@agriggio I have started to play with the new S/H tool, comparing it with my preferred (but slow and complicated) method based on enfuse.
Here is an example of my method applied to the image from this PlayRAW:
To obtain this result, I did the following:
- saved several linear-gamma TIFF images at 1EV exposure increments, from 0EV to +9EV
- combined the TIFF files with enfuse with default options
- I opened the original RAW, applied a +1EV exposure compensation, then loaded the enfuse output on top of it
- I merged the two images with a luminosity mask build like this:
- inverted L channel
- reduced weight of mid-tones with this curve:
- applied a bilateral blur (from GMIC) on the curve output (gaussian blur produces halos around the sharp edges)
- finally, I slightly increased the mid-tones contrast with an RGB curve applied to the merged output
With RT I was not able to get a similar result, particularly to preserve the smoothness of the sky tonality in the top-right part where it gets dark…
Since you know the S/H tool much better, I’d be really curious to see what would be your best result on this image. Also, maybe the steps above can give you some nice idea… my dream would be to optimize enfuse to the point where it could be used in real-time.