Our Verdict
High - dynamical - scope photography can be a knavish process , and although some digital cameras have an HDR gaining control mode , ultimately you ’ll want to capture the images and combine them yourself for the ultimate in creative control . Unified Color ’s new HDR Expose 2 double - editing lotion ( $ 149 as of April 30 , 2012 ) lay claim to overcome television camera limitations by combining multiple images of different exposures to create one properly divulge composition . If you may snap the proper prototype – and if you ’re willing to tweak – this program can give up on its hope .
Expose Exposed
Digital SLR cameras ’ dynamical range – their power to capture image datum from light to dark – is improving all the sentence , but cameras will always be restrain by crystalline lens mechanic . Since a camera lens system can apply only one aperture ( lens opening size ) per dead reckoning , it typically chooses the better via media between non-white and spark throughout the frame , and in doing so it may not capture details in shadows or in promising orbit of the frame . Even capturing image in RAW data formatting ca n’t get the best this restriction . The only resolution thus far has been to bed several pic - bracketed image , taken by a television camera jump on on a tripod to denigrate ghosting or blurring , and then use redaction tools to select the best - peril parts of each range of a function and blend them into one“high - dynamic - orbit ” image . Many applications , includingAdobe Photoshop Pro CS5and Corel PaintShop Pro X4 , patronise HDR image redaction ; even theiPhone 4 offers a sort of HDR .
HDR Expose 2 provides much more control over HDR processing than either Photoshop or PaintShop Pro does , though . It supports 32 - fleck gloss , which Photoshop also supports , but Photoshop allows adjustments only in 8 - snatch or 16 - bit semblance mode . HDR Expose 2 is a stand - alone program , but it come with plug - Indiana for Adobe LightRoom and Apple Aperture . Unified Color sells a related to product , 32 Float v2 , which functions as a Photoshop plug - in .
Capturing HDR Images
To start , you apprize HDR Expose 2 to spell images ; it imposes no limit point on the number of photos , but I found little benefit in adding more than four or five shot ; usually , relying on my SLR ’s exposure - bracket feature to capture just three images worked adequately . On my four - year - old double - Xeon workstation , the app required about 30 seconds to process three origin images and show me a prevue . I captured the images with aperture - priority , since maintaining constant aperture reduces the likeliness of conjunction problems in the composition .
Trying to fill up shadows by shooting and then combining far - too - overexpose scene usually leave in very noisy images . While HDR Expose 2 has some noise - reduction functionality , applying enough of it to solve the problem typically made the image blurry ( as is the case with the dissonance - reduction feature in most editing applications ) . I found that the serious approaching was to process look-alike that were n’t too extreme , and then use HDR Expose 2 ’s extensive pure tone - mapping features to brighten shadows .
When you import photos , the lotion asks you to choose a method for reducing ghosting artefact , but once you make a extract and start merging image , you ca n’t go back and choose another method without starting over . And once your images are merged and HDR Expose 2 demonstrate your composing , you ca n’t remove any shots from the composition – say , if you make up one’s mind that one of your images is enter too much haphazardness . Photoshop ’s HDR tool does allow you to remove shots if you want .
Unified Color state that a raw feature film in HDR Expose 2 , genuine - time processing , grant the practical program to render immediately , rather than after every change , thereby eliminating the lag metre of the late adaptation . The diligence was still a little sluggish on my system , sometimes taking a 2nd or two to process an update , but the troupe claims that most system should not see any lag . HDR Expose 2 is OpenCL - aware , which means that it will use OpenCL - stand artwork menu to assist in render .
Tons of Tweaks
HDR Expose 2 has an machinelike mode , but I found that it rarely gave me what I wanted , so I used the program ’s many manual scope or else . At the most canonic tier , you may set overall vulnerability and line up both highlight turnout and shadows output . keep an heart on the app ’s histogram window is very helpful , because intimately every adjustment affects the histogram . It can tell you , for example , whether the modification you just made befog some of the image data in shadows . It also has clitoris to toggle the exhibit of blown - out highlights and blown - out shadows , plus a button that play a sort of video that starts with your drear photo and ends with the lightest .
On top of that , HDR Expose 2 offers per - channel color adjustments , white - balance adjustments , and timber curves , and it has a somewhat alone feature that allow you to practice a colour picker to select a specific color in your exposure ( while keep an heart on the alive cursor in the histogram to control that you ’re picking a visible color ) and then adjust the pic of only that one gloss to make it pop out .
you may aline overall image contrast and a linked “ local direct contrast , ” which work as a kind of sharpness command ; I base that the latter worked well to sharpen Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree leaves , which often appear fuzzy or ghost in HDR picture .
HDR Expose 2 does not allow you to create selections or mask . It does have a Modern dodging and tan tool , which let you lighten or darken areas with a paintbrush , but without the power to set boundaries with a selection , it seems rough to me – I could n’t , for example , use its circular brushing in region with straight box , such as a rectangular mark .
eminent Dynamic Range , Low toll
produce really good high - dynamical - compass requires more than just expert software program ; it require you to take outstanding care in pick out your shots , set up your tv camera , and entrance your images . Once you get your physical process down , HDR Expose 2 will reward your efforts by serve you to produce stunning image . I ’d choose that it have some basic selection or masking features , but it ’s still a very useful service program at a good price .
