Photomatix Light Review Can You Do Single Exposures?

Photomatix Light came up while I was doing some research on HDR the other day.

I read a review by PhotoLuminary and thought I'd try the Trial version of Photomatix Light and compare it to Artizen and Dynamic HDR.

First lets compare some different programs:

This is not an awesome shot for HDR single exposure[.jpeg], but I thought it worth a try with the following programs.

And I like to experiment as I don't always have a tripod while hiking and my subjects don't always want to stand still for me!

Artizen
Topaz Adjust [plug in to imitate an HDR type look]
Dynamic HDR
Photomatix Light

This is what I came up with:
Original:

Artizen [Natural Default~not bad]


Topaz Adjust [eww, not what I wanted!]:


Dynamic HDR [brought down the saturation~a bit better]:


Photomatix Light:

Hmmm, now this is interesting to my eye...which of course is just my opinion.

First of all to get a good HDR you have to have multiple exposures and most of you reading this know that.

But there are circumstances that arise [such as photographing and animal] that you cannot set up a 3-6 exposure shot with multiple bracketing.

I do like how this last photo softens the dog's face. The glow is a bit 'dreamy' and unrealistic, but I happen to like it.
Certianly this is not the best candidate for a HDR type photo, for that you should have a sky and some shadows.

A 3 exposure shot like this turns out great:

In conclusion, I guess it is up to you.
Photomatix Light is a nice easy program to use.


For a more in depth review stop by Stuck in Customs and read more. This site and PhotoLuminary both offer discount coupons for buying the Pro version or the Light version

I'm on my way out to do some multiple exposures for HDR and will take these back into the above listed software programs and see how the same image stacks up.