Digital photography has a tendency to go through a number of phases and one of the most popular phenomena of recent times is HDR, or High Dynamic Range, photography. The process works by taking a number of shots of the same scene with different aperture settings and then combining these into a single image to bring out the best elements of shadow, mid-tones and highlights.

Ordinarily, creating an HDR photo can be quite tricky, but Picturenaut aims to make things as simple as possible. The program can be used with photos in a number of formats, including RAW, and takes advantage of multi-threading to give the fastest possible performance.

The program makes it easy to align different shots and ensure that any ghosting that develops can be removed. You are also granted full control over camera curve and have access to colour balancing and noise level control options.

As you tweak settings, a live preview shows you precisely how the finish image will look. With advanced options such as user-defined gamma encoding, the ability to edit Exif data and the option of adjusting aperture settings and shutter speed, Picturenaut can be used to get fast results, or you can spend time tweaking settings to perfection.