Today, Macphun Software released their latest photo editing tool, Aurora HDR. I’ve had the opportunity to test-drive a pre-release version of the software for a little while, and I really like what I can do with it. Here are my first impressions of this powerful HDR software for Mac. Continue reading Hands-on with Aurora HDR Pro
I captured this image of the United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel several years ago, but it’s one of my favorites. It’s an HDR image that I like to revisit from time to time in order to test new software tools.
In this particular image, I was trying out the new Aurora HDR Pro software from Macphun. This newly announced HDR software isn’t out yet, but you can pre-order it here. This software has some unique features that make it stand out, including glow/lighting effects, very good control over details and textures, noise reduction, and built-in layers (including luminosity masks). Overall, it’s excellent software for those interested in fine-art HDR images. Look for a full review after November 19th, when Aurora HDR Pro is officially released!
Explore the art of digital monochrome, October 30th
I’ve scheduled several online classes for the coming weeks. I hope you can join me online. Participants will be able to ask questions and will receive a printable PDF notes package to go along with the presentation. My classes are open to photographers of all levels who wish to expand their understanding of digital photography and post-processing. Registration is through Meetup.com
Recommended for: Intermediate to advanced photographers who wish to explore how to create fine-art quality monochrome images using Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro 2 plug-in for Photoshop/Lightroom
Recommended for: Photographers of all levels who use Lightroom CC and wish to create natural HDR images
Recommended for: Photographers of all levels who wish to learn more about how to manage and organize images in Adobe Lightroom.
Recommended for: Photographers of all levels who wish to learn how to get the best possible image sharpness using Adobe Lightroom
I’ve been re-working some of my HDR shots using Lightroom CC because it really does a great job of keeping things natural. Here’s a shot from my Badlands trip in 2012 that I reworked.
I first used the HDR Merge feature in Lightroom CC, which produced an HDR RAW image (DNG). I was able to do a lot of adjustments in LR CC on that image, which I then sent to Photoshop CC, where I applied Color Efex Pro 4 and cleaned up some dust. I then returned the image to LR for the final tweaks and sharpening. The whole process took less than ten minutes.
Get my complete Lightroom HDR tutorial video here!
The newest version of Lightroom, called Lightroom CC (released May 2015), now offers photographers the ability to merge images to HDR. Until now, if you wanted to do HDR tone-mapping, you had to batch TIFF images to an HDR plug-in, like Photomatix or HDR Efex Pro 2, or use Photoshop. Now, you can work directly on high dynamic range images in Lightroom. Continue reading Master the art of HDR Processing in Lightroom CC