EDIT: Scroll down a few pages for the 15% off voucher code, which the author of EasyHDR offered after I'd already started this thread.
I see a lot of people recommending Lightroom and other expensive software, when all I wanted was something that worked for a much cheaper cost. Preferably free.
There are a couple of freebies, Fusion and one I can't even remember it was so bad; and demo versions of "the best". I tried them and several others and was generally underwhelmed. Unless you want your images to look like a 5 year old turned all the colour, contrast and saturation settings up to 11, you need to dial things back a bit; but in some this seemed almost impossible.
"It's bright, colourful, in your face or nothing" seemed to be the attitude, which wasn't what I wanted. I just wanted to insert a well-exposed sky into a well-exposed ground image as simply as possible. HDR is nice, but sometimes, "less is more". Then you can start playing with dialing things up for more impact.
Fusion freebie was OK for dabbling, the demo of the full version had a few more features, but it's old and clunky and unpolished compared to PhotoMatix, and especially Aurora; which you'd think would actually take the photos for you if you believed all the hype about it.
I nearly settled for PhotoMatix, as...fairly expensive, but close in quality/features to Aurora and works pretty well for less... when I found EasyHDR.
Weirdly EasyHDR seems off the radar of quite a few "Best HDR software" bloggers, but gets high marks for those that have found it. so...gave it a twirl anyway and...very impressed.
And pretty cheap. And the free v2 is better than Fusion (which is OK, until you start to realise what you need it to do that it can't, after playing with PhotoMatix and Aurora).
The chromatic aberration removal in EasyHDR, even on single images, is amazing; and with AEB shots: the results are IMO better than PhotoMatix Pro produces and on a par with Aurora HDR at a much lower cost.
There is a free V2 Basic version, try it, then spend some cash on the extra features of V3...the results are worth it. The V3 demo doesn't automatically recognise the DJI 6310 (P4P) camera for chromatic aberration removal, but you can set the focal length to 9mm (slightly off, but close) to test with. In the paid-for version it uses the correct data from the LensFun database automatically. Also works with a huge range of other cameras. If they're in the database: it does them. Neither Photomatix Pro or Aurora HDR recognise the Phantom camera at all, so...strikes against them for that.
EasyHDR also works with RAW .DNG photos and applies the correct Lens Correction to them (no RAW processing in the demo version though), so no other expensive (Lightroom etc.) software required to work with the .DNGs, although the JPG results are almost as good. TBH, I'll probably just use JPGs most of the time, even though I'll shoot JPG+RAW to be safe.
It also has a pretty simple 'Ghost removal' tool, where something could have moved during the shots, like a person or a car, or a tree moving in the wind (this is what I've had a lot lately). You can have it take the best exposed selections from each image automatically, select one of the photos as 'the master', or use a brush to paint it out yourself. This is especially handy to completely remove something if it is in position 'A' in one shot and position 'B' in another. You brush the background section from the one that it is not visible in over the one where it is visible and...it's gone in the result. You can also use layers, to 'paint' with areas from different image and also apply different effects to them all separately. Not really played with that much, as I get great results with the default options, but nice to know it's there.
For use with "normal" cameras, no more worrying about people walking through your shot, you can paint them away entirely.
Anyway, no examples or the website link, I don't want to be too pushy about it. You can google that yourself if you're interested.
YMMV, so what made you choose what you use?
I see a lot of people recommending Lightroom and other expensive software, when all I wanted was something that worked for a much cheaper cost. Preferably free.
There are a couple of freebies, Fusion and one I can't even remember it was so bad; and demo versions of "the best". I tried them and several others and was generally underwhelmed. Unless you want your images to look like a 5 year old turned all the colour, contrast and saturation settings up to 11, you need to dial things back a bit; but in some this seemed almost impossible.
"It's bright, colourful, in your face or nothing" seemed to be the attitude, which wasn't what I wanted. I just wanted to insert a well-exposed sky into a well-exposed ground image as simply as possible. HDR is nice, but sometimes, "less is more". Then you can start playing with dialing things up for more impact.
Fusion freebie was OK for dabbling, the demo of the full version had a few more features, but it's old and clunky and unpolished compared to PhotoMatix, and especially Aurora; which you'd think would actually take the photos for you if you believed all the hype about it.
I nearly settled for PhotoMatix, as...fairly expensive, but close in quality/features to Aurora and works pretty well for less... when I found EasyHDR.
Weirdly EasyHDR seems off the radar of quite a few "Best HDR software" bloggers, but gets high marks for those that have found it. so...gave it a twirl anyway and...very impressed.
And pretty cheap. And the free v2 is better than Fusion (which is OK, until you start to realise what you need it to do that it can't, after playing with PhotoMatix and Aurora).
The chromatic aberration removal in EasyHDR, even on single images, is amazing; and with AEB shots: the results are IMO better than PhotoMatix Pro produces and on a par with Aurora HDR at a much lower cost.
There is a free V2 Basic version, try it, then spend some cash on the extra features of V3...the results are worth it. The V3 demo doesn't automatically recognise the DJI 6310 (P4P) camera for chromatic aberration removal, but you can set the focal length to 9mm (slightly off, but close) to test with. In the paid-for version it uses the correct data from the LensFun database automatically. Also works with a huge range of other cameras. If they're in the database: it does them. Neither Photomatix Pro or Aurora HDR recognise the Phantom camera at all, so...strikes against them for that.
EasyHDR also works with RAW .DNG photos and applies the correct Lens Correction to them (no RAW processing in the demo version though), so no other expensive (Lightroom etc.) software required to work with the .DNGs, although the JPG results are almost as good. TBH, I'll probably just use JPGs most of the time, even though I'll shoot JPG+RAW to be safe.
It also has a pretty simple 'Ghost removal' tool, where something could have moved during the shots, like a person or a car, or a tree moving in the wind (this is what I've had a lot lately). You can have it take the best exposed selections from each image automatically, select one of the photos as 'the master', or use a brush to paint it out yourself. This is especially handy to completely remove something if it is in position 'A' in one shot and position 'B' in another. You brush the background section from the one that it is not visible in over the one where it is visible and...it's gone in the result. You can also use layers, to 'paint' with areas from different image and also apply different effects to them all separately. Not really played with that much, as I get great results with the default options, but nice to know it's there.
For use with "normal" cameras, no more worrying about people walking through your shot, you can paint them away entirely.
Anyway, no examples or the website link, I don't want to be too pushy about it. You can google that yourself if you're interested.
YMMV, so what made you choose what you use?
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