Alaska Photography

I am trying out the new version of Photoshop CS5. I love the new content aware feature. I do a lot of HDR and tonemapping work so I wanted to compare it with my tool of choice Photomatix.
The first photo is tonemapped in Photomatix using one of my presets. The second photo is done in Photoshop CS5 and its new HDR tool. Both were cleaned up with content aware (hair on sensor) and I used Nik’s Color Efex Pro as well.
I think Adobe is finally getting serious about HDR and will give Photomatix a run for its money. I like both photos, but as you can see the Photomatix one is much more saturated and the cloud details are better.
This is my first attempt at Photoshop CS5 HDR tool. More to come I am sure.

Click on image for larger view!

Photomatix version

Photoshop CS5 version

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This weekend I downloaded the trial version of Photoshop CS5. I wanted to give the content aware fill a try. It sure did look good in the demos Adobe did, but did it work that well in real world applications? The first images I worked on were from a trip we took to Denali National Park last weekend. They open the road to the public so you can drive in the first 30 miles of the road. I discovered when I got back that I had a hair on my sensor…not a problem with Photoshop CS5. Not only was I able to remove the hair, but I was able to remove branches from the edge of the frame, saving a huge crop.

This is the original image. Notice the hair in the sky.

Original Image

Could Photoshop CS5 remove this branch and match the mountain and treeline?

Branch

This really amazed me. It removed the branch and filled in the mountain and treeline perfectly. I did not have to do any further work. Amazing!

No Branch

Here is another branch I wanted to get rid of.

Another Branch

Not as complicated as the first branch, but no further work was done.

Another Branch Gone

Here is the final image after some curves, Nik Color Efex Pro, noise reduction, HDR, tonemapping. Click for a larger view.

Final Image Click for Larger View

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