Sep 13

Sep 13 Aurora HDR 2018 Now Available to Preorder

The next version of AuroraHDR is now available to pre-order from MacPhun. Aurora2018 will be available for both Mac and PC and features a new interface among many other additions.

I’ve used the beta version briefly, and I’ll have a full report when I have a chance to play around with it properly, but so far, I’m impressed. It does seem snappier overall and the interface is a good bit different. Everything is a bit smaller, so you can have more on screen at the one time, and it looks better on a large monitor. Well, in my opinion anyway. I haven’t been able to try the windows version as I don’t have access to a PC, but from what I’ve read from other people who have tried it, it seems to be more or less identical.

Above is a quick first look at the software. I will be putting it through its paces properly over the next little while, and I’ll try and have a full review ready by the time of the actual release date, but for new, here’s some of the information from Macphun regarding the software.

Here’s what’s new according to the press release:

What's new in Aurora HDR 2018:

Next-generation Tone Mapping - A new smart Tone Mapping algorithm automatically reduces noise, and produces more realistic and natural initial results.
Mac and Windows versions - Aurora HDR 2018 is available both for Mac and PC users, enabling mixed-computer households to share the same product key.
Lens Correction Tool - The new Lens Correction filter easily fixes all kinds of lens distortion, from barrel and pincushion to chromatic aberration and vignetting.
Transform Tool - Easily scale, rotate and shift your image to better fit your vision.
Dodge & Burn Filter - Selectively lighten or darken specific areas of an image to artfully direct your viewer’s eye towards the key subject of your image, similar to a traditional darkroom technique.
HDR Enhance Filter - Adds details and clarity to an image, adjusting colors, details and contrast without creating artificial halos or other problems.
User Interface - A new, modern and responsive user interface brings a powerful, yet joyful experience to HDR photo editing.
History Panel - An easy-to-reference list of edits made to your image, the History panel allows you to click on any editing step to revert the photo to an earlier stage of editing.
Touch Bar support for Mac - Aurora HDR 2018 adds Touch Bar support to give new MacBook Pro users fast access to key editing features and speed up their workflow.
Image Flip and Rotate - Perfect for correcting photos with incorrect horizons or making creative compositions or other stylistic changes to an image.
IMPROVED: A New Structure Algorithm - The re-developed Structure tool allows you to adjust detail and clarity of an image to get a classic HDR effect with great detail or a smoother effect with less details.
IMPROVED: RAW handling - An improved RAW conversion brings out more details in shadows/highlights, displays colors more accurately and reduces noise in RAW files.
IMPROVED: Crop tool update - Now specify custom crop sizes for even more versatility.
IMPROVED: Speed - Faster merging and masking performance, improvement in RAW image processing.

For those who preorder, there are a few bonuses:

Pre-Order Pricing:

Current users of Aurora HDR may upgrade at a special pre-order price of $49 ($59 MSRP)
New users can purchase Aurora HDR 2018 at a special pre-order price of $89 ($99 MSRP)
A collection of bonuses will also be included with every purchase. Pre-Order Bonuses:
Trey Ratcliff Deep Dive video (HDR Training by Trey Ratcliff)
Travel Photography Tutorials by Matt Granger (2 hours of tips, tricks and techniques to capture the best travel photos)
Source Brackets (5 sets of HDR brackets)
3-month Zenfolio Pro website, including a complementary design consultation. $60 value.

You can find out more on the MacPhun website.

Incidentally, speaking of Aurora HDR, I recently did a little quick tip over on my YouTube channel, (for the current version) showing how you can open Lightroom merged HDRs in the software without having to re-merge.

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