HDR Software overview

Certainly one of the most interesting upcoming technologies for photographers is High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRI), allowing work with the full real world levels of illumination. While standard image formats utilizes 8 or 16 bits with applied gamma and color space, the HDR image format extends the bit depth up to 96bit in a linear color space.

On this overview we will focus on the currently available GUI-based software packages that are able to create and process HDR images. I want to thank all authors of the respective software packages for their support during the creation of the overview, especially Geraldine Joffre, Andreas Schömann, Paul Nolan, and Thomas Lock. Aside from the windows based GUI packages Bernhard Vogl has evaluated, command line tools are also available and have been added to the table below.

The following software packages have been tested:

Software overview

Software	Homepage	Version	Platforms	Price	Comments
Artizen	supportingcomputers.net	2.5.17	Win	45 CDN	-
EasyHDR	easyhdr.com	3.2	Win, Mac	29 EUR	Live preview while tone mapping, at full image resolution; Automatic and manual alignment; Automatic and manual ghost removal; Manual Chromatic Aberration correction; Advanced options for RAW import (with preview); Noise filtering at HDR generation step; Adobe Lightroom plug-in; Selective saturation and advanced white balancing; Post-processing filters (blur, sharpen, denoise, color adjust);
FDRTools Basic	fdrtools.com	2.3.0	Win, Mac	free	-
FDRTools Advanced	fdrtools.com	2.3.0	Win, Mac	39.00 EUR	-
HDRShop	gl.ict.usc.edu/HDRShop	1.0	Win	free for non-commercial and educational use (commercial license: HDRShop 2 (399.00 USD))	no further development, superseded by the commercial version 2.0
Oloneo PhotoEngine	oloneo.com	1.0.400.306	Win	149 USD / 125 EUR, 30-day free trial	Oloneo® PhotoEngine™ is the only HDR and Raw processing software offering digital photographers full control over light and exposure in real-time. At the core of Oloneo PhotoEngine is a fully real-time, 32-bit floating-point per channel (96-bit per pixel), High Dynamic Range (HDR), ultra-wide gamut, full resolution and non-destructive image-editing engine. Oloneo's color model handles a range of colors that largely surpasses what printers or screens are capable of displaying today. Combined with the suppression of any color shifting and clipping, it guarantees photographers against any loss of image data during the HDR process. A Lightroom plug-in is included.
Unified Color HDR Expose	unifiedcolor.com	1.1.0	Win, Mac	149.99 USD, 30-day free trial	The first full 32-bit/channel (96 bit/pixel) HDR software. Using human vision color modeling (Beyond RGB™ color model) allows creating crisp, photo-realistic images, with many HDR editing operations. The tone-mapping is done via direct editing of 32-bit HDR image data in a WYSIWYG workflow. Includes Lightroom and Aperture plug-ins. Photoshop plug-in (called 32 Float) is provided as a separate product.
Hugin	hugin.sf.net	2010.2.0	Linux, Win, Mac, FreeBSD	free, open source	All in one panorama creation program. See hugin
Photogenics HDR	idruna.com	7.0	Win, Linux	699.00 USD	focuses on 3D workflow and film editing
Photomatix Pro	hdrsoft.com	3.2.6	Win, Mac	99.00 USD	-
Photoshop	adobe.com	11.0 (CS4)	Win, Mac	649.00 USD (US download) 1042.84 EUR (Europe boxed)	-
Picturenaut	hdrlabs.com/picturenaut/	3	Win	free
pfstools	mpi-sb.mpg.de	1.8.1	Unix, Mac, (Win)	free, open source	Command line tools and two GUI (pfsview and qpfstmo) for creation and processing of hdr images.
PTGui Pro	ptgui.com	8.3.5	Win, Mac	149 EUR	All in one panorama creation program. See PTGui
LuminanceHDR (was Qtpfsgui)	qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net	2.0.1	Win, Mac, Linux	free, open-source	QT based GUI for pfstools, now including an automatic image alignment. See Qtpfsgui

As you can see,there is a wide variety of fees you have to pay for the different software packages. This is partly justified by the features and the editing functions the various programs offer.

HDR creation and tonemapping

Software	measure camera response curve	create HDR from bracketed images				create HDR from camera RAW image (*1)	tonemap image to LDR
		single HDR image creation	batch mode	LDR image alignment	ghost removal		number of different operators	single image via GUI	batch mode	parameters save-/restoreable	panoramic mapping (correct border and zenith/nadir blending)
Artizen	○ (histogram)	√	√	automatic & freehand & numeric	?	√	5+ Builtin Plus 8 more downloadable	√	√	√	√
EasyHDR	√	√	√	√ (auto, manual)	√	√	2	√	√	√	○ (left/right border only)
FDRTools Basic	√ & modify-able histogram	√	○ (via command line)	√		√	2	√	○ (via command line)	–
FDRTools Advanced	√ & modify-able histogram	√	○ (via command line)	√	√	√	3 (also supports compression & contrast bracketing)	√	○ (via command line)	–	√
HDRShop	√	√	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Oloneo PhotoEngine	√	√	√	√	√	√	4	√	√	√	√ (left/right)
HDR Expose	√	√	√	√	√ (3 options)	√	16	√	√ (batched HDR merge and recipe processing)	√	–
Hugin	√	√	√ (via PTBatcher GUI)	√ (by standard control points or align_image_stack, also used by LuminanceHDR)	√ experimental command line tools deghosting_mask and hugin_hdrmerge with kahn option	-	-	-	-	-	-
Photogenics HDR	–	√ (relies on EXIF data)	–	?	?	– (tethered shooting with Canon cameras possible)	3	√	–	–	–
Photomatix Pro	√ (selectable)	√	√	√ (selectable)	√	√	2 + 2 LDR blending methods	√	√	√	○ (no zenith/nadir possible)
Photoshop	√ (supposedly automatic)	√ (relies on EXIF data)	–	√ (selectable)	?	–	4	√	–	√	–
Picturenaut	√ (selectable)	√	○ (via command line)	√ (selectable)	?	–	2	√	command line (HDRI2LDRI - adaptive logarithmic only)	√/– (can read MKHDRI-curves)	not necessary, global operator
pfstools	√ (pfscalibration, pfstmo with qpfstmo GUI)	√	○ (via command line)	-	-	√	7	√ (qpfstmo)	√	-/– (command line)	–
PTGui Pro	√	√	√ (via Batch Stitcher)	√ (by standard control points)	-	-	1	√	√ (via Batch Stitcher)	√	√
LuminanceHDR	○ pfstools calibration can be used	√	√	√	√	√	9	√	√	√	–

*1: Most software relies on DCRaw for RAW conversion. Some cameras with extended DR capabilities are not converted correctly (e.g. Fuji's S3 camera: Although DCRaw could theoretically read all photosensors, it would need one conversion call for every photosite which is not implemented in the tested software packages.)

HDR image manipulation

There are basically 3 types of appications available:

• Converter software: This type of software will assist you in generating and tonemapping HDR images
• Image editors: These are full-flagged image manipulation programs that will also give you the possibility of HDR generation and tonemapping
• Panorama creation programs with the additional possibility of HDR generation and tonemapping

Software	File formats (*1) EXR/HDR: 96bit TIFF: 32bit	software type	full image editing capabilities	manipulation essentials		no. of builtin panoramic transformations	filters			plugins possible
	read/write			resize, crop, rotate	white balance		approx number	HDR capable	scriptable
Artizen	EXR, HDR, TIFF, PFM	image editor, converter and creator	√	√	○ (color adjust)	4	>40	√	√	Tone Mapping Operator SDK included
EasyHDR	EXR, HDR, TIFF	converter	–	√ (+ free hand rotation)	√	–	7	–	–	–
FDRTools Basic	EXR, HDR, TIFF	converter	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
FDRTools Advanced	EXR, HDR, TIFF	converter	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
HDRShop	HDR, TIFF	converter	–	√	√	6 (+ 3D rotation)	~15	√	–	√
Oloneo PhotoEngine	HDR	HDR merge, image editor, raw processing, dynamic relighting (Relight)	√	○ (rotate)	√ (extensive)	-	-	-	-	-
HDR Expose	BEF, EXR, HDR, TIFF	HDR merge, image editor	√	√	√	-	16	√	√	-
Hugin	EXR, HDR, TIFF	panorama creation program	–	○ (panorama related transformations and cropping)	–	20	-	-	-	n/a
Photogenics HDR	EXR, HDR, TIFF	image editor	√	√	○ (color adjust)	4	>40	√	–	√ (beta)
Photomatix Pro	EXR, HDR, TIFF	converter	–	√	–	1	–	–	–	–
Photoshop	EXR, HDR, TIFF (always assumes 32bit)	image editor	√	√	○ (white point adjust)	–	>40	~15	√	√
Picturenaut	HDR, TIFF	converter	–	√ (resize)	–	–	–	–	–	HDRShop plugins
pfstools	EXR, HDR, JPEG-HDR (read only), PFM, TIFF	converter	–	√	–	4	~11	√	√	n/a
PTGui Pro	EXR, HDR	panorama creation program	–	○ (panorama related transformations and cropping)	–	10	-	-	-	n/a
LuminanceHDR	JPEG, PNG, PPM, PBM, TIFF, EXR, HDR, PFS, RAW (read only, all cameras supported by dcraw)	converter	–	√	–	4	~11	√	-	n/a

*1: TIFF: 32 bit floating point TIFF. Please note that the TIFF file format is an abstract container for various encoding methods. This may result in incompatibility when exchanging TIFF files between various applications.
This is also true to some extent for .hdr files. Though, all applications in this overview use the most recent file format.

UI functionality and large image processing

The best HDR software is not of much use if it lacks of an intuitive user interface. We will now have a look on some key functionality and UI design.
We will also have a look if the applications utilize a clever memory management. The test file is a HDR panorama stitched by Hugin with a size of 8000x4000 pixels (32 Mpix), converted to the Radiance (.hdr) format. (This is tested using a standard Windows XP setup w. 1GB of RAM, swapping to HDD allowed)

Software	drag & drop operation from operating system possible		large image processing
	drop JPEG LDR images → generate HDR image	drop HDR image	load 32Mpix HDR file	tone map 32Mpix image
Artizen	yes / yes	yes	√	√
EasyHDR	yes / yes	yes	√	√
FDRTools Basic	no / no	no	√	○ (very slow)
FDRTools Advanced	no / no	no	√	○ (very slow)
HDRShop	yes / no (will open multiple images for editing)	yes	√	n/a
Oloneo PhotoEngine	yes / yes	yes	√ (64-bit)	√ (64-bit)
HDR Expose	yes / yes	yes	√ (requires 64-bit OS)	√ (requires 64-bit OS)
hugin	no / no	yes	√	-
Photogenics HDR	yes / no (will open multiple images for editing)	yes	√	○ (very slow)
Photomatix Pro	yes / yes	yes	√	√ (only in batch mode)
Photoshop	yes / no (will open multiple images for editing)	yes	√	√
Picturenaut	yes / no (will open multiple images for editing)	yes	√	√
pfstools	no / no	no	n/a (no GUI)	√ (depends on algorithm)
PTGui Pro	no / no	yes	√	√
LuminanceHDR	yes / yes	yes	√	√ (depends on algorithm)

See Also

• HDR and Tonemapping dialogs in detail

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