So how much dynamic range did I actually capture? Photomatix Pro 32 Bit HDR Histogram
Note! For this example, you must have the latest update to Photomatix HDR Pro V 4.1.3 or later. Please go to HDRsoft’s website and update or click check for updates from your program’s help menu.
How much range?
So you shot 88 frames 1 stop apart and for sure you must have captured all the dynamic range in the universe…or did you? Well how would we really know what the captured dynamic range was of all our exposures.
We really can’t count on our finished product, after all it’s really not a high dynamic range image, it’s just a tone-mapped one that simulates to our eye the range that was in our scene. And if we are heavy handed in our Tone-mapping we may even have a lower dynamic range than our single image is capable of.
So how can we tell what range we actually captured? Via a little known and little talked about feature that was added to Photomatix 4.1 (Fixed in V 4.1.3) – The HDR 32 Bit Histogram.
The what? The HDR 32 Bit Histogram. This histogram only works with the 32bit Intermediary HDR image that is generated before you go to tone-mapping. If you don’t allow the software to stop at this point before it continues on to the tone-mapping screen, perhaps you should. It may tell you some fun things.
Now unfortunately, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this histogram. the truth is I really couldn’t find much about it anywhere. But I did find it.
To activate it when your 32 bit file is open, click ctrl/cmd H or go to view>HDR Histogram. At the bottom of that screen you will see “Estimated Dynamic Range” and it is expressed as Contrast Ratio X:1. There is also a Log Scale from -6 to +6 and the resulting histogram for the file.
In the test I did with different files, it seems to be accurate. Is it exact? I have no way of knowing, but scene I knew to be low in dynamic range and those high in dynamic range seemed to fall in place exactly as I would have expected.
Here are a few examples of 32 Bit Images and their HDR Histogram.
In this one I knew it was low dynamic range and the resulting image was poor
This was a very high dynamic scene and the contrast ratio proves that
Even though you would think this was high dynamic range because the sun was in it, it actually was typical for a mid day shot
This one was a 9 Exposure 1 Stop image. I actually thought it may have been a higher dynamic range. But it was very overcast that day or maybe I didn’t shoot it as well as I thought
Here is a chart so you can get an idea of what those contrast ratio mean in a practical sense
If you would like to know more specifics about Dynamic Range, checkout my buddy Sean’s website Cambridge in Colour
I thought this was interesting and fun to look at, it may actually be helpful down the road to look at what works and what doesn’t work and really what we are shooting. For me it fills ina few more parts of the puzzle and makes me more confident in what I do.
Anyway, Hope that helps,
PT
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[…] is our first scene. This scene is very high dynamic range; using the 32 bit Histogram in Photomatix Pro the captured scene has a contrast ratio of 149,255:1 which is incredibly high, pretty much beyond […]