# Creating a high dynamic range image where parts are saturated [duplicate]

So I have a series of images of the same thing, each one more attenuated than the previous one.

In the first two images, there are saturated rings, but the less intense rings are much more visible. I'm wondering if Mathematica has an easy way for me to create an image out of this set of images which preserves the relative intensity between the rings as seen in the non saturated images, while making the less intense rings easier to pick out.

From what I understand, a high dynamic range image might be what I want here, but maybe the best that can be done is some clever image manipulation or filtering on the less intense images. What do you people think?

• There are ImageExposureCombine and ColorToneMapping, both new functions and neither mentioned in the above thread. However, these seem to be focused more on photography where what matters most is what the result looks like. I would be cautious if you are going to extract quantitative data. – Szabolcs Nov 9 '16 at 9:34
• @Szabolcs so do you recommend closure? – Feyre Nov 9 '16 at 9:57
• @Feyre I don't know, I decided not to touch this one. It would be best to post another response on the other thread about these new functions and explain what they do. The problem is that I do not fully understand what they do (though I know what the output will look like). I think ImageExposureCombine does the same thing as ColorToneMapping. The difference is that the latter takes a single high-dynamic range (HDR) image as input and the former takes multiple low-DR images with different exposures. – Szabolcs Nov 9 '16 at 10:01
• @Feyre By HDR I mean that one file encodes a wide range of luminance values (which can't be accurately displayed on a usual screen because screens can't reproduce such a great luminance variation), not that it is already tone mapped to show small variations even on a low-DR screen. – Szabolcs Nov 9 '16 at 10:03
• Maybe I was a little unclear, the most important thing for me is that I want to be able to see the faint rings better while preserving the brightness ratios between rings. I thought maybe an HDR image would be a way to achieve this but it seems like no. The other option is some clever filtering to reduce noise and see the faint rings better. I'm not married to the idea of HDR – Mason Nov 9 '16 at 19:22