When Unified Color released HDR PhotoStudio in 2009, I was stunned with the color accuracy and the natural look of the processed images. With their new release of HDR Expose, the successor to HDR PhotoStudio, Unified Color released further refined software that has more advanced processing options, is easier to use, and produces better results than the already stunning HDR PhotoStudio.

The interface of HDR Expose has evolved, too. All the controls are on the right side with a brightness histogram in the top right corner and the image controls below it. I love how the software keeps a stack of your previous processing steps, allowing you to go back and make changes to previously applied steps, without losing the changes you made later.

Instead of a review that is counting down features, I chose to demonstrate the processing steps. This should give you a good idea on the ease of use and some of the capabilities of HDR expose. Click the images for a larger view.

Fisheye, the widest lens choice, offers a tremendous creative potential.

Find out what you can do and what you need to know about fisheye lenses.

I am addicted to wide-angle photography, its creative challenges and opportunities. Wide-angle lenses require rethinking your composition constantly. Eliminating clutter with a normal lens usually entails leaving it out of your frame, thus simplifying your composition. This is rarely possible with wide-angle lenses. Instead, you take advantage of their perspective, making distant objects very small. Eliminating clutter thus, requires moving around and changing your composition continually. 

I like this kind of photography. It forces me to reconsider all my compositions and puts me on a much steeper learning curve. I also love the resulting pictures, since they differ so much from the way we see the world with our own eyes. 

Telephoto lenses are creativity inhibitors. Photographers at sports events never move. They “only” have to frame and shoot. Everyone can get the same shot, even when they stand a few feet apart. Creativity then boils down to the right moment and the right subject. 

Easter SUV Trekking through the Backcountry of Death Valley.

My 4WD Hybrid Ford Escape had already proven its worth on a 7,000 mile winter trip, crossing the Rocky Mountains twice in bone chilling weather with record snow falls. My sure-footed companion sips fuel like a compact car, yet offers the storage of a family van and enough ground clearance for backcountry adventures. Hybrids are fun, as long as you don't drown the battery in mountain spring water like I did. 

It is all about options, or why I really like SilkyPix Pro.

I have been using SilkyPix, and recently SilkyPix Pro, for a while now and always loved the sophisticated control and ingenious options that the converter offered. Resisting Change is natural and lies within the nature of all things. We have to invest some energy to dissipate on the learning process. Maybe that is the explanation for the monoculture of Aperture and Lightroom, but I am glad I made the effort.

Adobe Camera RAW 3, my previous RAW converter of choice does not support my new Canon EOS 7D camera. I decided not to upgrade Photoshop CS3 and skip a few versions, mostly due to Adobe's funky licensing policy. I ate up my licenses when I had trouble with my raid and re-installed a few times (with and without raid). Photoshop saw a new computer upon each installation and eventually claimed I had too many licenses in use, offering no recourse or help.

SilkyPix Pro does not seem to have this problem. I re-installed numerous times due to computer crashes until I finally got a new machine last fall. The people at SilkyPix (Roberto) are exceptionally easy to deal with in contrast to the call center reps I get at Adobe. I also downloaded the Lightroom 3 beta, but the support for the 7D isn't very good. The white balance looks off and the noise reduction for high ISO noise is insufficient. I assume that Lightroom 2.5 works well with the 7D, but I am not going to buy it and rather evaluate version 3.0 when it comes out.

Amazingly, the support for my 7D was there in SilkyPix Pro, even though I got my 7D when it had just come out. I had the same experience when my 450D had just come out. There was no update for ACR yet, but Silkypix 3 already supported it. Silkypix seems to be Japanese and they appear to have close ties to Canon.

With the new EOS 7D, Canon introduced a camera with APS-C sensor and positioned it above its previous top APS-C lineup, the XXD series. With this strategic move, Canon has once more the best available APS-C camera on the market. The 7D outshines all other crop factor cameras and even manages to score points against its more expensive full frame rivals. Canon manages the tightrope walk of combining some of the best features of APS-C cameras, such as more reach and a super fast shutter, with the superior image quality and resolution of full frame cameras through its advanced new CMOS sensor.

… Or how I traded wits with the Nigerian Mafia.

Unused, Unsold and Unwanted

In the past, I have disposed of my used equipment on eBay. Writing the perfect sales copy, creating images and positioning myself against other sellers in the hope to fetch a fair price took too much of my valuable time, hence I didn’t bother going through the motions and left much of my equipment unused, unsold and unwanted.

You do not have to be a magician to put the moon where you want it in your pictures.

In this article, I am going to reveal how you can use software to predict the exact moonrise time, direction, angles and phases. You can use this information, in combination with a simple Google Earth trick, to enhance your composition with a celestial display de extraordinaire.

The successor to HDR Photostudio has arrived. Read my reviews of HDR Expose to find out what has changed and learn more about the new software.

In the fascinating world of technology, nothing is ever static. Once more, a company from the San Francisco Bay area set out to change the world forever.

Unified Color have just released new software, HDR PhotoStudio, which promises to satisfy color fanatics and bring HDR to the masses. Unified Color invited me to review the software and write an honest review.

As always, I will update this page as new updates become available and I will try to answer your questions if I can.