Comments on: Exposure Fusion: What is it? How does it Compare to HDR? How Do I Do It?

By: Yvan Van Hoorickx

Yvan Van Hoorickx — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:28:24 +0000

Great artticle. And I’m using LR/enfuse for all my interior photography. Because time is always a matter for me during shoots, I can’t using strobes. Exposure fusion was the best solution.

Here a list of shots I do, for a City guide magazine: http://www.360vt.be/cityzine
Real estate shootings: http://www.virtuelewoning.be
And the ice sculpture in Bruges: http://www.360vt.be/vt_icesculpture2011

all done with LR/enfuse.

By: PASCAL Philippe

PASCAL Philippe — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:29:00 +0000

I use SNS-HDR because it brings the most natural HDR result i can get.
HDR Efex is very nice too, with the U-points feature.

But i’m looking more and more toward “exposure fusion” to get a natural result.
I’m really bored by HDR over-everything looking photos…and i realize most softwares just push the user in this direction.

This is like the stupid dubstep wobble bass on every single you hear : boring

By: Dale Mead

Dale Mead — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:42:38 +0000

Great article as far as it goes; you have convinced me I *don’t know* what so-called HDR is, as distinct from exposure fusion. (Photomatix 4 gives us a choice, BTW.)

Please tell the other half of the story. Specifically, why is a 32-bit composite image necessary/advantageous for “HDR”? How is it employed in the processing? And how does the program get 32 bits (billions more) of information from 16-bit (actually 12- or 14-bit in the camera) pixels, anyway?

If you do write a new article on the second half of this comparison, please announce it in these comments so I receive an email and can read it. I got this URL from a friend after we had a lively discussion about it.

By: karcoos

karcoos — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 02:38:31 +0000

Another choice for photo stitching is http://www.acropano.com

By: Trevor Sowers

Trevor Sowers — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 17:42:05 +0000

I am not a fan of HDR but I’m loving Enfuse! I’m using bracketeer which is a nice GUI for Enfuse and it’s available on the Mac App Store.

By: Calvin

Calvin — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 07:24:34 +0000

Just wondering if you made any white balance adjustments on the enfused image. Unlike the HDR image, it is balanced for both the indoor lighting and the window.

By: Matt Kadlick

Matt Kadlick — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:54:12 +0000

An LDR image is just a single exposure is it not? The whole point of blending several exposures is to get a higher dynamic range than what you get with a single shot. The idea of a faster automated cookie cutter approach to producing HDR’s misses the point completely. The draw of a true HDR, as I see it, is that it is a form of art that takes several steps and some creativity to do it right. Those who have halos in their HDR’s haven’t bothered to finish them by blending in some of the original raws, and those that over do the HDR effect to the point of flattening or cartooning the image just give HDR’s a bad name. I think this process looks very interesting but to say this isn’t a form of HDR I think is wrong, it sounds like the continuing evolution of the art form to me. Just my 2 cents

By: TJ

TJ — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:38:15 +0000

I use HDR techniques mainly to be able to control the lighting conditions in the workflow later on (since I have a bad skill with controlling EV in the scene itself). Anyway, I’ve been experimenting for some time with EF (by Photomatix) and yes, it does produce some nice images and smooth colors as well. One thing I was experimenting with is, mixing images with different WBs. It gives (sometimes) a nice hue of colors.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee106/seanfear/common/807c4a8f.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee106/seanfear/common/6565de1f.jpg

Now, I read in the post about the DOF, so I think I shall try this as well soon.
Great article! Thanks!

By: Gene Rimmer

Gene Rimmer — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:24:39 +0000

Sounds like a good idea but you’ve got to get away from the command line and simple gui. Seamless plug-in for Photoshop & Elements will go a long way in creating acceptance. I’m an artist and hate to fool with the technical stuff. Make it user-friendly but competent.

By: michael

michael — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:28:48 +0000

I’m sorry, but exposure fusion is by definition a HDR image. Read the words: high dynamic range.

The distinction that you’re making is between tone mapping and exposure blending. The result is a LDR image processed from multiple exposures. The intermediate file is a HDR file, regardless of how you process it.

Saying that the process difference makes a difference is like saying that a hole dug with a specialty spade is different than one dug with an ordinary shovel. A hole is a hole. An image fused or blended from several images of different exposure settings is HDR.