HDR Merge CLI Tool PhotomatixCL

PhotomatixCL is a Command-Line Interface that lets you integrate HDR merge into an automated imaging solution.

You can use PhotomatixCL to merge exposure bracketed photos into an HDR image, process it with tone mapping or fusion, and save the result as JPG or TIFF. PhotomatixCL also includes image alignment, ghost removal, saving as EXR, and the same HDR presets as Photomatix Pro, which you can try for free.

PhotomatixCL runs on Windows and Linux. It can load images from your computer or local network, or fetch the contents of images on a web server.

You can try PhotomatixCL for free by downloading it below. The trial doesn't expire, but adds a watermark to the resulting images. A PhotomatixCL license avoids the watermark.

Download

		Download link		Compatilibility
Windows		PhotomatixCL 8 for Windows		Windows 10 / Windows 11

Linux

PhotomatixCL 8 for Linux Ubuntu

Ubuntu 23.04 & 24.04 / Linux Mint 22

Statically linked PhotomatixCL 8 for Linux

Other distros, or if you are getting errors about missing libraries

Installation

If you are installing a license for a single machine, use the instructions below. Otherwise, see the full installation instructions.

Windows

Windows

Run the installer.

Linux

Linux

Go to the directory where you want PhotomatixCL to be installed, and run this command: tar xf <FolderDownloadedFile>/PhotomatixCL-8b3-U23.tar.gz Where <FolderDownloadedFile> is the path to the folder where you downloaded PhotomatixCL. To get EXIF data copied to output files, install the "exiftool" package using your system's package manager. To get automatic lens correction for cameras and lenses that are supported, install the "lensfun" data package (it could also be called "liblensfun" or "liblensfun-data" depending on your system).

Merging a bracketed set to HDR

A command line for merging a set of bracketed images follows this pattern:

PhotomatixCL [Options] [Input Files]

Sample PhotomatixCL command

The command below will align and merge three image files to HDR, tone map the 32-bit HDR image with the default preset and save the result as JPEG:

Let's look at the options passed to PhotomatixCL:

-a2:  Align the input bracketed images

-x Detailed:  Tone map the merged HDR image with the 'Detailed' preset.

-h remove:  Remove the 32-bit HDR image after tone mapping (if you prefer to keep it, then add the option -32 and replace '-h remove' with '-h exr' to save the 32-bit HDR image in OpenEXR format).

-s jpg:  Save the tone mapped image in JPEG format (use -s tif to save as TIFF).

-o <PathOutput>OutputImage:  Save the resulting image as OuputImage.jpg in the directory at path <PathOutput>. Note that the extension is automatically added.

Last arguments:  The remaining arguments are the path names or URLs for the input bracketed photos and aren't preceded by an option.

Note: The input images must be supplied at the end of the command line. All other arguments can be supplied in any order, as long as they are before the input images.

Batch merging images

PhotomatixCL takes one set of bracketed images as input. Merging multiple bracketed sets requires running PhotomatixCL in a loop that processes one set at a time.

The PhotomatixCL installation includes a command line utility that simplifies the process of merging multiple sets. The utility is called PhotomatixCL-Driver and is installed in a 'Batch' subfolder.

You can use PhotomatixCL-Driver to batch process a folder containing multiple sets of bracketed images, provided the images you are processing are on a computer or local network.

A command line for batching sets of bracketed images with PhotomatixCL-Driver follows this pattern:

PhotomatixCL-Driver [Selection Criteria] [PhotomatixCL Command Line]

[Selection Criteria]

This refers to your choices for the directory to look in, the number of images in a set and any criteria that the file names must match. The criteria are given with the following command line options:

[PhotomatixCL Command Line]

This is the full command line you would use to process a bracketed set in PhotomatixCL, but with two differences:

1. You don't enter the path of the input files at the end of the command line. PhotomatixCL Driver will automatically add them before PhotomatixCL is run.
2. You need to use the -d option to specify the path of the output folder where the processed images will be saved (the -o option isn't applicable when using PhotomatixCL Driver).

See the PhotomatixCL command generator further down to generate a PhotomatixCL command line based on the options you enter in the form.

You can also find the full PhotomatixCL options reference and command examples in the PhotomatixCL Documentation.

Sample PhotomatixCL Driver Command

The command below aligns and merges to HDR the JPEG files in the folder specified by the '-s' option, in sets of three images each, then processes them with the 'Natural' preset, and saves the resulting images into the folder specified by the '-d' option.

(The part of the command line corresponding to the Set Selection Criteria is in orange color and the part corresponding to the PhotomatixCL Command Line in green color.)

Commands on a Windows OS

cd "c:\Program Files\PhotomatixCL" Batch\PhotomatixCL-Driver -n 3 -s "c:\Images\Sets" -m "*.jpg" PhotomatixCL -a2 -x Natural -d "c:\Images\Output\\"

Commands on a Linux OS

cd /home/<user>/PhotomatixCL/ Batch/PhotomatixCL-Driver -n 3 -s /home/<user>/Images/Sets -m "*.jpg" PhotomatixCL -a2 -x Natural -d /home/<user>/Images/Output/

If you've installed the statically linked version of PhotomatixCL, then replace '/home/<user>/PhotomatixCL/PhotomatixCL' with '/home/<user>/PhotomatixCL/PhotomatixCL-static'.

In case you get a permission error the first time you run the command, right-click on the PhotomatixCL-Driver file, select the 'Properties' option, click on the 'Permissions' tab and check the box 'Allow executing the file as program'.