Raya Pro Looks Interesting

[rpcrowe]

http://www.shutterevolve.com/raya-pr...for-photoshop/

I have seen lots of images that have won recent contests that look like they have been processed with Raya Pro...

It seems like it gives natural looking composites...

This is one of the examples that they gave:



The price is not that bad either...

[Shadowman]

That one got a wow from me.

[DavidPavlich]

I just upgraded to Ray Pro 2.0, but have yet to fool with it. Pretty powerful plugin. Seems like a good alternative to some of the HDR plugins.

David

[rpcrowe]

I have not touched the HDR capabilities of ON1, NIK or PSCC, so I don't know why I should be looking at another program. However, I do like many of the images which were edited in RAYA...

BTW: The night I visited the Li River, it was raining cats and dogs. So I didn't have a chance to photograph the cormorant fisherman. However, I strongly suspect that the photographer hired these two fisherman and that this was a posed image. That doesn't take away from its striking beauty on bit.

[DavidPavlich]

I should have made myself more clear. Ray Pro isn't an HDR program in the sense that Photomatix Pro 5 is. I mentioned HDR programs because I use them for their natural capabilities as well as their tone mapping ability. Raya Pro uses some pretty neat blending presets which are easily manipulated to get that finished product. Try Jimmy McIntyre's You Tube channel and watch his tutorial using Ray Pro. Pretty neat stuff! I need to get off my Light Room butt and expand into Photoshop more.

David

[TheBigE]

I am considering Raya Pro as a plugin to PS. I have subscribed to Jimmy McIntyre's YouTube Channel and watch him use Raya Pro. I am not sure exactly, but it has his name and I think he is the developer of the software. He actually shows the photo above in one of his videos on his channel.

Right now I have (not use) TK Action Panels...to me Raya Pro 2 looks to be cleaner and offers more options. I am not sure if it would be worthing adding on or purchasing.

[TheBigE]

Me (after reading this thread): Maybe I will check out Rays Pro Again
<Clicking on Link for Raya Pro >

Hmm....25% off for Raya Pro2....and training as well.

Me: I really do not need another plugin...do I?

<Pondering...Pondering...Pondering>.

And so now I have Raya Pro2 along with the training....I was doing so good until I read this thread in avoiding the purchase of Raya Pro2.

Ah...so it is. Time to watch some videos....

[Manfred M]

I wonder how this compares to LR Enfuse (Lightroom plugin), which seems to be a very similar technology? While I like the resulting images better than most HDR work, I still find hand-blending provides far better imagery.

[Dave Humphries]

While I like the resulting images better than most HDR work, I still find hand-blending provides far better imagery.

I agree Manfred, I always feel like I'm somehow 'cheating' if I use a plug-in*, I feel I should** be able to have the artistic vision and technical competence to be able to get to the best result by hand.
* especially the 'one click wonder' filters
** but often I don't, at least, not quickly anyway.

So I avoid them.

Weeeell, I did recently install the Nik suite in to PS, as it's free (and mainly for the NR), but haven't needed to process anything since doing so, so I've not learnt how to use it - YouTube here I come!

But this (Raya-Pro) did look interesting - in as much as, even I might be able to use it, since control is relatively simple and it seems to be doing things 'the right way'.

[TheBigE]

I have the NIK collection - and frankly always forget to use it and feel much the same way you do Dave - sorta that I am cheating the system. I should be able to do what is being done in NIK via PS/LR combo - most of the time I can manage to achieve the same results as NIK in PS, except the pesky Detail Extractor in NIK collection...cannot figure that out yet.

I just started watching the Videos on Raya Pro - before I had watched Jimmy McIntyre's videos on luminosity masks, photoshop and digital blending. I like his teaching style and how he implements these concepts. It is very interesting to see in his videos (not the ones from Raya Pro) that he shows you how to achieve the results via Raya Pro or via normal PS commands.

My first take on Raya Pro is that will help shorten some of the workflow and just provides some shortcuts for Digital Blending. It offers sort of an "all in one" button push to full controllability of blending techniques. Still many more videos to watch....

[joewatt]

Here I am, a rank amateur, jumping in to a conversation among people at least several of whom have skills, knowledge and talent far beyond mine. Be that as it may, I note with a smile Dave and Erik's reluctance to use plugins - as if using one piece of software is qualitatively different from using another, or using two programs is unacceptable while using one is fine. In any event, I import my RAW files with Lightroom and do light initial editing there including the use of Nik for noise reduction and sharpening. Then I export the photos as TIFF and do any further editing in Luminar, which I find far more user friendly and has some sophisticated capabilities.

I use Nik because I read (somewhere) that it does a "better" job of noise reduction and sharpening than Lightroom. I cannot judge whether that is true. I enjoy eavesdropping on this conversation among people who know far more than me. Hope you don't mind my jumping in -

[plugsnpixels]

Thanks for this thread, for some reason I had not heard of Raya to this point even though blending layers is one of my favorite things to do.

As for plug-ins vs. doing things manually, I bet most of you have electric windows in your cars and don't roll them up by hand any more! Working manually in Photoshop is great if you have the time AND the chops, but plug-ins make the work much easier and I dare say might even help you do a better job regardless. I also feel many plug-ins create effects you are just not going to create yourself.

[Manfred M]

Thanks for this thread, for some reason I had not heard of Raya to this point even though blending layers is one of my favorite things to do.

As for plug-ins vs. doing things manually, I bet most of you have electric windows in your cars and don't roll them up by hand any more! Working manually in Photoshop is great if you have the time AND the chops, but plug-ins make the work much easier and I dare say might even help you do a better job regardless. I also feel many plug-ins create effects you are just not going to create yourself.

Let me suggest that I understand where you are coming from. Many photographers I know primarily want to spend time shooting and want to put as little effort into post-processing work as they can to get a decent shot. That is where this type of software shines. Automation has one great advantage, and that is speed. It also has one great disadvantage, and that is that we have turned over creative aspects of our work to a piece of software that has no vision.

I find that your example of electric versus manual control of car windows is not a particularly good example of automation versus a manual method, as the end results of either process will be identical. There is no craftsmanship involved in opening a window. I think a better example might be buying your furniture at Ikea versus going to a craftsman to build you something. Both will give you a functional piece of furniture and for some people, they would never consider anything other than an Ikea purchase because this is all they want. Others will keep the craftsman in business because they appreciate the skills and quality of workmanship of the custom work. The understanding is that there is a difference. Ikea means a trip to the local store and after a bit of frustration, the piece is set up and ready to go at a price I am willing to pay. The craftsman will be a longer and more expensive path - I can order the piece, but it will be weeks or months before I see the product and it will be more expensive than the Ikea product.

I had this discussion on another photo site where I am a member:

Here is an image done three different ways; all featuring a different way of blending the same 5 images:

1. HDRI using Nik HDRI Efex Pro 2





2. Exposure blending using LR Enfuse:





3. Manual blending using layer masks in Photoshop:

[IzzieK]

Thanks Richard...will read some more. I just subscribed to the You Tube channel and will probably get the one with the tutorials before the 19th hour expires.

[plugsnpixels]

Thanks Manfred, and I actually like your manually done version best ;-)