FAQ Tone Mapping Plugin for Photoshop

• Which version of Photoshop is required for your plugin?
• I bought a license of Photomatix Pro. Is there an upgrade path for the Tone Mapping Plug-In?
• Can I use the Tone Mapping plugin in Affinity Photo?
• I am getting a completely blown-out image even though the preview looked OK.
• I sometimes get noisy results with the tone mapping. Is there a way to avoid this?
• Is the Tone Mapping Plugin compatible with macOS Sequoia?

Which version of Photoshop is required for your plugin?

The Tone Mapping Plugin works in Photoshop CC, Photoshop CS and Photoshop Elements.

If you wish to use the Tone Mapping with a 32-bit merged HDR image, then you'll need Photoshop CC or Photoshop CS2 to CS 6.

Customers reported that the Windows version of the plugin works in Affinity Photo as well. If you are using the Tone Mapping plugin with another host than Photoshop, we would very much appreciate if you could contact us to let us know.

I bought a license of Photomatix Pro. Is there an upgrade path for the Tone Mapping Plug-In?

Yes. Customers who purchased a license of Photomatix Pro can upgrade to the Bundle license that includes both the standalone Photomatix Pro and the Tone Mapping plug-in for just US$20. Please see how to you can request the upgrade information.

Can I use the Tone Mapping plugin in Affinity Photo?

The Photomatix Tone Mapping plugin can be used in Affinity Photo for Windows. If you are running on Windows, Please follow these steps to install the plugin:

• Download the plugin file directly from here.
• Open your Downloads folder. If the download shows as a zip file, right-click on it and choose 'Extract...'
• Launch Affinity Photo
• In Affinity, go to the menu 'Edit > Preferences...' then click the 'Photoshop Plugins' button, then click on 'Add'. On some versions of Affinity, the menu option may be "Edit > Settings > Photoshop Plugins".
• In the browse window that comes up, choose your Downloads folder, select 'PhotomatixToneMappingPlugin30a' (the normal folder, not the 'zip' file) then click 'Select Folder'
• Check the box called 'Allow Unknown plugins to be used' checkbox at the bottom of the Preferences dialog.
• Close the Preferences dialog and restart Affinity Photo
• Open the image you would like to edit, and invoke the plug-in with the menu option 'Filter > Tonemapping'

I am getting a completely blown-out image even though the preview looked OK.

This problem is normally due to an incorrect Exposure setting after tone mapping a 32-bit HDR merged image. For some reason, Photoshop sometimes changes the Exposure setting from the default, resulting in a blown-out tone mapped image when the exposure becomes higher than zero.

Follow these steps to view the tone mapped image at the correct exposure:

1. Go to Photoshop's Image menu
2. Click on Mode and select either 8 or 16 Bits/Channel
3. Check the Exposure setting under 'Exposure and Gamma' and reset it to exactly 0.

Note that you won't get the issue if you apply the Tone Mapping plugin to an existing 32-bit merged HDR image file you've opened. You won't get the issue either if you copy and paste the newly 32-bit merged HDR image into a new file, and then apply the plugin.

I sometimes get noisy results with the tone mapping. Is there a way to avoid this?

This question is answered under the Photomatix Pro FAQ here.

Is the Tone Mapping Plugin compatible with macOS Sequoia?

There is an issue when using the Photomatix Tone Mapping Plugin for Photoshop on macOS Sequoia. Our software engineers are working on solving it as soon as possible.