Hdr Software For Mac Review

The new Aurora HDR 2018 version is the first MAC and PC iteration of the software and it brings quite a few updates and improvements as well. Category Science & Technology. Dynamic Photo HDR Software Review Buy Download Buy Print Posted February 26, 2011 – DynamicPhoto HDR is the second on the list of HDR software to be tested and reviewed.

If you've ever taken a photo outside on a bright day, only to find part of the photo way too dark and part of it way too light, you've stumbled upon one of the problems inherent with digital photography—a single exposure can only contain a limited dynamic range. High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography creates an image that is not possible with a single shot.

The effect is achieved by merging different photos of an identical frame taken with different exposures--dark underexposures, bright overexposures, and medium exposures—and using only the properly exposed parts of each photo. With HDR, you can keep the details of clouds on a sunny day while saving a shaded part of the scene in the foreground that may normally be underexposed. Traditionally, HDR photography required expensive applications like ($699) or ($99). Last year, the concept of HDR photos became more mainstream when Apple added it to the camera app in iOS 4.1. Now, users searching the Mac App Store store for HDR apps are met with a wide range of options, both in price and features. I took a look at five apps to see how price, features, and results compared.

For consistency, the same three raw files were used to test each app. Light Compressor Don't be fooled by the price tag on Tai Shimzu's. Available in the Mac App Store for $1, Light Compressor is a basic HDR app that yields solid results. With very simple controls, this app allows you to quickly drag three image files to the main window, and make tone mapping and curves adjustments to the combined image.

The dynamic range of a photograph is much wider than what can be accurately displayed on a computer screen, and tone mapping—a core concept in HDR photography—reduces the overall range while maintaining as much of the contrast as possible. There are three sliders under the tone mapping controls that allow you to adjust strength, radius, and saturation.

Below this, there is a familiar Photoshop-style curves adjustment tool, which allows for multiple adjustment points by clicking the plus sign at the top. Light Compressor's default tone mapping settings seems overly strong, but yields pleasing results when lowered slightly. The settings are not refreshed when you load a new set of images, so adjust accordingly. Bottom Line: A good starting point for HDR on the Mac. It could end up being all you need.; $1 HDR Darkroom Everimaging's easily combines multiple image files to create an HDR photo. The app's strength lies in the three tone mapping engines to adjust your image after the files are loaded—Local Tone Balancer, Local Tone Enhancer, and Fast Tone Compressor. After the selection is made, the slider controls in the Tone Mapping Parameters panel adjusts automatically.

Local Tone Balancer can be used to balance highlights and shadow detail in small areas of the photo via the Strength and Local Lighting sliders. The Local Tone Enhancer engine is for targeting the shadow details specifically. The Fill Light slider is the key to this engine and will reduce the overall contrast of the image, and lighten some darker areas of the photo.