You can download it from here:
http://zynaddsubfx.sourceforge.net/other/tonemapping/

Here is are some screenshots and example images (original and processed).

Here is a time-lapse video with images processed with this program:
http://vimeo.com/2917861
(and you can see on that page the video with original images).

Paul

@Beka: Thanks for you input. I thought HDR was a chance to exploit the extra dynamic range that a RAW file offers (vs JPEG). Apparently, this modus operandi is accepted in the Flickr HDR group but it is not the “proper thing”. Good to know – let’s go back to tripod.

@Mike: I can only agree with your last words (see the above post )

Take care,

Joel

Never too old to learn a new trick!

Can’t I just create the exposures from one RAW file?

Not really. Your RAW file contains data captured by the sensors for only
one exposure. The total dynamic range you can reconstruct from one photo
converted with different exposure settings can never be more than the
dynamic range captured by your camera, and this is rather limited (see
above).

When you are using only one exposure to capture the scene, your RAW file
is already your HDR image. Converting the RAW file to images with
different exposure levels is a bit like slicing the dynamic range of the
RAW into several parts. Combining the parts back into an HDR image will
at best re-produce the dynamic range of the initial RAW file.

That said, if you are using a good RAW converter to derive fake
exposures from a single RAW file, you will probably notice that the HDR
image created from the fake exposures shows more dynamic range than the
pseudo-HDR image obtained by converting the single RAW file directly.
This is because your RAW converter includes a good noise reduction
function, and this has an important effect on the dynamic range. You RAW
converter may also include the ability to continue to retrieve
highlights details when one or two of the color channels have already
reached saturation.

So, a good RAW converter includes functions designed to optimize the
dynamic range retrieved from the raw sensor data, but this does not
change the fact that the dynamic range of a RAW file is limited to one
exposure only. Unless the dynamic range of your scene is low, you will
need to take more than one exposure to create an HDR image of the scene.

Now that you mention it, I remember reading about Enfuse… somewhere. I’ll look into it when I get a chance. This looks really interesting – thanks for the tip.

Take care,

Joel

Unfortunately there is no official release yet, so you have to compile your own cvs checkout, but I promise: It’ s worth the trouble.

Felix

I became very hooked on HDR photography a few years ago, as a quick search on my blog shows. Most of those shots were created using Photomatix Pro for Windows. In the end though, I wrote a short script (info here) how to automate it all in Linux the easy way. That’s what I use now when the HDR bug bites again.

I found HDR works best if you’ve got lots of blue sky and photogenic clouds in the shot. That gives the biggest “wow” for your buck