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Open the bracketed images.
For alingment, I recommend using align_image_stack. Makes things whole lot easier.
It is recommended to check that the images align properly before fusing the exposures.
Usually there's no need to touch the images at this stage though.
Default settings - profile 1 - has always worked for me.
Now save the HDR to file (TIFF, EXR, etc.); saves time if you want to tonemap it again.
Let's start tonemapping. I usually make two separate mappings; one for detail and one for global contrast.
Ticking the box that says "Contrast equalization" means that the tonemapping enhances details. Resulting image has typical look of a tonemapped image.
The image without contrast equalization will be used as the basis for further processing. It has quite natural look, but lacks local contrast that's visible to the eye.
Of course there are several other tonemapping operators available, go on and try them out. But for this tutorial, I'll stick with Mantiuk.
Save the images and let's head to GIMP.
Open the image without contrast equalization as the base layer.
Now open the local contrast variant on top of the first one. Adjust the opacity of the upper layer --
-- I usually go with 30% - 50%, whichever looks good.
Flatten the image, and let's adjust the brightness a bit, now the image looks guite gray. I use the Curves tool.
While we are at it, let's add some warmth to the highlights on the snow and some blue to the sky.
I'm a kenrockwell type guy, so next I'll head to Colors / Auto / Color enhance. This really pops the colors.
Looking good, let's sharpen it a bit.
And we're done.
Now some examples that I've done.