Just before the big storm hit...

Just before the big storm

It's been a rough few days here in New Jersey, USA. I guess you all at least heard about the hurricane that took out the electric for over 2,000,000 homes, including mine for 5 days. If you have seen any of the photos of the destruction, you'll see all the misery it caused to a lot of people. The prediction is for the possibility of another storm later this week. Oh my.

Well, I took this image in Philadelphia last week-end just before the storm hit.  It's a 3 image HDR processed using HDR Efex Pro 2 and finished with some of the other NIK plug-ins.

A friend asked if I had taken any picture of the damage.  I don't have the heart to do that. 

HDR Efex Pro 2 is very cool. . .

I've just downloaded and tried HDR Efex Pro 2, from NIK Software. They made some really good changes.
1st - it's faster.  That's a good thing.  2nd- They simplified the interface and the sliders.  That's another really good thing.  If you start from the top of the control panel, on the right, and just work your way down, it's pretty simple with good results. I strongly suggest that you give it a try.  You can download a trial version here and if you decide to buy it you can save 15% by using the discount code AKESS.

NIK Software announces HDR Efex Pro 2

Click image to view larger

RC, one of the photoshop guys from NAPP, has the announcement today on Scott Kelby's blog. He also has posted a cool video about the new features. There is a new interface with some new sliders integrated from some of their other pieces of software. One of my biggest complaints about the old version was that it was slow.  RC Says they fixed that, cool.
I'll be testing it myself in the next few days. It looks like it has real possibilities.