PhotoAcute Promises Noise-Free HDR Images

PhotoAcute Studio

PhotoAcute Studio is software that promises to expand the dynamic range of an image while getting rid of the noise. Its special method of dynamic range expansion automatically and almost completely removes the noise from the shadow areas of the images, according to Texas-based Almalence Inc., makers of PhotoAcute.

Dynamic range expansion by blending several images taken at different exposures is a well known practice adopted by photographers and implemented in a number of software tools. However, while the exposure blending works well for creating HDR images, further tone mapping often produces the images with a lot of noise, especially in dark areas of the scene. The amplification of underexposed pixels fills the shadow areas with noise, which lead to the loss of details and textures.

Almalence said the PhotoAcute Studio application solves this problem with a new advanced weighting technique. The algorithm weighs each pixel in each image determining how properly is it exposed, and never places underexposed pixels into the output image when better exposed pixels are available from other images. Properly exposed pixels are then blended to reduce the noise even more.

PhotoAcute Studio also increases spatial resolution, extends the depth of field and corrects chromatic aberrations. It supports a variety of image formats, including RAW, DNG and TIFF, and can save the results in Adobe’s DNG format. PhotoAcute Studio Professional costs $119.

[Site: PhotoAcute.com]

Published by Chris Malinao

Chris teaches Lightroom as workflow software to photography students at the FPPF, Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation. He also teaches smartphone photography.