Sunday 9 February 2014

Make it More Interesting (Simply HDR Mac app)

Lots of things to experiment (play) with on the MacBook now. One such is the Mac app 'Simply HDR'. It is not what I would call an HDR program, more an arty manipulation app which works on a single photo but with many effects to choose from.

I started with a dull photo of the artificial bird of prey I had taken recently ......

DSCN2246

...... cropped to remove the telephone cable and then adjusted by choosing HDR HDR-12 with adjustments to grain strength, smoothing and vignette:

DSCN2246 Simply HDR

To me this made a much more dramatic and interesting view from what was a photo I would probably have binned.

7 comments:

  1. I like editing as much as taking the pictures. This looks a good app.

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    1. Same here Adrian, especially when the weather is too dull for decent photography. There is a Windows version, around £5 I would think. Also a version for iPad.

      http://jixipix.com/simplyHDR/simplyHDR.html

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    2. John, I won't be getting it as I have Photomatix and CS6 now. I just like the effect. I found a load of presets buryied deep in PS and can I find them again, can I hell but have found many more if not hundreds that I didn't know existed. I'll have to do a new header using the posh Path tool, 3D and the perspective tool. I've got lazy lately and just banged stuff through the same few tools.
      Thanks for the link. I like this image and will have a go at copying the effect using a gold/platinum gradient and some masking. I can easily end up with twenty layers or more but all are in theory adjustable. Not in practice though as I forget to name them. I then can't remember what did what.

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    3. Adrian. I suspected you would already have enough programs to do this type of thing. Anyway, the link is there for anyone else reading about it and wanting to check up on it. These days I don't have the patience or concentration to climb the steep learning curve for the all singing, all dancing type of software. I tend to gather a series of smaller progs each able to carry out one task - hopefully quickly and efficiently.

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    4. John, I decided a year ago that I prefer prime lenses and at least 35mm format. I love the 120 film Bronica but find it hard to use. I have put seventy images through it and am happy with three. It takes a while to get used to incident light readings and most important gut feel. I have been using the reflective meter in digital for so long I have forgotten how good film is.
      I still can't believe how a mirror an inch or more square clatters up with such a bang and doesn't affect the image. Three of us went out yesterday into Darlington, a twenty year old lass with a Lomo, A lad with a manual Hasselblad and me with the Bronica. I shot three images on Ilford HP5 400 the lass asked for a go and after she had sussed manual focus and lens settings was like a pig in shit. The pictures are nothing but considering it was her first go hers were better. It's hard reading negatives but Graham who put them through his soup said that 70% were acceptable. Sarah wanted more film, I only had a back loaded with Velvia 100 reversal and it was going dark I plugged a cable release in and she asked where the button was, Even I remembered it is just a bit of cable, she then wanted to know why we use a tripod. It was quite busy by the market hall but taken close with a filter for six seconds I have hopes of the image. Then I remembered the dreaded reciprocity. We won't see people but I bet the exposure is blown. Or too dark , I think it's too dark. It's a bugger relearning something that was never instinctive to me. It still isn't but I do try and shoot and post the same day.
      It keeps a cripple out of the funny farm for now.
      I must make notes. Do you realise that old film cameras don't have Exif data?

      I can remember asking you years ago about video. I've still not got it sorted but you told me it takes time. It does. I like Lightworks and it's infinite track capability. I also only like soft fades or a cut to black for a new chapter so to speak.
      I was an engineer and tug skipper. When I got into digital I experimented on folk. Now I'm growing up...I hope and although I try to reflect the positive side of life I try not to push as far as I can. The only reason I bought CS6 extended was because it was the last chance to do so before it went for hire by the month on some cloud or other which I can't access half the time. It can often take me in excess of six hours to upload 200MB of video. Then I suspect Vimeo quality is better.

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Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

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