Create stunning HDR images from single or multiple exposures

Hydra 4.5.1 - April 11th 2024

• Modernization for latest OS & bug fixes.
• Hydra now requires macOS 11 Big Sur or higher.

Hydra 4.5 - January 13th 2021

• Fixed a crash that could occur when processing a project with image alignment enabled.

Hydra 4.4 - December 11th 2020

• Remodeled the app icon.
• Modern style for the window toolbar.
• Many user interface tweaks.

• Added support for sandboxing for all versions.
• Hydra now requires macOS 10.12 Sierra or higher.

Hydra 4.3.1 - June 11th 2020

• Modernization for latest OS & bug fixes.

Hydra 4.3 — December 10th 2019

• Optimized for macOS Catalina.
• (Sparkle Only) Application is now notarized for a better support on macOS Catalina

Hydra 4.2 — October 4th 2018

• Enhancements
• Optimized for macOS 10.14 Mojave.
• Improved support for dark theme & accent color. Accent color now effective throughout the app, in particular ghost selection & various buttons.
• Metal 2 optimisations.
• Other enhancements
• Fixed 8-bit rendering on integrated Intel GPUs that could output corrupt image (Mojave only).
• Fixed 32-bit rendering on discrete GPUs that could output black image when tone mapping was not applied.

Hydra 4.1.2 — July 2nd 2018

• Enhancements & Bug Fixes
• Added support for HEIF file format when exporting pictures (macOS High Sierra or more recent required). HEIF is a modern alternative to JPEG (smaller files for similar quality).
• Workaround for a "stripe artifacts" problem that could occur for RAW images when the legacy rendering pipeline (OpenGL) is enabled.
• Updated crash reporting.

Hydra 4.1.1 — September 29th 2017

• Optimized for macOS High Sierra.
• Fixed some glitches in the user interface (macOS High Sierra only).
• Fixed a bug that could prevent the addition of alignment points.

Hydra 4.1 — June 29th 2017

• NEW COLOR GRADING
  
  With version 4.1, we've taken feedback into account and developed a new color grading technique for Hydra. The new color grading technique provides more vivid colors by default.
• New color grading technique
• New 'Vibrancy' color control available in the tone mapper
• Improved local contrast that will now reveal more details in the image
• Fixed a crash occurring on Macs with older discrete GPUs
• Finer-grained GPU memory allocation limits to accommodate with a wider range of Macs

Hydra 4.0.4 — September 29th 2016

• Faster image loading for Mac computers supporting Metal in macOS Sierra.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when updating the color of the hue setting in the tone mapping.
• Fixed project thumbnail selection on macOS Sierra.
• Fixed other layout issues on macOS Sierra.

Hydra 4.0.3 — August 25th 2016

• Improved compatibility and stability with upcoming OS X release.

Hydra 4.0.2 — August 23th 2016

• Improved compatibility and stability with upcoming OS X release.

Hydra 4.0.1 — August 16th 2016

• Minor bug fixes.

Hydra 4.0 — August 11th 2016

• Optimized for Metal.
• Elegant and easy-to-use translucent user interface.
• Automatic or manual image alignment with high-precision live positioning and fine-tuning.
• Manual removal of ghosting artefacts using region delineation tool and per-region output contribution.
• High-precision 128-bit internal format.
• Much improved tone mapping including presets, and live, full-resolution preview.
• Advanced comparison tool of result against original pictures.
• Single or multiple input photos of various formats (JPEG, RAW, HDR, EXR).
• Blazingly fast rendering to various output file types (JPG, TIFF, HDR, EXR) and color spaces (sRGB, Pro Photo, AdobeRGB…).
• Accurate color processing, including support for Deep & Wide Color displays (30-bit, DCI-P3 display of latest iMac 27’).
• Integration with Apple Photos app (input / output).

Hydra 3.3.4 (Website Version only) — February 12th 2016

• Fixed security vulnerability with auto-updating scheme (Sparkle).

Hydra 3.3.3 (Website Version only) — January 7th 2016

• Fixed Activation problem affecting OS X El Capitan users.

Hydra 3.3.2 — October 29th 2015

• Compatibility update for El Capitan.
• Fixes a possible crash / hanging issue when loading images.

Hydra 3.3.1 — November 7th 2014

• Fixed a problem (incorrect image size) when previewing images on Macs with Retina displays.

Hydra 3.3 — September 1st 2014

• Compatibility with OS X Yosemite.

Hydra 3.2 — November 4th 2013

• Mavericks compatibility
• Fixed incorrect preset rendering
• Fixed UI glitches
• Faster real-time previewing of tone-mapped image thanks to improved Mavericks Core Image/OpenCL pipeline
• Integration of Mavericks native image browser, which gives access to iPhoto, Aperture, and iCloud photo libraries
• Other Corrections
• Cropped images are now correctly rendered when app is in trial mode (no more white frame)
• Fixed previewing artifacts

Hydra 3.1.1 — November 22nd 2012

• Added support for exporting image as Radiance (.hdr) file
• Fixed a possible hang problem when operating Hydra as Aperture or Lightroom plug-in
• Fixed a tone-mapper problem: Tone-mapping can now be disabled in new documents.

Hydra 3.1 — October 24th 2012

• Minimum system requirements: OS X 10.7.3 Lion or later
• Support for Retina displays
• Better integration of Mountain Lion sharing services: Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr are now supporting native OS X sharing services.
• Improved previewing: previewing of HDR image now remains at full resolution (no low resolution toggle) when editing settings in Develop mode. Previewing is also much faster than previous version.
• Faster processing of HDR image: transition from Prepare to Develop mode is now up to 4x faster, thanks to improved Grand Central Dispatch-based multicore method.
• Better version checks when operating as an Aperture / Lightroom plug-in: Hydra will now report if the plug-in is too old, or if Hydra itself must be updated.
• Refined design for empty document window and tool interface.
• Document reopening improvement: a previously developed HDR document now reopens in Develop mode. Feedback is provided during the reopen process.

Hydra 3.0.3 — August 29th 2012

• Sandboxing: Hydra is now fully sandboxed for better user security
• Plug-in version check: when Hydra is operated as a plug-in (from Aperture or Lightroom), it checks that the plug-in version is compatible with the app
• Fixed insertion of alignment points: inserting alignment points now keeps the window in focus
• Fixed ghost zone drawing problem: ghost interface now always appears when editing ghosts
• Fixed image processing probe deletion: removal of probes now works as expected
• Fixed incorrect window texture: document window no longer appears flat

Hydra 3.0.2 — January 3rd 2012

• UI localized in Italian
• Fixed a crash when importing images on Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

Hydra 3.0.1 — October 31st 2011

• Auto-alignment is no more proposed for single image documents
• Batch jobs can now be removed with backspace (delete) key (Pro version)
• Fixed Import action behavior (File menu)
• Fixed a crash for image import on Lion
• Fixed a problem that would prevent correct display ghost checkboxes, sometimes related to fullscreen mode
• Fixed a problem affecting probe removal (Pro version)

Hydra 3.0 — October 6th 2011

• Completely new user interface
• Additional features available in the Express version (image processing features, plug-ins...)
• Localized in English, French and German
• Better interactive visualization:
  • Full resolution image, fast display
  • Interactive adjustments
  • Overview/manipulation of displayed image area within the whole image
  • Mouse scrolling and zoom in/out
  • Optional flashing low/highlights alerts
  • Better fullscreen support
  • Improved display of photo information
• Image processing:
• 2 modes of operation: Photo Preparation, and Photo Development
• Better camera response function estimates
• Automatic or zone-based ghost removal (due to moving objects in different exposures)
• Image alignment:
• Much improved automatic alignment, even for farther apart exposures
• Interactive point placement, with increased contrast display for easier manual matching
• Subpixel point matching with subpixel user input
• Reset button for individual alignment points
• Better support for low contrast/less textured images
• Tone mapping:
• Entirely rewritten tone mapper
• Full 32-bit floating point pipeline (per color component)
• 32-bit EV histogram and 8-bit tone-mapped histogram
• Realtime adjustments on full resolution image
• Reset of any slider by double-clicking it
• Better central exposure determination
• Better quality & user control
• New controls - adjustable per scope: Overall exposure adjustment, shadows & highlights enhancement, details enhancement, hue, saturation, brightness, contrast
• 12 presets available
• User presets can be stored per document (snapshots)
• Scope-based adjustments to target only bright or dark areas, red, green, or blue tones
• Probe-based adjustments (Pro version only)
• Probes are used to select areas based on distance/color/brightness tolerance (Pro version only)
• Interactive probe placement (Pro version only)
• Post-processing:
• Crop
• Glow
• Vignetting
• White frame
• Workflow - Batch processing (Pro version only):
• Drop files and folders, Hydra groups them as exposure sets
• Photo sets can be modified by user (add/remove photo, split set)
• Photo sets can be given different processing options (tone mapping preset, automatic alignment, ghost removal...)
• Can create final images and/or Hydra documents for later manual editing
• Display of batch processing progress
• Export:
• Improved export to iPhoto, Aperture, and Lightroom
• Export to Flickr
• Export to Twitter
• Export to Facebook
• Export to Mail
• Better EXIF information handling
• Copyright information added to EXIF data
• Optimized for Lion:
• Fullscreen Mode
• Autosaving and Versioning
• Automatic Termination and Restart
• Improved Aperture plug-in
• Improved Lightroom plug-in

Hydra 2.3 — January 14th 2011

• Product Line Split
• Hydra Express available on the Mac App Store
• Hydra Pro available on Creaceed's website

Hydra 2.2.1 — November 26th 2010

• Lightroom 3 compatibility (plug-in installation)

Hydra 2.2 — February 23rd 2010

• HDR Plug-In for Lightroom 2
• Improved User Guide

Hydra 2.1.5 — February 13th 2010

• Better default value for Perceptive tone-mapper
• Improved automatic alignment
• Fixed Mach-bands issue in Aperture plug-in preview rendering
• Fixed Alignment panel refresh problem

Hydra 2.1.4 — February 11th 2010

• Aperture Plug-In: Support for Aperture 3 (64-bit architectures)

Hydra 2.1.3 — August 31st 2009

• Fixed Automatic Alignment Crash in Snow Leopard
• Fixed Fullscreen Mode in Snow Leopard

Hydra 2.1.2 — August 28th 2009

• Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard compatibility
• Support for 64-bit architectures
• Improved performance under Snow Leopard (final rendering up to 2.5 times faster)
• Use of sliders with real-time feedback

Hydra 2.1.1 — June 10th 2009

• Reference points can now be deleted with the Delete key
• Navigation through reference points with Tab key
• Loupe availability now coherent
• Fixed disappearing document window when importing image with no EXIF tag
• Japanese localization (stand-alone application, Aperture plug-in and user guide)
• Italian localization (stand-alone application and user guide)

Hydra 2.1 — March 11th 2009

• New feature: Source image thumbs can now be clicked for smooth overlay. This makes it easier to compare the tone mapping output with any source image, or to compare source images together.
• New feature: Accurate dual histogram display (LDR/HDR). The HDR histogram represents the merged, 32-bit image before tone mapping in a logarithmic scale (EV). The LDR histogram represents the currently displayed preview, it is a regular 8-bit histogram with a 0-255 scale. Histograms are computed in a separate thread to keep overall interactivity.
• Improved: Faster rendering pipeline when previewing (up to 5x), especially true for RAW input images.
• Improved: Incremental rendering as tiles is implemented.
• Improved: Changing GPU setting in the preferences does not require Hydra relaunch anymore.
• Improved: Faster window resizing.
• Improved: Cancel rendering is now immediate when not using GPU acceleration.
• Improved: The sharpen filter is now scale invariant, meaning that the preview rendering accurately demonstrates the effect as it appears in the full resolution output.
• Improved: Automatic update is now signed for improved security.
• Improved: Import progress sheet for images is displayed.
• Aperture Plug-In: Fixed cancel import problem.
• Aperture Plug-In: Fixed hang when exporting back to Aperture.
• Aperture Plug-In: Smart Aperture projects do not cause a hang anymore, option to save to the Pictures folder when project is read only.
• Aperture Plug-In: 16-bit TIFF rendering is now supported, 32-bit removed (use stand alone Hydra if OpenEXR format is needed).
• Aperture Plug-In: Shift key can be used to import modified versions of images into Hydra. This way, any modification in color temperature, contrast, etc. is made available to Hydra Plug-in. This remains an optional behavior as it has an impact on rendered image, and it can make the initial import process longer.
• Aperture Plug-In: Auto updating of the Plug-in when a new version is posted.
• Fixed bug: Importing images of different pixel sizes does not cause a crash anymore.
• Fixed bug: Removing/adding images now resets reference points.
• Fixed bug: About panel now scrolls properly.

Hydra 2.0.1 — January 26th 2009

• RAW: Full dynamics support, with additional control (boost, shadow, tint, sharpening)
• RAW: Single RAW image tone mapping improved
• Decreased default requirements (preview size, GPU acc.)
• Loupe will not pop up anymore, only on user request
• Fixed activation process error
• Dropping image on app icon in the dock now imports images
• Fixed Loupe for portrait images
• German Localization (user interface)

Hydra 2.0 — January 6th 2009

• General: Improved image processing pipeline - faster, higher quality
• General: Now provides default values for missing exif tags
• General: Additional keyboard shortcuts for common operations
• General: Additional display of image information (EXIF tags)
• General: New document examples
• General: New welcome screen
• Stand-alone: Output display in Preview, export to Aperture or iPhoto
• Aperture Plug-In: New interface, more inline with the stand-alone version
• Alignment: New homography based method, in addition to the unconstraint one
• Alignment: Notification of disabled homography due to too few points
• Alignment: Can be disabled without requiring to remove all the points
• Alignment: Special image border handling (mirror)
• Alignment: Display of point deviation to easily identify erroneous reference points
• Loupe: New real-time 1:1 full quality preview
• Loupe: Adaptive exposure compensation when previewing HDR
• Loupe: Display of transparent image frame when navigating through
• Loupe: Synchronized with alignment window when control-dragging points
• Loupe: Degraded rendering when manipulating to preserve responsiveness
• Tone Mapping: New Perceptive tone mapper, for more natural images
• Output: Choice of file name and directory
• Pro: New Settings Stack to quickly try different effects and revert to the preferred one
• Pro: Point coordinates display
• Pro: Exposure Value Calculator
• Pro: Additional image processing options
• Pro: Input filters, contrast, sharpness, color temperature
• Pro: Output filters, saturation, sharpness, brightness / contrast
• Pro: Apply to all, reset
• Pro: Export of individual aligned images, before merging process
• Pro: Enabling or disabling of GPU processing to better tune on each machine

Hydra 1.6.2 — December 29th 2008

• Aperture plug-in: fixed Aperture import hang-up
• Stand-alone: added support for Pentax .PEF raw images
• Fixed bad color profile for JPEGs (Hydra output)

Hydra 1.6.1 — August 2008

• Aperture plug-in: added image size check
• Aperture plug-in: check IPTC tags and EXIF
• Aperture plug-in: fix missing lens model
• Aperture plug-in: fix missing progress bar animation in import
• Aperture plug-in: fix import sheet freeze
• Stand-alone: fix re-opening preferences window crash
• Stand-alone: new option to choose 8/32-bit depth for TIFFs
• Always display computed EV offset in import panel
• Fix missing ISO information
• Make more robust handling of ISO / exposure time / FNumber (Zero, fractional numbers, missing info)
• Keep camera model unchanged (add Hydra as another tag)
• Choose better tone mapping default values
• Moved to Karelia's media browser v1.1.1
• Accelerated final rendering processing speed
• German localization (stand-alone application, Aperture plug-in and user guide)

Hydra 1.6 — July 2008

• Aperture plug-in: Installable package
• Aperture plug-in: better viewing window (resizable)
• Aperture plug-in: shift-click Save, saves one image but stays in the plugin
• Aperture plug-in: stacks output image to inputs as an option
• Aperture plug-in: add a render sheet with cancel button
• Aperture plug-in: output file format options (before Aperture import)
• Aperture plug-in: remove temporary image from disk
• Aperture plug-in: add license support
• Review localization (plugin and s/a app)
• Updated User Guide
• Updated French localization
• Fix colorspace in output
• Fixed bug in Canon Eos 10D images (check)
• Fixed bug in DNG image processing, leading to no output
• Fixed bug in match checkbox (manual alignement panel)

Hydra 1.5.3 — June 2008

• Italian localization
• Fix final rendering coordinates system
• Aperture plug-in: rotated 90° images support
• Aperture plug-in: coordinate system based on correctly oriented image
• Aperture plug-in: fix Match View drawRect:
• Aperture plug-in: bring back alignment panel
• Aperture plug-in: automatch
• Aperture plug-in: manual match
• Aperture plug-in: move / create point tools
• Aperture plug-in: density setting in settings sheet.
• Aperture plug-in: add tag to identify HDR outputs
• Aperture plug-in: PPC support (>= G5)
• Aperture plug-in: 3D perspective view as an option
• Aperture plug-in: support for setting preferences
• Aperture plug-in: quality of preview

Hydra 1.5.2 — May 2008

• Fixed Intel GMA chipset bug + PPC for Aperture Plug-In
• Single image processing added (tone mapping RAW)

Hydra 1.5.1 — May 2008

• Fixed Intel GMA chipset bug + PPC

Hydra 1.5 — May 2008

• Better UI concepts
• Better fullscreen handling (HUD for window controls)
• HUD for zoom and image navigation
• Import from Aperture
• Export to Aperture
• OpenEXR output
• RAW import
• Improved warping quality
• EV histogram representation
• True Tone-mapping implementation
• Tone Mapping: Local Adaptation
• Tone Mapping: Highlight Compression
• Support for presets
• Increased speed final rendering
• More than 4 images
• New reference point image
• Examples added
• Aperture Plug-in Beta
• French localization update
• Documentation update

Hydra 1.0.4 — March 2008

• French Localization

Hydra 1.0.3 — February 2008

• More accurate and faster automatic image alignment
• Added an option for controlling the density of ref points
• Alignment made by default when importing images (can be disabled in Hydra Preferences)
• Updated User Guide

Hydra 1.0.2 — February 2008

• Added TIFF Output

Hydra 1.0.1 — January 2008

• Fixed crash when quitting Hydra
• Fixed bad labels in Welcome window

Hydra 1.0 — January 2008

• First Release