Photomatix Pro merges differently exposed photos into one image with details in both highlights and shadows:

• Exposure blending
• Creation of 32-bit HDR images
• Powerful Tone Mapping tool [Examples]
• Automation with easy-to-use Batch Processing [Tutorial] [Features list]

The trial is fully functional and never expires, but applies a watermark to images produced with one of the two Tone Mapping methods and four of the six exposure blending modes.

Download page: Photomatix Pro for Windows

Download page: Photomatix Pro for Mac OS X (Universal Binary)

The examples are very professional looking but I thought I’d give it a go myself as well. The only problem is that I’m not really a very good photographer. Also my camera is way to old and simple and doesn’t include the possibilities to take photos with different exposures.

So in my first experiment I simply took one of my photos (Andalucia, Spain - overlooking the Mediterranean and the city of Fuengirola) and made 2 more versions using Photoshop. One copy where I darkened the photo and one where I brightened it. Then I simply followed the tutorial and made my first HDR image. The original and the end result are displayed below.

Photomatix Pro also comes as a Photoshop plugin, and I must admit I’m very impressed with the possibilities this application seams to offer. As you can see (I hope) the end result is almost like a painting, and could be hanging above the fireplace anywhere.

In the beginning I was amazed by the spectacular voice of Amy Winehouse and so was a lot of other people. However, it appears that fame and fortune didn’t suit the young artist, and now she’s escaped into the world of drugs.  Marrying a drug addict sure didn’t help either I suppose…

You can watch Amy’s latest escapades in a short movie featured on the sun today. The title “Amy’s spiral of self-destruction” pretty much says it all.

I can’t see that the future looks to bright, and I don’t feel like buying tickets or CD’s when I know exactly where the money will go/disappear (up the nose) . Such a shame to see an artist destroy herself like that!

I just read some disturbing comments following the post Why Linux will not displace Windows over at the Education IT blog (ZDNet.com). If you have a few moments give the following comments a quick read:

• That wont work without THEFT of intellectual property
• It wont happen
• You are kidding arent you ?
• It wont happen

Even though these are all entered by the same person, it reveals the level of knowledge and experience among the common office employee (or lack of) I’m afraid. In my opinion many business owners are holding back on drastic changes like switching OS, as training costs would exceed the benefits of reduced license fees.

I hope the user (jerryleecooper) is just trying to start a discussion, and that he really isn’t this ignorant (airhead). Again, I do hope he’s kidding - seriously!

If you know of any others sharing his level of expertise, please share!! It’s Monday, I could use a good laugh

While browsing this fine morning I stumbled over a post by “Loft of Zen”. This is good weekend reading…

It all starts with a few from Einstein himself:

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.

Read on…

Contact lenses with circuits, lights a possible platform for superhuman vision

Movie characters from the Terminator to the Bionic Woman use bionic eyes to zoom in on far-off scenes, have useful facts pop into their field of view, or create virtual cross-hairs. Off the screen, virtual displays have been proposed for more practical purposes – visual aids to help vision-impaired people, holographic driving control panels and even as a way to surf the Web on the go.

The device to make this happen may be familiar. Engineers at the University of Washington have for the first time used manufacturing techniques at microscopic scales to combine a flexible, biologically safe contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights.