“Apple made HDR photography about as easy as possible by putting it into the iPhone,” Ron McElfresh writes for McSolo. “What about Mac users who want to venture into the high dynamic range imaging of HDR photography?”
“Start with the free HDRtist app,” McElfresh writes. “This clever Mac app creates genuine HDR photos and tone maps them in a single, simple step, but with plenty of options for granular control over the image.
McSolo writes, “HDRtist is a good way to put some sparkle and life into boring photos. ”
Read more in the full article here.
Yeah, I’m sure I could Google it, but wouldn’t it have made sense if the article AND/OR the Apple Store entry *explained* what HDR photos are?
Yes, I know what HDR is (high-dynamic range), but the author shouldn’t assume this. The sales pitch in the Apple store should also explain this. Assuming everyone knows what HDR means is a bit of a stretch.
I concur most heartily. I hate these damned acronyms that the computer industry has foisted onto us. We are being asked to speak, write, and think in code as of we were computers ourselves. Enough already, while we are still able to communicate at all.
No kidding! Agree wholeheartedly.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go shop for some new random-access memory to improve playback of my digital versatile discs. (My digital subscriber line’s just too slow for streaming.)
If you are a person for whom the technique would be of value, then you would already know what it stood for. If you don’t know, but the article piques your interest, then do as you suggest and research the answer. It is not the job of the tech press, or anyone else for that matter, to spoon-feed the ignorant.
Really?
My what an elitist attitude.
That’s on par with “if you have to ask how much it is, you can’t afford it.”
Seriously, why not simply add one sentence that explains how high-dynamic range photography can improve the pictures and why someone might find it valuable?
I’m particularly annoyed by the fact that the Apple Store entry doesn’t describe what the app does. While I understand what HDR achieves, I can’t count the number of times I’ve encountered an article about some feature that I didn’t understand. Rather than invest the time to figure out what it was all about, I’d just click away and direct my attention to something else. That’s poor marketing on the part of the software developer and poor journalism on the part of the article’s author.
Yes, the article *should* explain what HDR means and why someone should care. And all that *should* appear in the first paragraph. That’s basic writing.
Elitist? Really? Why do you assume one sentence tells the story enough for you to understand it? Why do you expect knowledge to come to you?
I think you have a defeatist attitude, in less time than it took you to write your whiney little missive I opened a new tab, typed “HDR Photography” into duckduckgo and a definition, complete with photo examples clearly explaining it appeared before my eyes..
AMAZING!! imagine that, answers on the internet only a few keystrokes away. Guess it is better to whine until someone feeds you though right?
http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/7623/what-is-hdr-photography
A quick note to let people know that the latest version of this app was published in 2011.
Another tidbit of info… go to the Ohanaware website. You will find the $29.95 “Pro” version…
I’ll give this a go but I will also be cautious. If it has popups wanting me to go for the paid version, It will get AppZapped faster than… (that fast!)
Cheers
High-dynamic-range imaging is how we humans would see the visible EM (electromagnetic) spectrum if we had perfect eyes and perfect cameras, which we never will. Everything you see in an HDR image is theoretically really there to see, but we can’t. Therefore, some work and trickery is performed to gather more information than any single eye or photograph can see. It’s like photography from heaven.
For pro photographers, it is something of a color equivalent of the Ansel Adams’ Zone System. Typically there are several exposures taken of the same scene, therefore you need a locked down camera. Intelligent software, or Photoshop craftiness, is then used to combine all the data from all the images into the ideal image with maximum dynamic range for both light and color. In reality, you’ve got more data than can be shown in a finished image. Therefore, you end up doing some smashing of everything into the available dynamic range of the finished medium used for your final image.
HDR imaging is also being applied to video. If you’ve seen ‘Life of Pi’ you got a good look at it. It’s better than what we humans perceive to be ‘reality’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-dynamic-range_imaging
BTW: Another way to say “the visible EM spectrum” is the word ‘LIGHT’. Or it can be described as the ~ 400-700 nanometers wavelength range. Or it can be described as ~ 430–790 terahertz frequency range.
I’ve run into ‘professionals’ in the field of electromagnetic energy who have trouble comprehending what ‘light’ is. Very scary. Now you know better. 😉