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Siggraph 2010, new preprints
Hi folks,
just if you haven't heard, the annual SIGGRAPH is running and there is a website by Ke-Sen Huang which links to the available preprints.
As a local contrast addict, I'm most curious about Smoothed local Histogram Filters by Michael Kass and Justin Solomon. Since they also offer some pseudo code, I hope it won't take to long till it is available as open source. Let's see 
So, go ahead, read the news, 
greets mike
Comments
dlRaw
Mike - Saw the video for dlRaw. Looks like an exciting tool for RAW development. Hoping that there will be a Windows version of it before too long. Would love to see how it stacks up to RawTherapee.
You asked for input (although I haven't actually seen or tried the application yet). I don't know if Tone Mapping is part of dlRaw, but it is a great feature to consider if it isn't (I currently use the Advanced Tone Mapping script in GIMP).
Really hope that the project moves ahead and that a Windows version becomes available.
Regards.
Hi Steve, well, it is not
Hi Steve,
well, it is not ready to be published and I have very little time for programming right now. Actually I preparing something different for a small release, but far away from photo editing.
The output doesn't differ much from RawTherapee or others, because all of them rely on dcraw in the end and there is not much magic involved getting a nice image out of it. Over time they also share the same algorithms, they are copied back and forth... The main differences are, that there are far more filters in dlRaw (at least the last time I counted) and that is has no managing capability, since I rely on digiKam, which I think is great for managing.
DlRaw uses the dynimc range compression, together with local contrast this is a great tool for tone mapping, although not a replacement for a real HDR process. This image was made with this approach:
That's why I made it available for gimp. I don't know, what will happen to dlRaw, it's not ready for public right now and I'm not happy spending time at problems, which don't help me with my images... Help was not offered, and looking at other projects, you get help usually just for the fun parts
The savest bet for all would be to stay with RawTherapee or others, if dlRaw goes public, you will notice...
Sorry, for not having better news.
greets mike
local contrast
Mike - What's your favorite way to boost local contrast in GIMP? I usually start off with the Advanced Tone Mapping script, which really helps.
BTW - you're images are really excellent. Beautiful composition, color, depth and lustre.
Steve (aka Spodeworld)
Hi Steve, actually I cannot
Hi Steve,
thank you for your very kind words about my pictures.
Actually, I cannot really help you here, because it's been long that I used gimp for that. Back then I wrote a script which does more or less what USM2 does together with automated masking to preserve the highlights and the shadows. I also used the maximize local contrast script by Roy. It is also possible with the EAW tool from my site or with gmic.
So, for my own images I call dlRaw from gimp and use a filter there which I wrote some time ago. It is applied after dynamic range compression (which helps to give more room for local contrast and that's available for gimp), but up to now this is not published.
Ben_pcc from the RawTherapee forum has a new algorithm, whose code is also not yet published (however, you can play with the same method on the command line using ImageStack). You can see examples in the thread where he offered the dynamic range compression code he wrote. That will probably be the next step for local contrast.
Sorry, that I cannot help more.
greets mike
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