my numerous HDR attempts today to get a more HDR look, without going too extreme.

Thanks