If you are a design professional or need to manipulate images in a very detailed way, then you'll need a program which can zoom in on your images in high definition detail.

Normally, if you try to reveal details in highlighted or shadowed areas using exposure correction (such as levels) you may spoil the parts of the image that you want to leave unchanged. However, the idea behind AKVIS Enhancer is that it intensifies color transition. and strengthens the difference between adjacent pixels having different color gradations. In this way, you can reveal not only details in the shadow but even details in the overexposed and mid tone areas. The program improves detail on an image, no matter what the cause of the blurring as it can detect in detail the underexposed, overexposed and mid tone areas of a photo with uneven exposure. It can bring into focus blurred images and now even supports HDRI technology. The program has three modes - Enhancer, Focus, and HDRI. In the Enhancer and Focus modes you can improve a picture using one single shot; in the HDR mode you need a series of shots but you'll be surprised at how much you can improve your images.

This program can't turn your photos into a work of art but it can certainly improve those images that have been blurred or are out of focus.

Download AKVIS Enhancer 9.5 in Softonic

The developers claim Autopano Pro is the most spectacular breakthrough in automated picture stitching in recent years. It is the first software to automatically detect pictures taken in panoramic mode and the first to perform HDR stitching.

Its also the first software to really correct color and exposure variations between source images. Autopano Pro is incredibly fast and efficient, even in the most difficult cases. Put it to the test today

Download Autopano 1.4.2 Pro in Softonic

Dynamic Photo HDR is based on a still relatively new technology but it's an important one and one that's getting more and more focus from developers.

According to the developer, this is an ideal tool for those who have taken a photos but the image that they get is not the one that they imagined. The software can adjust photos so that any imperfections, distortions and focus problems are smoothed out as easily possible. It features very powerful Auto-Aligning, Manual and Auto-Assist Aligning of images with something called "Pin Warping" that can correct all various types of misalignment, including camera roll, pitch or yaw. Ever had a ghost type object appear on your photos? Dynamic Photo HDR can completely eliminate ghosting of moving objects. In addition, it features a series of tone mapping procedures that can create a whole range of images - from smooth photographic tone mapping to very dramatic images.

This is still very much a developing technology but it has the potential to improve your photos in a dramatic new way. Take it for a test drive and see for yourself.

Download Dynamic-Photo HDR 3.1 in Softonic

Who says you absolutely need Photoshop when editing images? PhotoLine is just another example that solid alternatives photo editing tools do exist.

The application loads very fast compared to Photoshop, and offers a very similar interface, with most of your tools placed on the left. You'll get access to a wide range of layers, effects and filters from the menu bar and various viewing modes. The program also lets you easily create HDR images and offers full masking support.

Photoline includes a web tab, from which you can create animations, buttons or images. In 'web export' you'll be able to add last second touches and actions such as converting to grey or brightening shadows.

A solid image editor needs to be able to save to many formats, which PhotoLine does. You can choose from over 20 different types including Macintosh icon and AVI.

To be honest though, we'd have to say that PhotoLine compares best with Photoshop Elements, simply because it doesn't have as many features as the complete Photoshop.

In all though, PhotoLine remains an excellent image editing application with many tools and effects to get the most out of your pictures.

Download PhotoLine 14.11 in Softonic

Despite having possibly the strangest name in the history of software, Qtpfsgui is actually a very powerful digital photography tool that allows you get the lighting of your images just right. The application is used to adjust the lighting of images taken at different exposures in order to make them consistent with each other, using HDR technology. Given three images - one over-exposed (say, -2), one normally exposed (0) and one under-exposed (+2), the application will automatically fuse the images in order to ensure the correct exposure in each picture.

This is a technique that would require you to be an expert in photography in the real world, and all the lighting and exposure adjustments you'd have to make would drive you crazy. Qtpfsgui offers a range of clay/tone mapping filters to help you further enrich the quality of your pictures. These include: Fattal, Ashikmin, Durand, Drago, Pattanaik, Reinhard'02 y Reinhard'04. Overall, Qtpfsgui is a near-faultless app, available for free, for uniting three images and further enhancing them with filters. What's more, this can all be done with the minimum amount of effort on your part.

Download Qtpfsgui 1.9.0 in Softonic

Photomatix Pro allows you to gain the perfect exposure in a picture by blending two photos that are maybe each slightly out of focus. Given that most digital cameras can auto-bracket at different exposures, you do not need to acquire expensive lighting equipment - and carry it - when shooting high contrast scenes. Simply enable Auto Exposure Bracketing, and let Photomatix merge your photos into an image with extended dynamic range.

This program can save you hours of time in post-processing as Photomatix Pro is designed for productivity - i.e. automatic blending, unlimited stacking, easy comparison of results and batch processing. This can save you hours in adding masking and layers with image editing programs.

The developers claim it can even surpass Photoshop CS2 in HDR conversion. If you've ever created a 32-bit HDR image in Photoshop CS2 and could not get a good conversion Photomatix Tone Mapping tool may help.

This is a very powerful program although will only be appreciated by professional photographers that know how to auto-bracket photos at different exposures.

Download Photomatix Basic 1.2.1 in Softonic

High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging is a special technique that enables photographers to obtain perfectly exposed images in all areas, even if they have radically different luminosity values. And now you can try this method with your own pictures and Photomatix.

You don't need to know a lot about professional photography, nor spend a lot of money in material. Some photos taken with a different exposure value is all this program needs to create some astounding HDR images. Well, you'll also need some patience as the program may take a while to process images, depending on your system's performance.

Photomatix includes automatic working modes for those who don't want to be bothered tweaking a dozen different values, and also manual modes for picky photographers who prefer controlling every single detail. It also features a quick tutorial and a user manual to help you take your first steps in HDR creation.

Download Photomatix Pro 2.5.2 in Softonic

With the recent boom of Digital Devices such as Cameras and Scanners, Image Editing has become a forest of applications. This has it's pros and cons, the professional loved the diversity and competition that helped bring down the prices of some high-end applications.

On the other hand, this only ensured that the home user was left lost spending money on dozens of redundant apps that individually had to be learned on how to be used and maybe had one or two features that were needed. Here Artizen comes to the rescue.

Artizen is the first all-in-one HDR (High Dynamic Range) and LDR (Low Dynamic Range) solution for home and small business users. Artizen is such a complete package that it eliminated the need to buy all these additional types of applications.

Download Artizen ZE 2.5.5 in Softonic

EasyHDR allows you to blend a sequence of photos taken at different exposure values into a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image. You can tone map an HDR image into an 8-bit per channel REALISTIC looking result that can be displayed on computer screen or printed

You can also align the input photos using auto-alignment feature and adjust tone curve shape to fine-tune the contrast. It even allows post processing on the tone mapped result without any quantization losses - on floating point data (blur, sharpening, noise reduction, white balance, color tone adjust) and much, much more.

Download EasyHDR Pro 1.31 in Softonic

3DMark®06 is the worldwide standard in advanced 3D game performance benchmarking. A fundamental tool for every company in the PC industry as well as PC users and gamers, 3DMark06 uses advanced real-time 3D game workloads to measure PC performance using a suite of DirectX 9 3D graphics tests, CPU tests, and 3D feature tests. 3DMark06 tests include all new HDR/SM3.0 graphics tests, SM2.0 graphics tests, AI and physics driven single and multiple cores or processor CPU tests and a collection of comprehensive feature tests to reliably measure next generation gaming performance today. Futuremark's exclusive Online ResultBrowser web service tracks and compares 3DMark06 scores.

Download 3DMark 06 Basic Edition 1.1.0 in Softonic

The Adobe Photoshop 9.0.1 update fixes a number of problems discovered after Photoshop CS2 (9.0) software was released.

The most significant fixes in the 9.0.1 release include the following:

• Photoshop no longer hangs for several seconds when using painting tools with quick strokes.
• A runtime error that could appear when mousing over a high-res document with the Brush tool has been fixed.
• Documents containing a large number of text layers now open more quickly.
• Problems related to palettes (slow redraw, palettes go white, possible crash) have been addressed.
• TIFF files from certain scanners can now be opened correctly.
• After editing an image in Photoshop CS2 via the TouchUp tool in Adobe Acrobat software, the image no longer gets repositioned.
• XMP metadata from AI and PDF files is now retained in Photoshop.
• Slow performance when toggling layer visibility has been fixed.
• Info palette numbers are now displayed and updated when moving a curve point in Curves via the cursor keys.
• Problems opening certain TIFF and PSB files greater than 2GB have been resolved.
• The Merge to HDR command now functions properly when using high-ASCII characters in user login.

Download Adobe Photoshop CS2 update 9.0.1 in Softonic

The image editor market is pretty much dominated by Photoshop, with all the other applications battling it out behind for second place. Pixel Image Editor, trying to make itself a place behind Adobe's star app, seems to be aimed towards more advanced users, particularly photographers. The installation process was pretty lengthy and we were really surprised at all the time it took to start up (much more than Photoshop). The first time you launch Pixel you can also easily be taken aback by all the windows and options in the interface. However a quick look around will reassure you that Pixel offers everything that you need.

We liked the collections of editing tools on hand in the left side floating bar, and found an ample collection of both layers and effects to work with. Pixel also has a handy "workspaces" feature, to avoid having your window to cluttered with objects and images. Users will be glad to also find tools to optimize images for the web.

A bit too complex for some users, but Pixel is still an image editor fitted with many useful features.

Download Pixel Image Editor 1.0 Beta 7.699 in Softonic