Great Plugins to Improve Your HDR Photography

We've all had bumps in during our study of the art of HDR photography, but sometimes we get stuck and need something new to help us take our craft to the next level. There are a few plugins out there for popular photo editing software that could potentially help you take your photos to the next level.

1) Noiseware Professional. This is the grand daddy of all noise reducing Adobe Photoshop plugins, at least as far as I'm concerned. There is an inherent struggle with HDR photography in the sense that if you are composing a series of images that were taken in dark conditions or at a high ISO, they will tend to be very noisy after processing. Not only does this plugin work remarkably well when it comes to decreasing noise in your images, but its extremely easy to use as well. Load the photo, click a button with the setting you want and away you go. As far as plugins go it isn't extremely cheap at around $50, but the investment will be well worth it when you see how much better your photos look afterwards.

An example of a noise reduced HDR photo

2) Topaz Adjust. After processing your HDR photos do they still seem a little drab and lifeless. Depending on the shooting conditions you started with, this could definitely be the case. If you run into this problem, then Topaz Adjust could be exactly what you've been looking for. When it comes to adding a little "pop" to your photos, Topaz is the best Photoshop plugin out there. Like Noiseware, it costs around $50, but is money well spent if you want to add a new level of professionalism to your images.

3) Photomatix Pro. Sometimes the most time consuming part of creating an HDR composite isn't shooting the photo, but rather it's composing it. I know my workflow was very inefficient considering I had to change programs constantly. Not anymore. I can now use the Photomatix Pro plugin within Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop and do everything from within Adobe. While your photos may not drastically improve, the ease of editing will.

HDR doesn't have to be overwhelming or confusing, you just need the best tools. Check out these three Adobe plugins to build up your arsenal with the stuff you really need to take your images to the next level.

Wanting to improve your HDR photography? Take a look at some great photography examples and HDR photo tips at Daily HDR.