Mons, Belgium - Creaceed today is proud announce the release and immediate availability of Hydra 4.0, a major upgrade to their powerful HDR app for Mac OS. Hydra lets you create beautiful high-dynamic-range (HDR) images by merging multiple exposures, effectively capturing both dark and bright subjects to make it more natural or to enhance scene drama. Hydra 4.0 is available starting August 11, 2016 on the Mac App Store and through Creaceed website. Hydra 4.0 makes use of latest macOS enhancements and is optimized for El Capitan and Sierra.

New features and improvements include:

• 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, etc.)
• 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)

System Requirements:

• macOS 10.11 or higher
• Metal-based Mac if you want to use Metal rendering (Optional, OpenGL fallback available)

Pricing and Availability:

Hydra 4.0 is available on the Mac App Store and through Creaceed online store for $59.99 (regular price). Special offers:

• Upgrade pricing: existing Hydra 2 / 3 users who purchased Hydra on Creaceed online store get a 50% reduction on Hydra 4 ($29.99) with provided coupon (sent by mail). Existing users who purchased Hydra 2 / 3 on Creaceed online store after July 1, 2016 get the upgrade to Hydra 4 for free.
• Time-limited launch offer on the Mac App Store: get 25% off ($44.99).
• Time-limited friend sponsoring offer on Creaceed online store: Existing Hydra 2 / 3 users (Creaceed online store) get an additional 33% coupon by email that they can share with their friends ($39.99). #hydra4coupon can be used to share or look for those coupons on social networks.

Additional Information:

A limited number of Promotional Codes are available to members of the media. Journalists interested in reviewing Hydra 4 should contact Helene Colmant, Support and Communication assistant. More information about Hydra 4.0 and a free trial can be found at Creaceed online.