Additional Software in addition to PWP

[MJayne]

I'm lazy and for combining photos, I was wondering if there an advantage to using strictly PWP over Photomatix and PT Assember, for HDR or for Panos? I don't know if this is an appropriate question for this board, but I would like to know the differences if possible.

[jsachs]

Panoramic stitching software is often more convenient to use than PWP for combining multiple photos into one. This is a complex, specialized function that is best done with specialized software.

[tomczak]

Not expecting PWP to become a panorama software, I found that soemething akin multi-resolution splines as edge-blending technique would have been useful when two images had to be blended. The Composite now makes it easier to blend low pass/high pass parts of an image. Did anyone tried that in blending edges of two images?

[jsachs]

To get a good stitch you need to adjust the goemetry of the images - which depends on the lens focal lengths, remove barrel or pincushion distortion, adjust for light falloff, and tweak the registration.

[tomczak]

I thought more about blending incongruent images than real panorama stitching. Just the idea of the blend being 'smooth' or 'agreeable' more than straight pixel blending - i.e. blending the low frequency over longer distances than high frequency components.

[billp]

You might want to try out Max Lyon's program "Tufuse" for blending HDR shots.
I believe Tufuse is free, and Tufuse Pro is payware.

Max's site is http://www.tawbaware.com . There is quite a bit of useful information on the site, and especially the Forums.

I have used PTAssembler for stitching panoramas for a long time. It's a very nice program.

[MJayne]

Thanks guys for the info. So I guess the Pano Software is necessary, but how about Photomatix? Would you rather use just PWP for HDR or work with Photmatix as well? Does PWP do a better job?

[jsachs]

I have not used Photomatix, but the new Stack Images command is designed to automate the process of combining bracket exposures to produce a high dynamic range image. There is a white paper that describes this process in detail.

http://ftp2.bmtmicro.com/dlc/Stack_Images.pdf

[MJayne]

Thanks Jonathan, I just printed that out.

[kkopchynski]

Hello,

In the Stack Images pdf there is a reference to Gray Wedge 15.tif for custom curves. On the web site I am only seeing Q-13-24bit.tif. Is this the same thing or can it be used for the same purpose as Gray Wedge 15.tif?

Thanks,
Kevin