Articles tagged "hdr"

Software developer Macphun has announced a new package designed to help photographers to combine multiple exposures into HDR images. Created in partnership with HDR specialist Trey Ratcliff, Aurora HDR provides tools for a wide range of effects via manual controls and a collection of pre-sets. Read more

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have come up with a theory for a new way to solve the issue of bright skies burning out in a landscape photograph. Using what they call Unbounded High Dynamic Range photography they are working on the idea of pixels that reset themselves once they have reached their capacity for recording light so that they can carry on recording - and resetting if necessary. Click through for more details

Earlier this week, Japanese patent blog Egami reported that Olympus has patented a technology that would allow the photographer to selectively adjust exposure of different scene areas during an exposure. This might allow for a more balanced exposure of scenes where cameras might normally struggle. Click through for an explanation of what we think the patent might mean for photographers. 

Dutch photographer and urban exploration specialist Niki Feijen goes behind "do not enter" signs on dilapidated houses to document furniture, clothes, and other ornaments left behind by their former owners. His eerie HDR images reveal remnants of life in rooms across western Europe that are now left to decay. Frozen in time, it's hard not to imagine the people that once occupied the spaces. See gallery

Unified Color Technologies has announced HDR Expose 3 and 32 Float 3 - the latest versions of its HDR software. HDR Expose is the company's stand-alone software, which works in the company's 'Beyond RGB' 32-bit color space and attempts to manipulate chroma and luminance data separately, while 32 Float is a Photoshop plugin built on the same principles. The latest versions gain improved tone mapping tools that attempt to retain local contrast while increasing the overall range of tones included in the final image, along with upgraded alignment and de-ghosting.

HDR software maker Unified Color Technologies has announced version 2 of its HDR Express high dynamic range merge and editing software for Windows and Mac. New features include Image Stacking that automatically groups bracketed exposures and a browser with thumbnail previews. Along with improved de-ghosting algorithms, the software also includes single-click presets and a new slideshow feature. Its native .BEF format can be opened in Adobe Photoshop and Apple Aperture via a plug-in for further editing. HDR Express 2 is available for an introductory price of $84.00 or $59 for current Unified Color users.

Nik Software has announced HDR Efex Pro 2, an update of its high dynamic range software package. The latest version features a range of updates, including an improved tone-mapping engine that promises better color rendering. The user interface and workflow have also been re-worked to make the process simpler, with a host of features added to provide increased control and image quality. HDR Efex Pro 2 will cost $99.95/€99.95, with upgrades around half that price and free upgrades for customers who bought version 1 after June 9th.

HDR software make Unified Color Technologies has updates its software to work with Adobe Lightroom 4. Users of both HDR Expose 2 and HDR Exrpess can download free updates to the latest versions, which have been fully tested with the latest version of Lightroom.

Are High Dynamic Range photos appropriate for illustrating news? That's the debate that's been started by the Washington Post's use of an HDR image on its front page in January. Sean Elliot, president of the National Press Photographers Association came down firmly against it, saying, 'HDR is not appropriate for documentary photojournalism.' John Omvik, Marketing VP with HDR software maker Unified Color understandably disagrees. He's written us a response arguing that what we see is closer to HDR than, say, a mono photo shot with Tri-X film.

Paris-based software maker Oloneo has launched version 1 of its HDRengine high dynamic range photo software. Built around what the company claims is 'the fastest HDR engines available today' it allows real-time tone mapping and HDR manipulation. The software supports 380 Raw formats and works on them in 32-bits per channel to ensure image quality retention. Oloneo HDRengine is available at an introductory price of $59/€59 through the company's online store or can be trialed for 30 days for free.

Unified Color has announced second-generation versions of its HDR Expose software and its 32Float HDR plugin for Photoshop. The latest versions add color dodge and burn tools, and tone curve adjustment, all the while using the company's 32-bit colorspace that separates color and luminance information to avoid color shifts when changing brightness. The latest version also includes presets, which can be created and modified, to speed up the blending process. Version 2 also gains the ability to batch merge images, using one of these presets. A free 30 day trial of both the 32 Float v2 plugin and standalone HDR Expose 2 software is available.

Digital Outback Photo has published 'The Art and Craft of HDR Photography' by Uwe and Bettina Steinmueller. The 100 page e-book, written and published by the authors of dpreview.com's 'The Art of HDR' series of guides, can be downloaded as a printable pdf. It is available for an introductory price of $15.95, rather than the usual $19.95.