Unified Color Technologies’ Third-Gen Pro HDR Software: HDR Expose 3 and 32...

Unified Color Technologies’ Third-Gen Pro HDR Software: HDR Expose 3 and 32 Float v3

1316

Belmont, CA—Unified Color Technologies released the latest upgrades to its professional-level HDR software. The upgrades are designed to improve HDR workflow and reduce the traditional limitations of HDR techniques—and eliminate the need to photograph static scenes as well as the necessity of a tripod to steady HDR exposures.

“We pride ourselves on providing photographers with the best possible tools for true color 32-bit HDR editing. Ease of use has always been a hallmark of our application designs,” said Alfred Zee, CEO of Unified Color Technologies. “The new technology in HDR Expose 3 extends the ease of use from the point of capture to the merging of exposures to final edits. More importantly however, it provides photographers the ability to capture HDR scenes they may never have previously thought possible.”

New merge, alignment and de-ghosting algorithms were added to the stand-alone HDR Expose 3. With its 32-bit color-editing capabilities, also available in the Photoshop plug-in 32 Float v3, the upgraded software helps ensure photographers can realize true-to-life HDR images.

The single most frustrating issue cited by HDR photographers, according to Unified Color, is the complexity of working with multiple exposures. Because the bracketed exposures must be perfectly aligned to prevent ghosting artifacts, often requiring a tripod, HDR was limited to near-motionless scenes. Single-pass tone mapping of very wide dynamic range scenes to preserve consistent contrast and detail across the tonal range, from dark shadows to bright highlights, has also been a challenge. To address these pain points, the company’s R&D team took its proprietary Beyond RGB color technology to the next level and reengineered the software with a combination of merge, alignment, de-ghosting and adaptive tone-mapping algorithms.

A key upgrade to making HDR images possible without using a tripod includes new adaptive tone-mapping capabilities that automatically enhance control over local contrast, color and detail retention within highlight areas of a merged HDR image while maintaining optimal contrast and color in darker areas of the image.

Additionally, HDR Expose offers two redesigned alignment options: a fully automatic option with key frame selection; and, for the most challenging exposure series, a manual assist option. Powered by redesigned alignment algorithms, the software is said to detect specific image features and calculate necessary transformations in order to provide optimal fitting and alignment.

HDR Expose 3 also features local and global de-ghosting algorithms to mitigate movement within or through the scene by working off of a key frame (against which others are automatically compared and analyzed for moving objects.) Users can rely on the fully automatic de-ghosting default or take control with local de-ghosting tools to select individual objects for inclusion or removal.

Other upgraded features include file browser functionality that displays thumbnails rather than just file names, and automatically detects and groups exposure brackets for the merge process. For professionals processing entire HDR shoots, the program provides a batch merge that can automatically group, merge and apply presets to an entire shoot simultaneously. Plus, leveraging the software’s Beyond RGB color space, the dodge and burn brush now allows photographers to selectively lighten and darken areas of an image without changing or shifting colors. The 500-pixel brush is better suited for higher resolution files. HDR Expose 3 also includes import/export plug-ins compatible with Adobe Lightroom 5 and the latest version of Apple Aperture.

32 Float v3.
While HDR Expose is a stand-alone HDR solution, Unified Color recognized that for those maintaining a Photoshop-centric workflow with expanded 32-bit color editing and HDR tone-mapping options, most adjustment controls are unavailable for the 32-bit files created during an HDR merge. For those photographers, 32 Float v3 provides a full range of image-editing tools in a Photoshop filter plug-in.

HDR Expose 3 is available for $119. Customers who purchased HDR Expose 2 after April 24, 2013 are eligible for a free upgrade. All other UCT customers can upgrade for $59. 32 Float v3 retails for $89. Customers who purchased 32 Float v2 after April 24, 2013 are eligible for a no-cost upgrade. All other UCT customers can upgrade to 32 Float v3 for $49.

The HDR Expose 3/32 Float v3 combo suite is available for $149. Again, customers who purchased Combo Suite v2 after April 24, 2013 are eligible for a no-cost upgrade. unifiedcolor.com

NO COMMENTS