M.Chapman Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 Purchasers of Feb 2019 Edition Digital Camera Magazine (UK) can download a free and fully functioning copy of Aurora HDR 2018 from skylum.com. It's not the latest version and you will need to supply a working email address to receive a licence key. But other than that it seems pretty useful to me (I just downloaded and installed a copy). I note that various internet sites also appear to be offering it as a free download, but I can't comment on their legitimacy. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 I was thinking of downloading that free program via DCM offer. Will you let us know your thoughts after using it for a while please. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted February 4, 2019 Author Share Posted February 4, 2019 4 hours ago, Allan Bell said: I was thinking of downloading that free program via DCM offer. Will you let us know your thoughts after using it for a while please. Allan I like it so far. But I'm not an HDR expert. I was just after something that allowed me to combine several exposures of high contrast scenes to get a good rendering of shadows highlight without looking too over-processed. I've dabbled with both PS and LR HDR functions and struggled a bit. Aurora seems easier (to my inexperienced HDR self). I might be using it some more soon, once I've sorted out my improved slide copying workflow as I've got quite a few very high contrast Velvia slides that I suspect will need a couple of exposures to be combined to get the best from them. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Woods Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 Aurora is excellent. Its worth having a play with setting up a variety of non-HDR look blends for realistic blending of multi-exposures. Its also great for single images too, have a go. It really digs out detail and dynamic range and, as long as you stay away from the ghastly acid-trip presets, can really lift an image. It might do justice to a contrasty Velvia slide without multiple exposures. I bought into Aurora when it came out and use it often. For free there is no reason to not have it in your toolbox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted February 5, 2019 Author Share Posted February 5, 2019 7 hours ago, Colin Woods said: as long as you stay away from the ghastly acid-trip presets, Indeed. But something I found really useful is the presets all have a single slider to vary the extent of the effect so it's easy to produce something much more subtle. A single click (to choose the preset) and then adjust one slider. Simples... Obviously there are all the other sliders to play with if needed, but I found some of the presets did what I wanted with no further messing. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Woods Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 Skylum (they used to ba called MacPhun) are really developing their software well. Luminar is also very good (though, as was pointed out here a couple of months ago) it is not colour managed. I'm sure that they will address that though. They will be adding DAM at some point, so they really are going after a slice of the LR pie. And yes, those fade-out sliders in the middle of the pre-set are wildly useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted February 5, 2019 Author Share Posted February 5, 2019 1 hour ago, Colin Woods said: Skylum (they used to ba called MacPhun) are really developing their software well. Luminar is also very good (though, as was pointed out here a couple of months ago) it is not colour managed. I'm sure that they will address that though. They will be adding DAM at some point, so they really are going after a slice of the LR pie. And yes, those fade-out sliders in the middle of the pre-set are wildly useful. Yes I like Luminar too. It has very responsive and fast user interface. But when I last tried it their CA removal wasn't up to scratch, the eyedropper white balance was giving erratic results, and cloning and healing tools were poor. (All in comparison to LR and PS CC). But it's certainly worth keeping an eye on. Even more promising (if you have a Mac) is RawPower for Mac (and IOS) from https://gentlemencoders.com/. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 Just bought the magazine and now reading on holiday. Will download when i arrive home. Looks fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 On 05/02/2019 at 15:32, M.Chapman said: Yes I like Luminar too. It has very responsive and fast user interface. But when I last tried it their CA removal wasn't up to scratch, the eyedropper white balance was giving erratic results, and cloning and healing tools were poor. (All in comparison to LR and PS CC). But it's certainly worth keeping an eye on. Even more promising (if you have a Mac) is RawPower for Mac (and IOS) from https://gentlemencoders.com/. Mark Hi Mark, Had a look at "RawPower" and it seems to have some attributes that would be better than LR for lifting shadows etc. Will keep an eye on that one. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Carlsson Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 Been through quite a few HDR programs over the years and Aurora HDR 2019 is IMHO "great". Not at all a fan of the over-processed look - just want to be able to achieve natural looking images, sometimes extracting a bit more detail and of course not at the expense of quality (noise and halos). Aurora lets me do just that, with a lot of control, yet remains simple and fast by using most of the time my own saved presets, but on occasion the built-in ones or the ones made by the community. Great piece of software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Lowe Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 I thought I'd missed the boat - the March issue is now on the shelves and I couldn't find the February issue. However, I was able to download a digital version from Pocketmags (£3.99) .... https://pocketmags.com/digital-camera-world-magazine/february-2019 Incidentally, and pedantically, the magazine is actually Digital Camera World... BTW - the March edition is offering a free copy of Filter Forge 7. No, I'd never heard of it either..... https://www.filterforge.com/features/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted February 9, 2019 Author Share Posted February 9, 2019 9 hours ago, Vincent Lowe said: Incidentally, and pedantically, the magazine is actually Digital Camera World... That's curious. The cover of my magazine just says "Digital Camera" in big letters, Issue 212 Feb 2019, same on the spine. But the website is www.digitalcameraworld.com. I notice they quote prices in both £ and $ inside in their product reviews, so maybe in USA the cover says Digital Camera World? Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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