Photomatix is one of those photo-processing pieces of software where once you’ve seen the results, you can easily pick out the photos edited with it ever after.  As a tool for what’s called “tonemapping” (in simple terms, equalizing shadows and highlights to bring out as much detail as possible), it produces extremely distinctive, painterly, vaguely surreal results…like the following images.

Castle-like buildings on the Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut

Serene waters at the Capilano Suspension Bridge complex in Vancouver, British Columbia

Left: The famous “Reversing Falls” in Saint John, New Brunswick | Right: The base of Oregon’s Multnomah Falls outside Portland

The shores of New Zealand's Lake Tekapo

Deer on the summer ski slopes in Sun Valley, Idaho

Thunder Cove, Prince Edward Island

Left: The tree-lined streets of New Haven, Connecticut | Right: Walking the paths in Massachusetts’s Stony Brook Wildlife Sanctuary

The view from Galena Summit, Idaho