A ten stop light range is tamed.

Following on from yesterday’s column, here are the first results of trying the Photomatix HDR + Tone Mapping sofware, using five pictures taken with the 5D on a tripod, set at highest quality JPG and at ISO 200. I took the precaution of saving the camera variables (ISO, metering pattern, non-auto white balance, JPG fine) under the Custom dial setting, so I now only have to set the dial to ‘C’ with no risk of forgetting anything. The scene is of our kitchen with very bright sunlight outside. I measured a 10 stop range from the dark oak on the bar to the sky outside.

Here are the five source images, all one stop apart:

     

     

Here is the result after processing the images with Photomatix – it took the application 90 seconds to combine the files on my iMac G5, 2 gHz, 2 gB:

Canon EOS 5D, ISO 200, JPG Fine, tripod. Photomatix software.

Now I have to try this in the real world. Seems like one of the local church interiors would be a good place to start.