Help-Buy photomatix w CD or dowload through hdrguru.com

Help-Buy photomatix w CD or download through hdrguru.com...
And if downloading with the GURU 15% discount offer, should I also get the PhotoshopCS4 Plug-In? Please advise...

Contact Photomatix's publishers and get a list of discounts. I bought my version for $39 directly from the publisher because I'm a teacher (teacher/student discount).

You should be able to get much better than 15% off by asking.

MikeFairbanks wrote in post #10231091
Contact Photomatix's publishers and get a list of discounts. I bought my version for $39 directly from the publisher because I'm a teacher (teacher/student discount).

You should be able to get much better than 15% off by asking.

Sound's good Mike...

I'm retired, and am the President of our non-profit Carbon County Art League...so maybe I'll qualify for discounts...

Do you think the plug in for PSCS4 is necessary?

I don't really know what you mean by plug-in. I mean, I know what a plug-in is, but as far as using Photomatix, I think most people are using it as a stand alone program.

I used to get all tricky with Photomatix, going grunge and the like, but now I try to process it as naturally as possible, and then after converting to jpeg, I open it with Photoshop and use the Topaz Adjust plugin to get creative.

I've been on an HDR break for about five months, and now am getting back into it (I didn't have a DSLR for a few months and now I do again).

Here's what I found on their web site regarding the more expensive dowload... It's $20 more with the plug-in...

Differences standalone Photomatix Pro versus Plug-In for Photoshop

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Photomatix Pro is a standalone application. It includes HDR Tone Mapping and Exposure Fusion among other features. Images produced with Photomatix Pro can be further processed in any image editing application.
The Tone Mapping Plug-In for Photoshop is a plug-in. It offers only Tone Mapping and works within Photoshop CS2, CS3, CS4 or CS5.

Advantages of Tone Mapping with the plug-in for Photoshop
- You don't have to leave Photoshop


Advantages of Tone Mapping with Photomatix Pro
- Integration with powerful Batch Processing
- Ability to tone map larger HDR image files. Due to memory limitations imposed to Photoshop plug-ins, the Tone Mapping plug-in is limited to sizes between 20 and 30 MegaPixels on a 32-bit OS.
- No need to change the bit-depth of the 32-bit HDR image after tone mapping.
- No need to adjust the exposure when Tone Mapping is applied directly after creating HDR image (with the plug-in, tone mapped image may show black artifacts when an incorrect 32-bit preview option is assigned by Photoshop).

I can't advise either way. I use Photoshop Elements, and only use one plug-in (Topaz Adjust, which I like a lot), so I don't really know how Photomatix would work as a plug-in.

But remember that Photomatix can read RAW files, which is very helpful.

The guys who do it right will adjust their photos in raw, keep them raw, and then import them into photomatix that way. The two biggest issues in HDR (which I should take more time to get right) are lack of sharpness and noise. If done right, you can solve both problems. It mostly requires patience, something I need to work on.

But back to your op, I can't advise. Ask some of the better guys on here. Good luck.

I recently bought the package, including plugin (faculty-staff) discount. I have only used it once since I did that, but like the ability to call it from PS. My camera has been idling away in the bag for awhile, not enough time, so I haven't had a chance to go shoot more to play with it.

Gary McDuffie wrote in post #10232291
I recently bought the package, including plugin (faculty-staff) discount. I have only used it once since I did that, but like the ability to call it from PS. My camera has been idling away in the bag for awhile, not enough time, so I haven't had a chance to go shoot more to play with it.

Thanks for the feedback Gary... I'll try to see about our non-profit art league status, first.... before I fork out $120...