I’ve been getting a lot of advice from my friend and workmate Adam, who is responsible for turning me on to HDR. Thanks to him, I just spent $84 on a new software application, Photomatix Pro, which I am sure will feed my obsessive compulsive behavior as I start to experiment with bracketed exposures. Thankfully, he also gave me the link to stuckincustoms.com, where I was able to get the coupon code that saved me $15 on the software. Thanks, Adam!
I’m not yet ready to purchase Photoshop….I’ll continue to work with Paint Shop Pro unless I get totally frustrated with it.
It is very significant that I am sitting here at my computer, downloading software and reading a photography blog (and writing my own blog), while the third and fourth episode of the new season of “24” is playing on the big screen downstairs. I’d been waiting for months for that show to come back on, and I’m finding that I’d much rather be working on something creative than sitting in front of the TV screen. (After all, the DVR is running, and it’s always available on Fox’s website if I just have to watch it, right?) Honoring the creative impulse is much more zen-like than exposing myself to the murder, violence and mayhem of Jack Bauer. Ohm…..
So now it’s time to play around with the software and see if I can figure it out. I may or may not get any sleep tonight!
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Update: 20 minutes later….Wow, that was quick. Here’s my first HDR from Photomatix…
the Zen of Zann 
Your welcome! Your first try looks great! My photos this evening didn’t turn out well at all. After getting home and importing them I realized that I had the incorrect ISO setting and most of the pictures have a ton of noise in them. 😦 I’m really bummed as I thought I ended up getting some great shots. One of my pictures of the office is up on Flickr but it’s pretty crappy.
Guess I’ll have to give a try again tomorrow!
Oh and no one really pays for Photoshop…. 😉