Today (only) you can get Franzis' HDR Projects software for free from:
It's a bit of a pain to register but persevere and you'll get there. (Last time around they gave away all the previous-version Projects software, over a period of time, starting with HDR, so this could be a good sign).
You can either combining multiple images into an HDR or just select a Raw file and work from that. Here's a copy of what I just wrote on GAotD about using it:
The Projects software is a set of (basically) stand-alone photographic processing tools, they do install as Photoshop plugins, but under File->Export, not as Filters, which IMHO doesn’t really count.
Oh, if anyone reading this doesn't know what HDR is, it stands for "High Dynamic Range" and is usually used to combine differently exposed photographs of a scene to end up with an image capturing a greater range of brightness than the camera can. The classic example is being in a dark room looking out on a brightly lit scene. The camera can show the detail in the room, with the Window solid white, or the detail outside the window but everything in the room is black. But taking a set of (typically three) exposure-bracketed images of the scene you can then combine them in some HDR software and have room and outside both visible in the picture.
With the HDR software in today's give-away you have an additional step beyond just opening a photograph, you have to select the images to combine and choose some options. I was very pleased to see it has support for Raw file import, although as a 2015 program I don't know how it will do with the very latest cameras.
Once you’ve imported the images (i.e. clicked on post-processing) it works in basically the same way as the other Franzis Projects software. Here’s what I wrote as a quick-start guide before and it’s generally applicable to the HDR software (which I’ve only just started playing with).
The thing to get your brain around with the Projects software is they are a huge pile of image processing tools, which are gathered together into presets in the left pane. All those options do is select a bunch of processing tools and choose options for them, so they are infinitely tweakable.
After you've loaded the image(s) you want to work with you can then play with the canned effects on the left side, play with assorted things on the right side panel (which should start on the “Finalise” tab). Changing to "Expert" in the right panel you can add filters from the list at the top, select them in the middle of the panel and tweak their effects at the bottom (may need scrolling down). The boxes at the top of the left panel filter the effects that are listed in the panel, so ignore them initially. On a faster computer you can use the Eye icon on the toolbar to disable the preview mode and show the final image in the main window, which IMHO is worth doing.
When saving the final image note that the first dialog, where it asks for the title, is going to write that over the image, it isn't the file name. The main disadvantage is the lack of Undo operations.
I literally spent 90 seconds working on an image and was really quite pleased with the result. If you don't mind the learning curve and fancy playing with HDR I'd recommend it.
It's a bit of a pain to register but persevere and you'll get there. (Last time around they gave away all the previous-version Projects software, over a period of time, starting with HDR, so this could be a good sign).
You can either combining multiple images into an HDR or just select a Raw file and work from that. Here's a copy of what I just wrote on GAotD about using it:
The Projects software is a set of (basically) stand-alone photographic processing tools, they do install as Photoshop plugins, but under File->Export, not as Filters, which IMHO doesn’t really count.
Oh, if anyone reading this doesn't know what HDR is, it stands for "High Dynamic Range" and is usually used to combine differently exposed photographs of a scene to end up with an image capturing a greater range of brightness than the camera can. The classic example is being in a dark room looking out on a brightly lit scene. The camera can show the detail in the room, with the Window solid white, or the detail outside the window but everything in the room is black. But taking a set of (typically three) exposure-bracketed images of the scene you can then combine them in some HDR software and have room and outside both visible in the picture.
With the HDR software in today's give-away you have an additional step beyond just opening a photograph, you have to select the images to combine and choose some options. I was very pleased to see it has support for Raw file import, although as a 2015 program I don't know how it will do with the very latest cameras.
Once you’ve imported the images (i.e. clicked on post-processing) it works in basically the same way as the other Franzis Projects software. Here’s what I wrote as a quick-start guide before and it’s generally applicable to the HDR software (which I’ve only just started playing with).
The thing to get your brain around with the Projects software is they are a huge pile of image processing tools, which are gathered together into presets in the left pane. All those options do is select a bunch of processing tools and choose options for them, so they are infinitely tweakable.
After you've loaded the image(s) you want to work with you can then play with the canned effects on the left side, play with assorted things on the right side panel (which should start on the “Finalise” tab). Changing to "Expert" in the right panel you can add filters from the list at the top, select them in the middle of the panel and tweak their effects at the bottom (may need scrolling down). The boxes at the top of the left panel filter the effects that are listed in the panel, so ignore them initially. On a faster computer you can use the Eye icon on the toolbar to disable the preview mode and show the final image in the main window, which IMHO is worth doing.
When saving the final image note that the first dialog, where it asks for the title, is going to write that over the image, it isn't the file name. The main disadvantage is the lack of Undo operations.
I literally spent 90 seconds working on an image and was really quite pleased with the result. If you don't mind the learning curve and fancy playing with HDR I'd recommend it.
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