# Lightroom Enfuse no Longer Works on Mac O/S



## curbappealpix (Jan 12, 2020)

I apologize if this has been posted before -- I have searched the threads and I couldn't find anything on it.

I'm a real estate photographer and have been using Lightroom Classic (9.0 Release) and the LR Enfuse plug-in with no issues up until a couple of months ago. when I upgraded to  Mac o/s Catalina   10.15.1

Shortly after I upgraded to Catalina  I went to use the Enfuse plug in and it would not fuse the images.  The error message I received indicated that it was an Exiftool error.  I uninstalled/reinstalled LR Classic as I thought it was a LR issue, then I went to the Exiftool website and downloaded, installed and ran Exiftool for Mac, and I have tried reinstalling the LR Enfuse plug in.

After re- installing Exiftool, I no longer received the Exiftool error message when attempting to blend stacks,  but Enfuse still would not work and   I would receive a general  Error Running Enfuse message.   Recently I updated  to  LIghtroom  Classic 9.1, and  my Mac to   O/S  Catalina 10.15.2, and now once again I am receiving the error message  Error Running Exiftool whenever I attempt to blend stacks using Enfuse.   

In the past couple of months I  have contacted support at the Photographer's Tool Box site (and sent the  LREnfuse log info),  have posted on a couple of forums, asked in various Facebook Photography and Lightroom groups, and have not been able to find a solution.  As I use this plug in daily for my job, I am pretty desperate to find a solution.    Any suggestions would be much appreciated!


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## curbappealpix (Jan 16, 2020)

So . . . since there are apparently no known solutions to my issue, can anyone recommend an app or program  that works  with Lightroom that I can use to blend HDR (and doesn't look like clown vomit)?


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## Johan Elzenga (Jan 16, 2020)

curbappealpix said:


> So . . . since there are apparently no known solutions to my issue, can anyone recommend an app or program  that works  with Lightroom that I can use to blend HDR (and doesn't look like clown vomit)?


How about... Lightroom?


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## Paul_DS256 (Jan 16, 2020)

Another consideration is to install Enfuse and run it directly and not through the plug-in.


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## BarrySchwartz (Jan 22, 2020)

Enfuse is working on my computer (Mac OS Catalina).  You might try checking the Plugin Manager, and reload it and the other plugins (in the Manager) that Enfuse requires to work.  You may have to go back to Photographers-Toolbox to start all over.  

 Other HDR programs in addition to the HDR in LR itself, are a NIK program called HDR Efex Pro2 and Photomatix.  Both of these last ones I believe work both as plugins and stand-alone.  I'll take this opportunity to praise Enfuse, it's a great program; for instance you can process different images with different color-balances and brush-work, and it will render nicely.  The only thing that LR HDR does better sometimes is de-ghosting things like plant movements - but the LR version  only blends raw images without any processing applied.


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## Johan Elzenga (Jan 22, 2020)

BarrySchwartz said:


> the LR version only blends raw images without any processing applied.


Isn't that what you want, and isn't that what Enfuse does as well? 
If you mean to say that Lightroom does not create HDR images if they have been processed; that is not true.


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## BarrySchwartz (Jan 22, 2020)

Johan - Let me say in advance perhaps I'm doing it wrong, but my experience is that LR HDR only produces a final image based on what has been imported in each bracketed DNG image.  So, for instance, when I have a set of bracketed images and process each of them differently, when I put them through the LR HDR process, none of the changes are present that I made to the individual images in the resulting LR HDR DNG. (I only process DNG files.)  

When I do the same using Enfuse, all those individual changes are represented in the final output, in my case, a 16-bit ProPhoto TIF.    As an architectural photographer I routinely shoot much of my projects using HDR methods, resulting in hundreds of files per project.  If I have missed a setting that would enable changes to each separate, bracketed image to be represented in the final LR HDR output in the same way Enfuse does it, I would love to know how to do better, since that would be one less step I need to do.


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## Paul_DS256 (Jan 22, 2020)

I'm trying to learn here but my understanding was you merge the pictures using HDR software then make changes to the resulting image. Just did some checking and found this which seems to talk about the same workflow HDR Lightroom Workflow - Faster and More Natural Results.

What I don't understand BarrySchwartz is what you gain my making adjustments first then merging.


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## BarrySchwartz (Jan 22, 2020)

Paul -  The method you reference certainly works, and I've done it that way myself with good results.  However, as an architectural photographer, I often do not - or cannot - use additional lighting to what is already present so I developed a workflow to compensate.  Here's a portion of that workflow, and forgive me if you already know some of this.

In the daytime, the inside of a room will have several light sources, all at different temperatures: outside light through the windows, ceiling lights, accent lights, and/or table lamps.  Additionally, if the room has several windows, the light temperature might be different for different windows, including direct sunlight or reflected light through greenery.  While your eyes (and mine!) makes sense of these different light temperatures without a problem, the camera accentuates the differences so that there are blotches of different colored light, not to mention how carpets, furniture, shiny countertops, and walls react to light differently than one another, and bounce the light around the room.  I might have to use as many as 5 or 6 brackets - or more - to bring all the information into a photo the way your eye sees the scene.

The way I deal with all these differences is that I might have to process different brackets at different color temperatures, including dodging and burning, vibrance and saturation, and contrast and clarity, and more.  Noise in shadow or dark surfaces is always an issue.  Combining all these brackets lets me produce an image that looks natural.   I've developed a workflow for this that speeds things along (time is money!).  To be fair, sometimes I will light, particularly if I've got very bright areas facing the camera which can make it difficult to achieve good results no matter how many brackets I blend.  Another factor is how much time I have on site and how many images I'm contracted to produce - some images take upwards of an hour to set up on-site, some just a few minutes. In post, I might spend a few minutes working on a single image, or a couple of hours.

Exteriors can be equally challenging, especially in the case of a white house in full sun, with, say, a porch that is in shadow.  That same angle taken at dusk (the classic architectural shot with a deep blue sky and all the lights on - and their different temperatures - in the house) produces another set of similar challenges, including how the white house reflects the ambient light and the artificial lights.  Not to mention that cameras might render colors differently than your eyes.  Photographing large commercial spaces (inside and out) such as restaurants or corporate offices have the same issues.

Enfuse allows me to do all of this work and then blend so that all the changes are combined into a single image, where LR HDR does not. Additionally, I then put each image into Photoshop for all the finishing touches.  Hope this helps!


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## Johan Elzenga (Jan 22, 2020)

Lightroom uses raw files to create a 'raw' HDR. The HDR DNG is not really a raw file, but for all intents and purposes you can say it is. That is why most edits to the original raw file are ignored; you are supposed do them on the HDR.

If you have a reason to edit the individual images first and then create the HDR, then the standard way Lightroom does it is not for you. I never tried it but you could perhaps export TIFF files, import these again into Lightroom and then merge these to HDR. No idea if Lightroom let's you do this but if it does, then that would be a solution.

Another solution is to edit the raw files, select them and then choose 'Photo - Edit in - Merge to HDR Pro in Photoshop'. This will send 16 bits TIFF files (with their edits baked in) to Photoshop and merge them. You then have three choices. You can merge to a 32 bits TIFF, meaning you only merge and do no tone mapping. If you then save this TIFF you can further edit it in Lightroom. The second option is to merge to 16 or 8 bits, which means you'll use HDR Pro for tone mapping. And finally you can merge to 32 bits TIFF and check the option to complete the toning in ACR.


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## BarrySchwartz (Jan 22, 2020)

Johan - Thanks for this.  I have in fact done all those things.  Working directly on the DNGs is a much faster process because it's all done in LR, resulting in the TIF I need for final processing, anyway.  You can do things to a raw file that don't work as well on a TIF (and vice-versa), plus, during the blending process in LR, if the resulting blend does not turn out well I can make changes to each DNG and do it again until I get it right.


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## Paul_DS256 (Jan 22, 2020)

BarrySchwartz said:


> Here's a portion of that workflow, and forgive me if you already know some of this.


Thanks for the detailed information. I didn't understand the extent of what you can do.


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## Johan Elzenga (Jan 22, 2020)

BarrySchwartz said:


> Johan - Thanks for this.  I have in fact done all those things.  Working directly on the DNGs is a much faster process because it's all done in LR, resulting in the TIF I need for final processing, anyway.  You can do things to a raw file that don't work as well on a TIF (and vice-versa), plus, during the blending process in LR, if the resulting blend does not turn out well I can make changes to each DNG and do it again until I get it right.


I'm sorry, but you are confusing me. First you say that there is a problem with merging raw files to DNG in Lightroom because you can't edit the raw files and use the edits in the merge, so that is why you used Enfuse. So I give you some alternatives that do not involve merging raw files, but merging tiff files, just like Enfuse does. And now you sing the virtues of merging to DNG to me?...


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## FGLR (May 28, 2020)

curbappealpix said:


> So . . . since there are apparently no known solutions to my issue, can anyone recommend an app or program  that works  with Lightroom that I can use to blend HDR (and doesn't look like clown vomit)?



I was able to update the exiftool utility and Enfuse works in Catalina now.  If you want a copy, let me know.


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## maartenkuin (Aug 1, 2020)

Hello Can anybody tel me how enfuse works on Catalina


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## maartenkuin (Aug 1, 2020)

FGLR said:


> I was able to update the exiftool utility and Enfuse works in Catalina now.  If you want a copy, let me know.


Hello Can you sent me please this tool?


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## FGLR (Aug 1, 2020)

Install LR/Enfuse in Lightroom as you normally would

Close Lightroom
Go here: EnfuseCatalina
In the upper right, click the Download icon > Direct download
Unzip the file
Copy the file (LREnfuse.lrplugin) to this location: <YOUR HOME FOLDER>/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Modules
Open Lightroom
Go to File > Plug-in Extras > Blend exposures using LR/Enfuse...


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## maartenkuin (Aug 2, 2020)

FGLR said:


> Install LR/Enfuse in Lightroom as you normally would
> 
> Close Lightroom
> Go here: EnfuseCatalina
> ...


Thank you but i doesn't work for me because there is no folder Modules and when i open lightroom there is nog plugin in extras


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## Johan Elzenga (Aug 2, 2020)

maartenkuin said:


> Thank you but i doesn't work for me because there is no folder Modules and when i open lightroom there is nog plugin in extras


Make sure you are looking at the Library folder inside your Home folder, not the Library folder at the root of your hard disk. It can be hidden: 4 quick ways to unhide and access your Mac Library folder - AppleToolBox
If there really is no Modules folder there, then just create one.


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## maartenkuin (Aug 2, 2020)

Johan Elzenga said:


> Make sure you are looking at the Library folder inside your Home folder, not the Library folder at the root of your hard disk. It can be hidden: 4 quick ways to unhide and access your Mac Library folder - AppleToolBox
> If there really is no Modules folder there, then just create one.


I have put it in the right folder but in adobe lightroom i do't see the plugin


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## Johan Elzenga (Aug 2, 2020)

That is not the correct folder. That is a folder of *Lightroom* (CC), the cloud version. If you use *Lightroom Classic*, then there should be a 'Lightroom' folder, without the 'CC'. If you use Lightroom cloud, then you cannot use plugins. Lightroom cloud does not support plugins.


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## milankphoto-igc.org (Sep 23, 2020)

FGLR said:


> Install LR/Enfuse in Lightroom as you normally would
> 
> Close Lightroom
> Go here: EnfuseCatalina
> ...


Enfuse continues to be broken on Catalina for me after above steps.  I'm still getting: *“enfuse” cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified." Would welcome any other suggestions.  Thanks!*


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## FGLR (Sep 23, 2020)

milankphoto-igc.org said:


> Enfuse continues to be broken on Catalina for me after above steps.  I'm still getting: *“enfuse” cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified." Would welcome any other suggestions.  Thanks!*



Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General > Open Anyway


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## milankphoto-igc.org (Sep 23, 2020)

Thanks a ton!  That did it!


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## veganJoe (Jan 4, 2021)

I have the same issue with LR Enfuse not working on OSX Catalina 10.15.7.  I get the following error in the text file it spits out on my desktop:



> enfuse: warning: option "--contrast-window-size" has no effect as contrast
> enfuse: warning:     weight is zero
> enfuse: failed to open "/var/folders/zt/g0mlmw_d6ql_dr7dl5p79kbm0000gn/T/LREnfuse-18/aligned_0002.tif": No such file or directory
> 
> ...



I've tried the version of LR Enfuse that user FGLR posted, but same result.  I'm not sure why FGLR's plugin is 76.1MB while the release version is 16.4MB....?   Hopefully not virus, etc.

Has anyone found a solution to this issue?  Thanks so much!

-joe


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