Hi, this is Stuart from the Photomatix team and in this video I'm going to show you how
to use the Photomatix plug-in for Lightroom.
The plug-in is automatically installed when you install Photomatix Pro.
So, open Lightroom and choose the bracketed photos you want to process in Photomatix.
By the way, if you don't have a set of bracketed photos,
then Photomatix can still process a single photo.
Here, I'm using 3 bracketed photos:
the -2,
+2
and 0 EV here.
First, select the photos.
Hold down the command button of your keyboard whilst left-clicking your mouse.
When you have them all selected, release the command button.
Then right-click your mouse on one of the photos and a pop-up menu appears.
Scroll down to ‘EXPORT’, then highlight and click ‘PHOTOMATIX PRO’.
There is another way to invoke the plug-in.
With your photos selected, go up to the MENU bar,
click ‘FILE’ and then scroll down to ‘PLUG-IN EXTRAS’.
and click ‘EXPORT TO PHOTOMATIX PRO’.
When you invoke the plug-in you will get this dialogue.
And in this box you will find settings for exporting and merging your photos to HDR.
Leave the 'AUTOMATICALLY RE-IMPORT TO LIGHTROOM' option checked
so that your HDR photo appears back in Lightroom
once Photomatix has rendered and saved it.
Click ‘EXPORT’, to load, merge and render your photos in Photomatix Pro.
Lightroom is now exporting your photos
and up in the top left-hand corner,
a bar follows its progress.
Once your photos have been exported, Photomatix will open automatically then align and merge them
And here, you'll be met by Photomatix Pro’s ADJUST AND PREVIEW screen.
Over on the right of this screen, you'll find the built-in presets.
Try clicking on a few.
For instance ...
BALANCED
PAINTERLY
VIBRANT
You can also filter the presets by category via the drop-down menu at the top right.
Click on it and the preset category drop-down menu appears.
For example, select ‘REALISTIC’
and all preset thumbnails
in the realistic category are displayed.
And by using the sliders on the left, you can further adjust the look of your image.
When you're happy with your image, click the ‘SAVE & RE-IMPORT’ button.
Photomatix Pro will now render the HDR photo and send it back to Lightroom.
Once back in Lightroom, you will see your rendered and re-imported HDR photo
along with the 3 bracketed photos that you exported earlier.
Now, it is possible that you won't see the re-imported photo in Lightroom.
In fact, it's happened to me when using Photomatix after importing photos from my camera.
Fortunately, this is easy to solve.
Go to the bottom of the screen and to the FILMSTRIP SOURCE INDICATOR,
which is right above the filmstrip.
Click on it, and from the drop-down menu, select ALL PHOTOGRAPHS.
The missing image now appears.
If you want to avoid seeing your entire catalog after choosing ALL PHOTOGRAPHS,
then right-click on the source images and from the drop-down menu,
choose ‘GO TO FOLDER IN LIBRARY’.
And now you'll only see the folder into which your source photos were imported to.
Try the Photomatix Lightroom plug-in for yourself.
The trial never expires and just adds a Photomatix watermark to the rendered photos.
You can download the free trial here.