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<blockquote data-quote="ScottinPollock" data-source="post: 477155" data-attributes="member: 40111"><p>I find ViewNX to be really buggy... and all you really want it for is for conversion.</p><p></p><p>Now that Capture NX-D is free, you really want to download install and use that. I find that Nikon does better with their nef to 16 bit tiif conversions than anything else (including ACR). While you can do 'some' development in CaptureNX before converting to tiff, don't get heavy handed.</p><p></p><p>If you're on Mac, there is no better bang for the buck than Affinity Photo. This is as close to PhotoShop as you can get (and does a number of things actually better), and sit down... it's under fifty bucks (actually 40 'till the end of today).</p><p></p><p>If you're on windows there is always the interface horror show that is GIMP... but it is free and very capable. There may be other good, low rent choices on windows but I am not a windows guy so don't really know.</p><p></p><p>You want a graphics app that supports multiple layers. And ideally you want some very powerful (and clever) selection tools so that is is easy to create masks on those layers. The auto-HDR algorithms simply take the best exposure from a series of bracketed shots so you have excellent shadow exposure without blowing out the highlights. The lesser exposed images are used for the brighter parts of the end result, and the longer exposures are used for the darker areas.</p><p></p><p>While there are good software solutions for auto-HDR (including in-camera on some cameras), you can always do a better job yourself, layering the different exposures, and creating masks on those layers to let the desired parts of the various exposures show through. You can even create multiple copies of the same image, adjusting each one for levels, exposure, B&C, etc.; to combine for psuedo HDR, but you will aways get better results by having bracketed exposures.</p><p></p><p>Having non-destructive adjustment/filter layers in your software also makes things easier, as you can go back and tweak things without having to start from another copy of a layer should you make changes you're not really happy with.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ScottinPollock, post: 477155, member: 40111"] I find ViewNX to be really buggy... and all you really want it for is for conversion. Now that Capture NX-D is free, you really want to download install and use that. I find that Nikon does better with their nef to 16 bit tiif conversions than anything else (including ACR). While you can do 'some' development in CaptureNX before converting to tiff, don't get heavy handed. If you're on Mac, there is no better bang for the buck than Affinity Photo. This is as close to PhotoShop as you can get (and does a number of things actually better), and sit down... it's under fifty bucks (actually 40 'till the end of today). If you're on windows there is always the interface horror show that is GIMP... but it is free and very capable. There may be other good, low rent choices on windows but I am not a windows guy so don't really know. You want a graphics app that supports multiple layers. And ideally you want some very powerful (and clever) selection tools so that is is easy to create masks on those layers. The auto-HDR algorithms simply take the best exposure from a series of bracketed shots so you have excellent shadow exposure without blowing out the highlights. The lesser exposed images are used for the brighter parts of the end result, and the longer exposures are used for the darker areas. While there are good software solutions for auto-HDR (including in-camera on some cameras), you can always do a better job yourself, layering the different exposures, and creating masks on those layers to let the desired parts of the various exposures show through. You can even create multiple copies of the same image, adjusting each one for levels, exposure, B&C, etc.; to combine for psuedo HDR, but you will aways get better results by having bracketed exposures. Having non-destructive adjustment/filter layers in your software also makes things easier, as you can go back and tweak things without having to start from another copy of a layer should you make changes you're not really happy with. [/QUOTE]
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