This wasn’t just a case of the software being free but it also came as part of a collection of other programs for editing Black and White and Colour images using built in presets. Originally, on our HDR and RAW Course, we used Photomatix and HDR Efex Pro but when the Nik Collection became free, after Google stopped supporting it, we went over to just using the HDR Efex Pro.

Thankfully, as the software has been updated, more natural results are obtainable today. Some people loved the new graphic comic book style of the presets but just as many hated them. Originally the early version both of these products resulted in rather vivid and unreal looking images which in turn stoked the fires of the HDR debate. HDR Software, Photomatix and HDR Efex Pro, came along a few years ago and automated this process. We didn’t call it HDR is those days but it was basically a way of managing high contrast subjects like landscapes when shooting towards the light. This lack of dynamic range as has always been an issue for photographers and I can remember, back in the early days of Photoshop, taking two images of the same subject, at different exposures (bracketing), and manually blending these layers together. Whatever your views the fact is in a very high contrast scenario it’s impossible for the digital camera, or film, to include the same range of contrast tones that we can see with the human eye. HDR has always been a hotly debated topic digital photography as some people thinks it’s cheating to manipulate images.

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