Macphun’s Aurora HDR Full Review

For the longest time, it seemed like there would never be HDR software that was fun and easy to use. Yes, you could merge photos in Photoshop and even the newest version of Lightroom could combine HDR photos, but it wasn’t a dedicated piece of software that gave you options specific to HDR.

The only option for a long time, which was the reigning king of HDR photography, was Photomatix. But Photomatix was really just the best of the bad options.

But with the recent release and continual development of Aurora HDR by the team at Macphun, there is finally HDR software that doesn’t suck!

I also just want to quickly say that some of the links on this page may be affiliate links. This means that if you go through one of these links to make a purchase, I would get a small commission from it, but this doesn’t cost you anything extra. I also only review products and resources that I use and trust. I recommend them because I hope that they can be helpful or useful to you, not because of the small commission.

Video: A Quick Tour and Review of Aurora HDR

If you want to have a quick look inside of Aurora HDR, I’ve made this video where I show you how I edit a photo in Aurora from start to finish. Along the way I show you some different features and give you a brief look at some of the cool features and sliders. Don’t worry, this isn’t like a tour when you go over to your friends house for a dinner party and they insist on showing you around the house to take a look at their bathrooms and bedrooms. You have to be polite and follow along, pretending to be interested, but really you just came here for the dinner.

The Lowdown on Aurora HDR:

So before I tell you more about how Aurora HDR works and the goods and the bads, I should explain a couple of things. 

Who is Aurora HDR for?

Aurora HDR might not be for everyone, but I think it is great if you are:

Someone who has used programs like Photomatix in the past. Aurora HDR makes so many improvements over any other HDR software that has been released in the past. Because of this, if you are using one of these older programs I think you should seriously consider giving Aurora HDR a try.

Someone who wants to get started in HDR. In order to enjoy doing HDR and realize its benefits, I think having a dedicated program is necessary. You can try getting started with something free or doing it within Lightroom, but it doesn’t quite have the full capabilities that something like Aurora HDR will.

Someone who is looking to avoid the monthly fees of the Adobe Creative Cloud. Macphun has recently released another program called Luminar which was meant to be a raw photo editor in direct competition with Lightroom. I’ll be totally honest in saying that I think that Aurora HDR and Luminar aren’t able to completely replace Lightroom and Photoshop, but for some people they might just do everything that you need without having to pay the monthly subscription for the Adobe Software.

What is HDR Photography?

First off, in case you’re not familiar with HDR photography, I’ll give you a quick crash course. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, which is just a fancy way of saying a photo that captures a larger range of light and dark than a traditional photo. This means that in a scene with lots of dark shadows and also really light areas, you’re able to capture both in full detail. It’s like in Star Wars, where you either join the light or the dark side. Well, with HDR photography, you get the light and the dark together in one so it’s the best of both worlds. If only Luke Skywalker had known about this stuff, things would have been so much easier.

You’ve probably had the experience before where you watch a marvellous sunset while you’re on a beach in some exotic destination and you take a photo with your phone or camera. When you look at the photos later, it’s nothing like what you remembered. Either the sun is properly exposed and everything else is dark, or everything else looks good, but the sun looks like glowing white ball. 

This is because cameras aren’t nearly as good as our eyes at capturing the full dynamic range of light in a scene. But that’s where HDR photography comes in.

So instead of taking one photo, we actually take 3 or 5 or 7 or however many you want. We take the usual photo that is considered properly exposed, then we take other ones that are lighter and darker. In most cases, I take 3 photos, one that is properly exposed, one that is two stops over-exposed, and one that is two stops under-exposed. Luckily, this is made easy on most cameras which have a function called exposure bracketing that does this automatically.

So, going back to the picture of the sun set that we were taking on the beach, we would now have a photo that is properly exposed for the sand and water in the foreground, and then another that is properly exposed for the bright sun in the background. By themselves, none of the pictures are very good, but if we could pick and choose parts of each photo, we would have a single photo that captures everything.

As you’ve probably guessed already, that’s exactly what Aurora HDR does. We take these bracketed photos, load them into Aurora HDR and it bakes them all together to produce one single photo that contains the best parts of each.

It’s like when you go to buy an ice cream cone on a hot day and they have three different flavours that you want to try but you can’t decide which to get. So instead of getting just one, you get a triple scooper so that you get a little bit of each. Now that’s what I’m talking about!

What’s Different About Aurora HDR and Other Software?

There are many options out there for HDR software like EasyHDR and Photomatix. In fact, you can combine photos into HDR’s within Lightroom and Photoshop themselves. These are all good options, but they don’t quite have the full functionality that Aurora HDR does.

Photomatix for instance was likely the most popular software for a long time, but this was mostly because it was one of the only options available. It was quite slow and clumsy to use and didn’t always make the most sense. There weren’t many sliders available to adjust the images and you often got a funny looking image out of the process.

For a quick example, here are two different images. The first one was edited in Photomatix, and the second one was edited in Aurora HDR. They both look quite similar, but take a closer look at the sky in both of them. The funny blotchy look in the Photomatix version was quite common and almost impossible to get rid of, but in Aurora HDR it looks much cleaner and you have far more control over the look.

You can also create HDR photos in Lightroom and Photoshop which work great and I use them when I want to quickly combine a couple of photos together to end up with more a realistic image. Merging photos within Lightroom is especially nice because then they emerge as DNG files which maintains the RAW format of the files. But it’s not the same as a dedicated HDR program because you miss all of the HDR specific adjustments that you can make.

In Aurora HDR, however, you have all of this and more. It’s super easy and fun to use, and there are tons of sliders, filters, and presets that you can play with. It even lets you work with layers so it really does deliver the full package.

What is the HDR look?

A lot of people complain that HDR photography has a distinct look which appears to be unnatural and fake. When it’s really overdone, it takes on kind of a grainy flat look, and part of this I think is the algorithms used in the software to combine the photos. This can be the case, but not every HDR photo quite looks like that. In fact, a lot of times you can’t even tell the difference between a photo combined through HDR and a single frame.

I think that HDR photos actually look really cool and when they strike that perfect balance where the shadows and highlights are all captured but they don’t look overly like an HDR photo they can look awesome. Compared to just a regular single photo, they tend to allow you to capture more vibrant colours and more details in the light and dark areas which can be a refreshing change.

So the only point that I’m making here is that you shouldn’t be bothered by a lot of people’s opinions on HDR. A lot of people like to bash it for some reason as not being true to photography and something that beginners like to do to make their photos look more appealing. But to me, it’s just a tool that we can use to capture more light in scenes and it allows you to give your photos a new and different look which is never a bad thing.

The Good Things About Aurora HDR:

Rather than tell you about all of the different features in Aurora HDR, I’d rather keep it practical and just tell you the things that I like about it, and also the things that I don’t.

Good Thing #1 – Aurora HDR is Always Improving:

The team at Macphun is doing a great job at taking feedback from customers and finding problems in the program and solving them. Since the first edition came out in 2015, there have already been several iterations, each making significant changes and improvements.

In fact, a new version of Aurora HDR is soon to be released which is supposed to carry more major changes with it.

It’s great to see that Macphun is constantly looking for ways to improve Aurora HDR and that they are listening to customer feedback and input.

Good Thing #2 – One Time Affordable Cost:

At around $100, Aurora HDR is super affordable. The nice thing is that you can pay this cost once and then it’s yours forever. You don’t need to keep up with a monthly subscription or anything like that, it’s just one quick moment of pain.

Then you can update to newer versions for a smaller fee if you want to, but it’s always your option.

Good Thing #3 – Intuitive Interface and Layout:

As soon as you open up Aurora HDR it looks instantly familiar and easy to use. You’ve got some options across the top to change the view, zoom in or out, and crop. Then down the right side you have your histogram, layers panel, and a whole bunch of sliders. The photo itself then takes up the rest of the space.

After using programs like Lightroom, this is very familiar and there is no learning curve to be able to find your way around. It’s very intuitive, professional looking, and easy to use.

Good Thing #4 – Lots of Cool Sliders:

The number of different ways to edit a certain photo in Aurora HDR seems to be endless. With all of the different sliders that you have available you can tweak and change things around to no end.

Some of my favourite would have to be the Image Radiance Slider which gives a really cool glow effect to the photo and makes it seem fairytale-ish. The Polarizing Filter is also quite unique and it is actually very effective in replicating the effect of a real polarizing filter that you would put on a lens. Another fun slider is Glow which does funky things to the brights and highlights in the photo to create a glowing look.

Good Thing #5 – The Layers and Masks are Awesome:

The ability to use layers in Aurora HDR is probably my favourite feature. This opens up a ton of options to get extra creative. You can make changes and then mask out part of the layer so that it is only applied to certain areas. Or you can blend two different layers together.

Layers has always been a unique and foundational part of Photoshop, but now having it in a program like Aurora HDR makes it so simple and easy to use, yet it adds an endless amount of possibilities.

Good Thing #6 – Luminosity Masks are Easy and Powerful:

While we’re on the topic of layers and masks, we should quickly talk about luminosity masks. If you’re not sure what this is, it’s basically isolating parts of the photo based on their luminosity (or brightness) and applying edits to only those area. This can be particularly powerful if you only want to edit parts of the bright sky, or only the shadow areas of an image. It might be really difficult to brush all of these areas accurately, but with luminosity masks, it’s super easy and works perfectly. You also don’t worry about over brushing or making a mess because the mask is created based only on the brightness of the areas.

Check out this quick video where I show you how easy it is to create and use Luminosity Masks in Aurora HDR:

Luminosity masking isn’t new and Aurora HDR isn’t the first program to have it. It’s been possible to do in Photoshop for a long time, but this is the first program that I’ve used that makes it so simple and effective. You just click a few buttons to decide which areas you want to affect and you get a nice preview of the areas that you’ve selected which are highlighted in green. You can add or remove different sections from your selection and then once you’ve made the selection you just create the luminosity mask. Then you can edit as much as you want and only apply it to those area. It’s a super effective and easy solution that comes in handy a lot.

The Bad Things About Aurora HDR:

Now no one ever likes focussing on the negative, but not everything can be shiny and glorious all of the time so let’s weigh ourselves down with some pessimism and criticism and get stuck into the bad things about Aurora HDR.

Bad Thing #1 – It’s Only for Macs (But Not For Long):

Up until Aurora 2017, only Mac users were able to take advantage of this program. But, with the upcoming release of Aurora HDR 2018, windows users will also be able to get their hands on it. So, let’s not beat this one to death because it’s not really relevant for much longer is it?

Bad Thing #2 – It Can Be a Bit Draggy and Slow Loading:

Probably my biggest complaint about Aurora HDR is that it can be a bit draggy sometimes. It seems like every time you move a slider around or make changes it has to process it and reload the image. It’s not completely smooth and feels a bit clumsy and slow at times.

This is especially noticeable when you’re doing things like sharpening or trying to make subtle and fine adjustments to things like detail or sharpness or contrast. Every time you move the slider a small amount it reloads and becomes blurry for a moment. This makes it super tough to get the fine adjustments dialed in.

I also find Aurora HDR a bit slow when you try to add radial or graduated filters. As soon as you get everything setup and ready to lock in the adjustment, it takes quite a long time to load. Again, it’s not a critical issue and doesn’t affect the end result of the photo, but it does slow things down and detract from the feel of the program slightly. 

Once you get your flow on and use it for a little while however you don’t really notice it anymore, but it’s still something that I have to complain about.

Bad Thing #3 – It’s Easy to Go Overboard:

I do most of my editing in Lightroom and because it’s the program that I use the most it always responds predictably and I feel like I’m always in control.

In Aurora HDR, however, it’s a different story. I find that it’s easy to go overboard on the editing of photos and either make them look fake or just make them look terrible. Some of the sliders give you unexpected results and take the photo in a totally different direction than what you had intended.

There have been many times when I’m editing a photo in Aurora HDR that I get halfway through and have to close the photo because it gets to a point where I think I can’t bring it back or make it look the way I want it to.

It’s like how you get used to going out for drinks with friends and you always have a drink or two and keep things in complete control. Every now and then though, two drinks turn into six, and then eight, and then 10… Soon, the bad decisions start to take over and you’re not wearing pants. At least when things get out of hand in Aurora HDR, you’ll more than likely still remember where you are.

Bad Thing #4 – The Sliders Aren’t Always Intuitive:

This is only a small gripe and I know that the more time you spend using Aurora HDR, the less relevant this problem would be, but I find that sometimes the sliders in Aurora HDR don’t do what you expect and you’re also not always sure which ones to use to get a certain effect.

Over time, I’ve slowly started to figure these things out, but there is a bit of a learning curve. I guess this isn’t really a bad thing either as it’s nice to be able to get different effects and looks out of different programs. If they were all the same with the same options and sliders it would be pretty bland wouldn’t it?

Bad Thing #5 – Some Things are Missing:

I have a feeling that this will be coming in the 2018 version of Aurora HDR so I won’t spend too much time complaining about it, but Aurora HDR really does need a spot removal tool. Something to remove dust spots like a clone stamp tool. Anything at all!

The other thing that I think would be really cool in Aurora that you can’t currently do would be the option to merge panoramas together into HDR photos. By this I mean you could shoot bracketed pictures and then stitch them together into HDR Panoramas all within Aurora HDR. Instead, you would first have to combine panoramas of each of your different exposures and then merge the three individual panoramas into Aurora. There is some software that can do this, and it would be really nice to have this feature in Aurora. I never really shoot bracketed panoramas, but that’s because I’m too lazy to spend the time putting them together, so having one easy option would definitely motivate me to do that. Then of course we would have to come up with a cool name for them. Maybe…High-D-Panos….nope…Hidi-Panos….nope…we’ll need to work on this one.

Bad Thing #6 – The Brush Tool Doesn’t Have Auto Mask:

The brush tool in Aurora HDR does everything that a brush tool should and you can change the shape, feather and opacity of the brush, but there is one thing that’s missing from it that makes it a bit frustrating to use. In Adobe Lightroom, the brush tool has a feature called auto-mask where, when it is turned on, the brush will identify strong lines and stay within them. This means that when you are painting an area where you have something like a horizon line where mountains meet the sky and there is a defined line between the mountains and sky, the brush will stay on one side of the line if you go over it slightly. It’s hard to explain without showing you, but hopefully you know what I’m saying.

This auto-mask feature speeds things up and lets you over brush and get a bit messy while still staying within the lines. I’ve gotten super used to it in Lightroom, so when I move over to Aurora to do some editing I’m always disappointed when it’s not there.

Final Thoughts and Is Aurora HDR Worth Buying?

The biggest thing that I should try to make clear is that Aurora HDR should be seen as a replacement for other dedicated HDR programs like Photomatix, Easy HDR, and even the HDR Photomerge feature in Lightroom. It isn’t however a replacement for Lightroom or Photoshop themselves. Even though it does have most of the functionality in terms of editing capabilities, it’s missing the cataloging, spot removal, panoramic stitching and tons of other functionalities that you would find in the Adobe Software.

But with that in mind, I think that Aurora HDR is miles and miles ahead of any other HDR specific software out there. Its layout, functionality, sliders, and layers make it super powerful and fun to use. You could use it to do all of your editing and it pairs nicely with Macphun’s other program Luminar, but I still prefer to do most of my editing in Lightroom. But when it comes time to get the creative juices flowing and immerse myself in the fantasy world of HDR, then I think Aurora HDR is the only one to reach for.

So if you haven’t already, download a trial version of Macphun’s Aurora HDR and give it a whirl. And if you’re like me you’ll probably find that it’s more than worth the cost and it solves problems that you didn’t even know you had. Especially if you’ve tried using older programs like Photomatix. You’ve got nothing to lose, so give Aurora HDR a try and start trying your hand at some HDR photos!

Some Photos That I’ve Edited in Aurora HDR:

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This site is my place to share everything that I know about photography and travel. I'm not an expert, I'm just a guy who loves this stuff and I want to share everything that I learn, as I learn it, with complete honesty and transparency. So, whether you're looking to improve your photography or you want to learn more about travelling to a new place, I want to help you on your journey. Check out my about page to find out more and get in contact with me. I'd love to hear from you!