Don’t bother upgrading to a $2,500 camera. Forget about signing up for a photography class. And don’t worry about spending a bundle on expensive camera accessories that help alleviate otherwise impossible problems. All you need are a few affordable desktop photo software programs, which will allow you to edit your pocket camera pictures. The high tech tools will work on just about any photo, even ones you took years ago.
This blog is the first part in a series I am writing spotlighting some cheap(er) software programs that can turn ordinary photos into works of art.
PHOTOMATRIX by HDRSoft
If lighting is your problem this program has got you covered. We’ve all done it–snapped a picture of what we thought was a well-lit area only to discover that the partly cloudy sky we thought would help illuminate the gorgeous art deco building we were shooting actually washed out the entire photo.
Photomatix to the rescue. The software helps create “High Dynamic Range photography,” which is actually a digital trick. Your camera can’t take in all of the light values of a single scene at once like the human eye… that’s where the software comes in. To use this software you need to take a series of five or six shots of the same scene using your camera’s built-in exposure compensation. You’ll end up with a stack of pictures that captures all of the light values in the scene. (Note: It’s best to use a tripod when you take your shots since you are looking to capture photos that are exactly identical except for the lighting.)
Photomatix analyzes your stack of photos and builds a single image with the perfect lighting. Everything in the image is exposed perfectly, from the sky to the shadows and everything in between. Believe me you will notice the difference. The final picture will look like what you actually saw in person. And it will appear as though your modest-priced camera captured the entire range of light values that was seen with your eye without altering the shot.
The program retails for about $100 (Mac and Windows). It has elements that are comparable to the $1,000 professional application, Adobe Photoshop (the pro edition) only you don’t need the extensive training and experience to combine the best elements of multiple shots into one image.
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