[chedda]

I open the washed out image with CS5 it looks bad.Then image, adjustments, HDR toning, a dialog box opens with various presets.It has photo realistic, surrealistic, flat & default etc. It opens with default and the image instantly fixes.It shows a gamma of 1 and some minor adjustments like detail and saturation plus a ton of stuff i am not familiar with !

[Half Life]

I don't use CS5 currently so I'm not 100% sure of what it does and does not take into account but AFAIK any edits to the image would not be automatically recognized by the software.

To test this simply open an HDR and make a change to it's gamma -- save it out and re-open it... then look at the gamma value (it should always default to 1)

I like Hyperfocal for IBL.

Yes, there exist cameras that can shoot HDR without you manually compiling the bracketed exposures -- however for IBL the camera you would most likely want to use is the Spheron.

It's worth mentioning that while I am very well versed in Photoshop and 2D computer graphics in general, I am not a photographer... I don't even own a camera (my wife has a nice Nikon I helped her pick out though). My approach and purpose for Maxwell is more as a means of generating lighting reference for my traditional 2D art. Anything I say about cameras should be completely ignored as there are many gifted photographers on this forum who are the real experts

Best,
Jason.

[chedda]

Okay Brodie now i understand you make the gamma correction through image,adjustments,exposure that other route (image,adjustments,hdr toning) i had found was very confusing.Your link to the other thread was the key.

By the way Jason that camera looks superbad 50 mpx 96 bit wow. I daren't request the price for such a beast not while i'm still married at least.

I do have the same nikon fisheye lens though you have given me a great idea many thanks !

[brodie_geers]

Just to be crystal clear, I see what you're saying now regarding the toning (although I don't seem to have those presets for some reason). You'll get the same popup if you go to Image -> Mode and try to change it from 32 bit to either 16 or 8.

I actually don't like this popup much personally. All of the options it gives completely change the image which isn't what we're wanting to do exactly. Here's an example of my process below.

Here's an image of my Dosch HDRI...you'll notice it's washed out, the sure sign of a gamma screw up.


Interestingly this package I bought has about 8 different files with the same general image (a couple different mappings like cubic and spherical as well as a few different resolutions). Interestingly, the 12k resolution version had the correct 1.0 gamma so i have this as a reference of what I'm trying to get.


Going back to the original (washed out) image I apply my gamma adjustment, which I found out from wikipedia is .4545 (or 1/2.2) if we want to be anal. As you see it matches up pretty great with the 12k image I know is accurate. Now it's not washed out at all.


And if you're going to save this as a 16/8 bit image and have to use the hdr toning box, there's only one setting that will get you through without altering the image. I tried using this box instead of the gamma adjustment I show above the the image comes out completely differently, so I wouldn't recommend it.


-Brodie