Today MacPhun released some software called Aurora HDR. I won't go over all of their marketing stuff, you can do that yourself :)
//aurorahdr.com
I tried the demo today, and almost paid the 99 bucks. almost.
I really like what I'm seeing on my first images. Compared to Nik HDR Efex Pro, which I have been using for years, I found that I could get a more natural HDR out of the gate.
What I like
- there are layers. This is so much better than Nik. I had an area of the shot I didn't like, so I made a layer from one of the base exposures (the +2 one), and I brushed a mask to blend. This was so much easier than bringing layers into something like photoshop.
- there are a ton of adjustments, way more than any other HDR software I have used.
- the presets are really good
- the ghosting reduction and chromatic aberration reduction worked well with just a single click
- you can undo!
- you can save the working HDR and come back later. I hate that when I finish in Nik that I cannot return to where I was easily
What I don't like
- the price tag
- the performance (a bit sluggish 2with many operations)
- it doesn't seem to handle shadows as well as Nik
While I have a Mac laptop, my workflow is on the PC. So another vote for the PC version.
Though it would have to beat LR now...I have Nik and Photomatix, but LR is the easiest to use, and you end up with a 32 bit RAW "original" file rather than a TIF! No tonemapping, just use LR's equivalent adjustments.
But I may give it a whirl on my Mac. They should offer free PC versions to those who buy the Mac version...that would help initial sales for those waiting for the PC version (and those who may be multiplatform).
