One of the coolest parts of digital photography is being able to use software to make your photos better than you could ever had imagined. I’m not just talking about fixing exposures or adding special effects—both of those things are very cool—I’m talking about things like HDR photography.
HDR (High Dynamic Range) is entails taking several images (one correctly exposed and several over and under exposed) and combining them into a new image that make the picture much more like how we see the world. And how is this done? Software. Software like Hydra Pro
The Pro version of Hydra let’s you pull in up to 7 images (so I’d do a shot right on, then three under and three over exposed and maybe a half stop each picture) to combine for results like the example above (for more examples check out the gallery on the website).
Is it hard to do this? Not really. You just flip your camera into manual or program mode (auto won’t do it) and take the seven shots. It is, I’ll grant you that, easier if you can fire in a burst bracketing mode (DSLRs have this built in) so there is less moving (or use a tripod). However HydraPro has tools to align your images to get them to turn out awesome.
You might be wondering how this compares to the HDR mode built into the iPhone camera app or other third part apps. Essentially the HDR setting on the iPhone does a lot of the same work, but you don’t get control over how many images are used (using seven makes for a great range of exposure) or get to tweak things later.
HydroPro even works as a plugin for Aperture or Lightroom, so you don’t have to mess with your photo work flow (this is an awesome feature to me).
How much? $50. A nice 50% savings. If you’re heading on a vacation soon and want to blow people away with amazing vistas…get HydraPro now, practice, and when you have all those shots from your vacation…art, baby, you’ll make art.
