Luminance HDR is an excellent, free and open-source HDR-based image processor. Since it’s based on Qt5, it can be run on all major desktop platforms out there such as Windows, macOS, and various Linux distributions as well.
What Luminance HDR isn’t
Even though it might look like an advanced/full-fledged image processing app, Luminance HDR is, in fact, a surprisingly simple app for the quick creation of decent-quality HDR pictures.
The main reason for this is that it lacks some advanced editing and post-processing features found in other, feature-packed image processing software. This makes it ideal for day-to-day users who want a quick and easy way of enhancing their pictures. In short, Luminance HDR is probably best alongside other, more advanced image editing apps.
Here’s what it can do
We mentioned that the app is not exactly advanced when it comes to processing features. Be that as it may, it does have a lot going for it in the feature department. For example, the app works with all major image formats out there such as JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIFF, PBM, and PSD. In addition, it also reads RAW files.
The app features automatic ghost removal, automatic HDR merging, tone mapping, and comes with support for batch HDR processing, which should come in handy when dealing with a high number of images.
Luminance HDR also features a few basic image processing tools as well. The only post-processing tools are simplistic ones for adjusting the white balance levels, as well as a quick tool for resizing, rotating, and cropping images.
One of the best aspects of Luminance HDR is the fact that it has more than 15 presets. Couple this with the above-average HDR processing engine the app has, and the output images are quite nice, making it one of the best “one-click” apps of this sort.
What’s not to like
Just like most apps, Luminance HDR is not perfect. Besides the fact that it features very few advanced image processing and post-processing options, the app’s main drawback might just be its GUI.
It’s by no means a bad GUI, but it’s somewhat awkward. There’s a typical toolbar at the top, a tone map and a processing toolbar on the left side of the main window, and a preview panel in the center.
The fact that the tone and preset panels take up almost 70% of the main window’s space doesn’t help the app (especially when most image processing apps put so much emphasis on the preview panel and the whole user operation).
Verdict
The fact that Luminance HDR is a totally free app and manages to be this good is a very big plus. Even though you might tend to nit-pick (and we’ve certainly done that as well), it’s a very good app.
Its GUI is decent, the engine is surprisingly powerful, it packs various presents (that are also very nice), it’s free, it’s open-source, and it works on all major OSes out there. It will require a bit of getting used to, but once you do, you’ll most definitely find the app quite straightforward.
