


- MACPHUN AURORA HDR PRO FOR MAC
- MACPHUN AURORA HDR PRO FULL
- MACPHUN AURORA HDR PRO PRO
- MACPHUN AURORA HDR PRO ISO
To minimize the possibility of shooting long exposures, I often set an ISO that will deliver relatively fast shutter speeds. When I shoot handheld with my Nikon D610, the maximum number of exposures for auto-bracketing is 3, and that’s worked well so far, usually at +/- 1 EV increments. I’ll be discussing the plug-in’s use in Lightroom.Īs with any HDR app, the first thing to do is to select the bracketed exposures that will contribute to the merged image. In Lightroom, the plug-in pops up in the list of export options: choose to work with the original, meaning RAW, files or adjusted (converted) TIFF files.

MACPHUN AURORA HDR PRO PRO
The standalone version has the advantage of being able to export the HDR to social media and to a broad range of applications, including Photoshop, Lightroom, and Macphun’s own Creative Suite.Īurora HDR Pro installed itself effortlessly in Lightroom and Photoshop. I prefer the plug-in, since I do my RAW conversions first – in Lightroom. You can work with the standalone app or the plug-in (Lightroom, Photoshop and even the now defunct Apple Aperture). And you may want to customize the filename extension added to the resulting HDR image (although I’m sure most would be happy with the default). Also, you may want to default to a specific file format when exporting the HDR image. I may want one preset to initially apply to my HDR merges when launching Aurora HDR or perhaps I’d like to use the previously used preset, but, for now, I can’t dictate that. The one thing missing here is User Preferences. And if you’re really enthralled with your tweaks, save them as a User preset, so you can use them next time. Just remember to Undo them afterwards, unless they’re to your liking, or hit the preset to start over. The settings themselves are largely readily understood, but if any are new to you it just takes a few tweaks to see what they do.
MACPHUN AURORA HDR PRO FULL
My only complaint here is that the preset image is truncated – I’d like to see the full preview image. Presets are shown along the bottom of the screen, with a settings panel on the right. Not so with Aurora HDR.įirst, the interface is clean and simple. Some use esoteric settings couched in an exotic language that doesn’t readily fall off the tongue. One of the things I look at is the set of presets and settings each app uses to create an HDR. And just in time, another steps in, in this instance Aurora HDR, to pick up the gauntlet. But for some, that flavor soon fades or even sours. And that is true to a degree, because when they’re new, we all flock to them. To begin, they all like to think they’re the flavor of the month. Aurora HDR Pro’s Interface and SettingsĮach HDR app brings to the table certain features and foibles. But if you cover yourself with a simple umbrella – no overly elaborate steps needed, you’ll step back in with a more lustrous head of hair than when you started. Of course, as with any HDR app, when you do step outside, you may still encounter the odd cloud or two that unleashes anything from a drizzle to a downpour, destroying that carefully coiffed ‘do.
MACPHUN AURORA HDR PRO FOR MAC
And Aurora HDR Pro – for Mac only, co-developed by Trey Ratcliff and available through Macphun Software, is a nice breath of fresh air when you do step across that threshold. The one thing Lightroom HDR has going for it is that all the processing remains under one roof.īut you have to step out the door every once in a while. Lightroom’s HDR is nice, but it’s bland and unimaginative in comparison to the independent third-party apps out there. When Adobe endowed Lightroom with an HDR merge function, I thought, bye-bye plug-ins. I’ve worked with numerous HDR apps, most often as plug-ins to Adobe Lightroom, always in search of the ultimate HDR solution. Sometimes, in the excitement of trying to do more, I end up doing less, and then I go back and chastise myself for forgetting to address these questions. Before creating an HDR, you have to ask yourself: Is the process adding something of value to the picture? Am I rescuing key highlight and shadow information that would otherwise be lost? Am I adding something of aesthetic value to the picture?Įach time I export images to an HDR application, I ask myself these questions.
