hdrff

hdrff is a modular bash-script supporting the automatic processing of HDR-image-sequences with existing Linux-tools. HDR is an acronym for high dynamic range. Normal images have only 8 or 16 bits per color-channel, the dynamic range is therefore limited to 2**8=1024 or 2**16=65536. HDR-images have more bits per channel (e.g. 24, 32 or above), the dynamic range is much wider.

Digital cameras can't create HDR-images directly. To increase the dynamic-range, you have to merge multiple images taken with different exposure values. To ensure proper alignment of these images, the standard recipe is to use a tripod. After downloading the images, an existing but complicated toolchain allows you to create HDR-images from your image-sequence. As a last step, you have to use "tone-mapping" to reduce the high-dynamic-range back to the standard range, since no affordable monitor or printer can display or print real HDR-images.

That is where hdrff enters the game. HDRFF is an acronym for "HDR für Faule", that is German and "faul" means "lazy". With hdrff you don't have to carry a tripod around and you don't have to click menues or enter long commandlines to process your HDR-sequences.

For details about the project, please visit the main project page.

Hdrff was featured in an article I wrote for the German magazine "Linux-User" (issue 09/2010). The current version differs in some minor respects from the version published together with the article. All scripts were translated, a few configuration variables were also renamed and some bugs were fixed.

There is an English translation ("Easy HDR") of the article in the magazine "Ubuntu User" (issue 07, available in November 2010).

The hdrff-script is a driver program executing so called "modules". Each module is responsible for a task in the HDR-workflow:

• copy your files from your media to hard-disk
• change names to lower-case
• fix the file-date
• set files to readonly
• convert to TIF
• automatically find HDR-image sequences
• remove chromatic aberrations and distortions
• align images
• merge multiple images into a HDR file
• tone-map HDR files
• sharpening
• archive images
• cleanup
• more to come

You will find suitable free software for all these tasks. With hdrff, you don't have to deal with the details, because hdrff knows the necessary parameters. A configuration file (global and per user) allows customization, but normally you only have to set a handful of the configuration parameters.

To learn more, read about installation, configuration and read the user's guide.

hdrff is licensed under the GPL3 (see file COPYING in the downloaded packages). Since hdrff is a wrapper script, you should also make sure that you comply to the individual license-statements of all the tools you use indirectly through hdrff.

Source packages are available for download. See the download area of the hdrff-project. The current version is 1.2.0.

You can find a comprehensive list of changes in the release notes and all the details in the file ChangeLog.

There is currently no mailing-list. Please use the project-forums for hdrff-related communication.