{"id":24249,"date":"2014-02-07T14:40:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-07T19:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/captainkimo.com\/?p=24249"},"modified":"2014-02-07T14:46:19","modified_gmt":"2014-02-07T19:46:19","slug":"top-10-best-hdr-software-review-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/captainkimo.com\/top-10-best-hdr-software-review-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 Best HDR Software Review 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>Updated January 2013 Review (New updated review coming soon!) – This is a review of the top ten<\/strong> best HDR software <\/strong>used for creating high dynamic range<\/strong> (HDR) photographs. I’ve been talking about writing this HDR software review for a while, and finally I decided to sit down and just do it. This is not a thorough review. Since I’m leaving for south East Asia in a couple of days, I didn’t have time to write an in-depth article. I’ll do a complete review of each HDR program when I get back from my trip. However, I did have enough time to play around with each HDR software to see what kind of high dynamic range results I was able to achieve.<\/p>\n Listed below for review, in alphabetical order, are the top 10 <\/strong>best <\/strong>HDR software for 2013. I downloaded and installed each HDR program to find out which software is the best.<\/p>\n Below are the 3 exposures used to create the HDR images. These exposures will be used to test each HDR software.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n Each HDR program has different settings so there was no way to replicate the same results for each image. So instead of trying to get the HDR image to look similar, I tone mapped each image the best I could with the settings available.<\/p>\n Good program for creating HDR images. Artizen has many features making it the most robust HDR software out of the ten.<\/p>\n OS:<\/strong> Windows Only\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Price: <\/strong>$45.95 Canadian<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.supportingcomputers.net<\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Pro <\/strong>– Comes with photo editor. Artizen HDR – Honest Opinion: Dynamic-Photo HDR has a lot fun controls for creating HDR images. These controls help make stylized HDR photos a lot easier to create.<\/p>\n OS:<\/strong> Windows & MAC \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Price: <\/strong>$55.00 US<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.mediachance.com<\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Pro<\/strong> – Easy point and click controls. Dynamic-HDR Pro – Honest Opinion: Easy to use with enough controls to create good looking HDR photos. Don’t expect any bells or whistles with this program.<\/p>\n OS:<\/strong> Windows Only\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Price: <\/strong>$30.00 EURO<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.easyhdr.com<\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Pro<\/strong> – Easy to use HDR software. easyHDR – Honest Opinion: Essential HDR is probably the easiest HDR program of the bunch.<\/p>\n OS:<\/strong> Windows Only\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Price: <\/strong>$48.99 US<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.imagingluminary.com<\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Pro<\/strong> – Simple and easy to use HDR software. Essential HDR – Honest Opinion: HDR Darkroom has a very slick and simple user interface. Great for creating realistic HDR images. However alignment tool needs some work, but it could very well be that this software has a problem with this particular image. I’ll check it out again with a different set of exposures when I get some free time.<\/p>\n OS:<\/strong> Windows & MAC \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Price: <\/strong>$79.00 US<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.everimaging.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Pro<\/strong> – Export to Photoshop feature is a time saver. HDR Darkroom – Honest Opinion: Straight forward HDR program, simple and easy to use. Tone mapping option was design for more realistic photos.<\/p>\n OS:<\/strong> Windows & MAC \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Price: <\/strong>$149.99 US<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.unifiedcolor.com<\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Pro<\/strong> – Simple easy to use interface. HDR PhotoStudio – Honest Opinion: Luminance HDR has potential… but it’s the most time consuming and difficult program to use. Over time I’m sure this program will evolve to something great.<\/p>\n OS:<\/strong> Windows & MAC \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Price: <\/strong>FREE<\/p>\n http:\/\/qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net<\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Pro<\/strong> – FREE! Luminance HDR – Honest Opinion: Photomatix is the most popular HDR program in the industry and it’s the program I use for all my HDR images.<\/p>\n OS:<\/strong> Windows & MAC \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Price: <\/strong>$99.99\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/www.hdrsoft.com<\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Pro<\/strong> – Lots of options for tone mapping. Photomatix Pro – Honest Opinion: Adobe Photoshop CS5 is an advance photo editing program with an HDR tool that creates very realistic HDR image.<\/p>\n OS:<\/strong> Windows & MAC \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Price: <\/strong>$699.99<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.adobe.com<\/a><\/p>\n <\/a> Photoshop CS5 HDR Pro – Honest Opinion: Picturenaut<\/strong>\u00a0is a free and easy to use HDR program, but very limited features for tone mapping. It does a great job of creating realistic HDR images.<\/p>\n OS:<\/strong> Windows Only \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Price: <\/strong>FREE\u00a0 \n
1. Artizen HDR<\/h3>\n
\nCon<\/strong> – HDR software only available for Windows.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Recommended for advance users who want to control the entire HDR process in one program.<\/p>\n2. Dynamic-Photo HDR<\/h3>\n
\nCon<\/strong> – Colors seem to blend together, notice the sunrise.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Recommend for people who like creating more stylzied HDR images.<\/p>\n3. easyHDR<\/h3>\n
\nCon<\/strong> – Can’t save presets or select them.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>More cons than pros. I would recommend downloading this program and trying a few others before you committing to this HDR software.<\/p>\n4. Essential HDR<\/h3>\n
\nCon<\/strong> – No manual alignment tool.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I would recommend this HDR program for beginner HDR\u00a0 photographers. It’s very easy to use, especially for creating stylized HDR. However realistic HDR might be more of a challenge.<\/p>\n5. HDR Darkroom<\/h3>\n
\nCon<\/strong> – Auto alignment tool doesn’t work to well.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>This HDR program was designed for more realistic HDR images, so if you’re trying to create stylized photos I would recommend Photomatix or Dynamic-Photo HDR instead.<\/p>\n6. HDR PhotoStudio<\/h3>\n
\nCon<\/strong> – Not designed for stylized HDR images.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Similar to HDR Darkroom this program was designed for more realistic HDR images, so if you’re trying to create stylized photos I would recommend Photomatix or Dynamic-Photo HDR instead.<\/p>\n7. Luminance HDR<\/h3>\n
\nCon<\/strong> – Not the most user friendly software.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I highly recommend giving this program a shot since it’s free. If you can get it to work, you can produce some pretty cool stylized HDR images.<\/p>\n8. Photomatix Pro<\/h3>\n
\nPhotomatix Coupon Code:<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>CaptainKimo<\/p>\n
\nCon<\/strong> – No manual alignment tool.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Since Photomatix is the HDR software I use most, it’s the one I recommend above all else.<\/p>\n9. Photoshop CS5 HDR Pro<\/h3>\n
\nPro<\/strong> – Photoshop is the best photo editing program available.
\nCon<\/strong> – The most expensive HDR application even for an upgrade.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Unless you want Photoshop I recommend something cheaper. CS5 HDR feature is good but not worth the price.<\/p>\n10. Picturenaut<\/h3>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n