HDR Shop
HDR Shop is a complete system for viewing and creating High Dynamic Range images. It allows you to import RAW data files or low dynamic range files and combine them to form HDR images. Rather than storing each pixel's on-screen color, HDR Shop uses floating point numbers to store the amount of red, green and blue light that the pixel represents. The computations involved are necessarily more complex: instead of 0, 1, 2, 3...254, 255, the numbers can be something like 0.01534, 1.0500, or 1,356,035.0253. Note the huge range, because these numbers represent real light levels, however many times brighter the light from (say) an open window in an otherwise dark interior.
HDR Shop accepts plugins such as LightGen and Median-Cut (lightprobe sampling); and Reinhard Tone Mapping (converts HDR to low dynamic range images). Version 2.0 included many new features, including support for multi-threaded operations and the ability to assemble HDR direct from Canon RAW images.
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If you want to become involved with HDR, HDR Shop's Internet home has many tutorials and is a good place to start. The tutorials cover loads of topics from Getting Started, to Camera Curve Calibration, HDR Image Assembly, Panoramic Image Transformations, and Creating a Light Probe Image.
True HDR is a challenging genre because it takes you beyond the realm of printed photographs to HDR displays and a whole new way of thinking about images. HDR Shop should be on any enthusiast's list of software to explore.
Tech info
- OS: Windows only
- Price level: Approx. $400 (single user)
USC Institute for Creative Technologies
HDR Shop is authored by Paul Debevec, Chris Tchou and Timothy Hawkins, at the University of California, Institute for Creative Technologies.
From the same vendor:
- HDR Shop plugins:
- LightGen
- Reinhard Tone Mapping
- Median-Cut Algorithm for Light Probe Sampling
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