Category Archives: Product Review
Photomatix 4.2 Review
Photomatix, by HDR Soft, has recently updated their show-stopping HDR software from 4.1.4 to 4.2.1 and I must say, they added some very nice features. Photomatix creates impeccable HDR results in almost any tone mapping circumstance; I would expect nothing less from the release of 4.2.1. With the new release comes a slightly new look and a few new features. You can see the full list of new features here.
The Interface:
The Good:
- The addition of finishing touches is very welcomed in the new release. HDR Soft has included three very helpful Finishing Touches that can be applied after the image has been tone mapped making Photomatix very close to being a stand-alone HDR tone mapper and post processor. These touches include Contrast, which is controlled very similar to “Curves” in Photoshop, Color, which allows one to control the saturation of individual colors, and Sharpening.
- 20 new Presets are included in the new version. In the past the presets always frustrated me as they were not very helpful for creating a desirable product. HDR Soft has greatly refined their presets and has also included a category system for them.
- Another great preset feature is the ability to list your presets in not only a single column, but a double column.
- As always the quality of the image Photomatix produces is bar nun!
The Bad:
- HDR Soft keeps getting closer and closer to what I would love in their product. They added the finishing touches, which I think are a great addition, but I would really like to see those finishing touches added to the tone mapping phase. There would be a much higher level of control over the final image if these were included in the tone mapping and not as a finishing touch.
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Food Photography: From Snapshots To Great Shots Review
Last year at Photoshop World 2011 in Vegas I met an amazing photographer, Nicole Young. She and I talked briefly about her book, new at the time, Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots. Ironically the following night I won a raffle for the book we discussed. Nicole signed the copy for me with a smile and told me to enjoy it.
For the longest time I couldn’t open it. This wasn’t because I didn’t want to read it, but every time I sat down to read it I got hungry. I was recently contacted by a local cafe, Suzie’s Cafe, to shoot their entire menu. While I do have some experience shooting cupcakes for my wife’s blog, Sticky Marshmallows, I figured now would be a better time than ever to brush up on my Food photography!
Nicole’s photos in this book are incredible and really get the stomach growling. I was thoroughly impressed by her descriptive delivery of not only food photography but photography in general. The first few chapters give anyone who may or may not have experience with the basics of digital photography a very descriptive crash course. Nicole seamlessly weaves f/Stops, shutter speeds, ISO’s and White Balance into food photography from cover to cover.
I was especially impressed by the organization, workflow, and diagrams in Nicole’s publication. Nicole starts with the basics of photography, then takes you into the tips and tricks of setting up a scene for food photography. Following the tips are some great ideas for props and then the workflow. I found Nicole’s lighting setup diagrams incredibly helpful. Her ability to describe the photo shoot is uncanny and can have you snapping amazing food photos in no time. Nicole also offers up her workflow in Photoshop which I found just as helpful as the diagrams.
The Bottom Line:
Nicole saved me when I was in a pinch! If you are into food, photography, or the combination of both, you cannot go wrong with this masterfully crafted publication. It is very rare that I read something and just click with it, however, Nicole’s delivery of food photography is impeccable. Check out Food Photography, you will not be disappointed. My only regret is not reading it sooner. Thank you Nicole, I read your book and now my food photos rock!
Some examples of my photo shoot after reading Food Photography:
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Topaz DeNoise 5 Review
When it comes to HDR tone mapping, noise can be your worst enemy and many times can separate a good shot from a great shot. However, there are a plethora of options on the market for noise reduction. If you are anything like me, you like to attack the noise after the images have been tone mapped and more specifically, like to tackle this noise as the first step in your post processing. I here it all the time, well what about Lightroom and Camera Raw? Sure they are 2 of the very good noise reduction options, but I like to make my noise reduction on a separate layer so I can have full control of it’s effects and not be limited by sliders and adjustment brushes.
Due to my post processing I have found Topaz DeNoise to be an awesome addition to my HDR tool box. It is built right into Photoshop and aids in seamless noise reduction during my post processing. I can treat my noise reduced layer as a mask, add blending options to it and a whole lot more.
The Interface:
The Good:
- The built in presets are perfect for a quick noise fix and quite honestly will be your go to option for a while before you feel comfortable moving sliders around.
- The noise reduction is very clean and accurate. When it comes to noise reduction, regardless of what program or software you are using, you are going to lose detail, that is a given. DeNoise, does a great job of retaining a great amount of detail while still allowing for a clean noise reduction to the photo globally.
- DeNoise processes relatively fast for what it is doing. Many other programs run a tad slower.
- DeNoise can really make a poor quality JPEG look great and even puts up a serious fight against JPEG artifacts.
- Complete color noise control during the reduction process. You can pop in and out of each channel individually to really get in and rub that pesky color noise out.
- Applying the noise reduction to a duplicate layer in Photoshop really allows one with full control over the effects of the noise reduction at hand.
- The quality of the finished product is impeccable!
The Bad:
- The inability to create the noise reduction on a duplicate layer directly in the DeNoise plug-in. I often forget to duplicate my layer prior to opening DeNoise, I then apply the noise reduction and have to undo, duplicate my layer and then reapply the noise.
The Bottom Line:
While it may seem pretty steep at $80.00 it is worth every pretty penny. Noise can make or break an HDR image, it is nice to have such an incredible noise reduction tool at my fingertips. With DeNoise, I have the presence of mind that my HDR images are in good hands when it comes to superb noise reduction. Try it for 30 days, you can’t go wrong.
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HDR Expose 2 Review
I was recently contacted by Unified Color to do a product review of HDR Expose 2. It seems it is still in it’s developmental stages but has plenty or room to adapt to the HDR world due to it’s many positive attributes. While it will not produce stunningly detailed HDR images, it will give you a great baseline for a natural looking HDR image.
The Interface:
For the most part was very user friendly and required very little learning curve to make my way around. I like the dark presentation and the crisp outlines around the features, very sleek and appealing.
The Good:
- Noise Reduction is a nice touch to have during the tone mapping process as noise tends to get pretty out of hand quickly with HDR.
- Color and Tone adjustments built right into the interface are great, as you can manipulate these settings prior to post processing in another program, like Photoshop.
- Selective Saturation! This feature is incredible during tone mapping and I really like how Unified Color has handled it in the tone mapping process. With HDR tone mapping one color may start to stand out more than the others and it is nice to have full control over that prior to post processing. GREAT Feature!
- Built in Sharpening is actually pretty decent.
- HDR Expose creates natural looking HDR images, a plus for any HDR Purist.
The Bad:
- I noticed a lot of lag time as I processed my images. I was predominantly working with 5 RAW images and am not sure if that had something to do with the lag. I noticed that after I made a slight adjustment it would take one to two seconds to register it. If I made a larger adjustment it would take about three to four seconds. This is very discouraging when editing and may be the biggest downfall of the program, there are several other tone mapping programs that work much faster on the market. Just to mention, I am running 16GB of Ram on a 4 gigahertz processor.
- I noticed ghost lines on handheld exposures. I tried every method of merging and still had no luck. HDR Expose works very well with tri-pod mounted exposures; however, I had no luck with handheld exposures.
- There were very minimal HDR tone mapping adjustments only Exposure, Highlights, Shadows, and Contrast. I wanted to see a bit more in there as far as adjustments. In particular, a details adjustment, I know that HDR Expose is designed to create realistic HDR images, but the typical HDRtist these days wants the ability to increase the dynamic range in the details as well, it gives their work that “HDR Look”.
The Bottom Line:
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Machinery HDR Effects 2 Review
The creators of Machinery HDR Effects 2 recently contacted me requesting a review of their new HDR tone mapping software. I am really glad they did as this is one powerful tone mapping program. Machinery adds many exemplary features to the world of HDR tone mapping. There is a little bit of a learning curve when you first start compared to many other tone mapping programs, but once you get the hang of it, it is a cake walk. Machinery makes creating stunning HDR images from bracketed exposures to a single exposure a breeze. I found it especially good at tone mapping what the name implies “Machinery”.
The Interface:
The Good:
- Has absolutely no problem auto aligning handheld brackets.
- Awesome features at your fingertips during tone mapping. The white balance control prior to processing makes one less step you have to worry about in post.
- The ability to control the range of details from small to large and dark and bright areas is incredible.
- The Presets built into Machinery are actually very impressive. The first thing I usually find bad in any tone mapping software are the presets, not the case with Machinery.
- A simple enough interface to find your way around pretty easily.
- Two points of Noise control during tone mapping.
- A very decent built in Vignette control panel.
- Creates very natural looking HDR images with several methods of attaining a final HDR image.
- Directly outputs the image to your favorite post processing software upon saving.
- Machinery produces very believable, realistic HDR images.
The Bad:
- The online manual does not do the program justice as it seems to be all over the place at times, assuming one knows how to navigate the program. This makes the one processing the photo have to teach themselves as they go along.
- The built in sharpening control panel is a nice touch. However, if there is any noise whatsoever in the image it creates a lot of noise artifacts that are tricky to fix in post processing.
The Bottom Line:
I would recommend Machinery to a friend in search of an HDR tone mapping alternative to the programs currently on the market. While there are some minor set backs, they can be overcome with a little bit of experimentation. Overall it does a great job of rendering beautifully tone mapped HDR images that require very little post processing. I ran this program through the ringer and was pleasantly surprised by how well it handled nearly every set of brackets from a night sky to a brightly lit landscape to a grungy beat up machine.
Examples of Machinery HDR Effects:
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Photoshop CS 5 for Digital Photographers Review
When I renewed my NAPP Membership I was offered the The Photoshop CS 5 Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby at no additional cost, of course I took them up on it! You may be thinking, “Blake, why would you need an intro to Photoshop book, don’t you throw out some awesome Photoshop tutorials every Friday?” Well thank you for thinking that… I am flattered, but the truth is you can always learn more, especially through Scott Kelby’s incredible teaching style.
Mr. Kelby lays out his books with incredible attention to detail. The pages are not convoluted with images and chaotic figures. The screen shots are accurate and to the point making the transition from one step to another almost symphonic.
As a beginner reading “The Photoshop CS 5 Book for Digital Photographers”, you do not have to trouble yourself with fumbling over the crazy Photoshop jargon. Mr. Kelby helps you tame the Photoshop beast from cover to cover with his “everyday language” style of teaching. The Chapter introductions are a blast to read as he mingles movie titles, band names, and song titles into the Chapter title.
No matter your level of Photoshop knowledge, I can guarantee that you will learn something when you read The Photoshop CS 5 Book For Digital Photographers. I have been an avid Photoshopper (not one who shops for photos, but one who uses Photoshop) since 1999 and was delighted to have learned so much more through the content of Scott Kelby’s Photoshop book specifically designed for digital photographers.
Bottom Line:
If you have Photoshop CS 5 and do not have this book there is something wrong! You are doing yourself a serious injustice by not owning The Photoshop CS 5 Book For Digital Photographers. Unless you have some kind of adversity to bettering your Photography, you should probably add it to your collection!
