Best Free HDR Software For Mac in 2022

Is there any free software to edit and get HDR photos? Absolutely yes, and some are even simple plugins that you may already own!

Are you a lover of landscape photography but are always afraid of not being able to make the most of it due to complex lighting conditions? Have you ever tried to use the HDR technique?

There is software to produce HDR images that can be very expensive, but there are free alternatives. I have collected them all in this article!

But let’s see some history first.

Table of Contents

What is HDR?
Best Free HDR Software For Mac in 2022
- Luminance HDR
- Photomatix Pro
- FDRTools Basic
- Picturenaut
- EasyHDR
- HDR Pro
- Nik HDR Efex Pro

What is HDR?

The abbreviation HDR stands for “ High Dynamic Range “, images with high dynamic range. Obviously, dynamic range refers to the range of light between the shadows and the highlights.

High dynamic range images have very bright areas and very dark areas, so a contrasted image with a lot of contrast has a lot of dynamic range.

Cameras, of course, have their own limited dynamic range. This means that it is not possible to maintain a photographic exposure for lights and shadows at the same time most of the time.

Trying to keep the exposure right for the highlights will make the shadows too dark and vice versa.

And here comes HDR photography, which thanks to a complex technological system manages to overcome this problem. Instead of taking a single photo and having a single dynamic range, take multiple photos with different exposures.

The photos are then combined in post production and by mixing them you can highlight a perfect exposure. This is HDR for short.

Basically, you have to take 3 photos:

One to expose the shadows
One for the highlights
One with mid-tones

This technique is then called “ bracketing ” and each exposure should be about 1/2 stop different from the other.

Many modern cameras have a similar tool built in, so you can manually adjust the exposure compensation dial for similar results.

3 images are required for an HDR photo, but professional photographers also use 6 or 7!

But let’s start now after this preamble to see what are the free software to process HDR photos.

However, to find out more if this explanation wasn’t enough for you, read the full article on HDR photography.

Best Free HDR Software For Mac in 2022

Below is the list of HDR Software For Mac that you can use, some are even just plugins to be incorporated into programs that you probably already have installed.

Luminance HDR

One of the best programs ever to get spectacular HDR photos, there are really many useful tools such as automatic anti-ghosting.

It is part of the Sourceforge chain, so behind it there is truly a stable and innovative industry.