No, it’s not Egon. HDR Express, the enthusiast-level high dynamic range Mac app from Unified Color Technologies, is now out in a new version with improved de-ghosting algorithms for images with moving subjects, among a handful of other interesting new features.
(If you’re not familiar with high dynamic range: HDR is a process that takes multiple exposures of the same images — sometimes as many as nine — and combines them into one final image. In the resulting image, areas which would be either under-exposed of over-exposed in a single exposure are exposed properly — and the whole thing looks gorgeous. Here’s a page with some great examples.).
Another area of improvement focuses around the photo selection and combining process. Instead of filenames, the user will see thumbnails; and bracketed exposures are now automatically arranged and sorted. The app also sports a feature called “Adaptive Tone Mapping,” which sounds like developer jargon for better-looking images.
Like it’s predecessor, HDR Express 2 works as both a standalone app and a plugin for Aperture and Lightroom, and is $99 — though it’s on sale now for $84. Owners of the original can upgrade for $59. It’s not available at the Mac App Store yet (though the original version is still there).
