Using NIK Collection HDR Efex Pro with Affinity Photo

[DirkW]

Hi all,

I'm wondering, how to use the HDR Efex Pro 2 Plugin from the DxO NIK Collection 2.5 in Affinity Photo 1.8 correctly.

When opening 3 images in Affinity, only the "active" image is transferred to the HDR Efex Pro 2 Plugin, but with only 1 photo, you can't generate any HDR content.

So do I have to use the stand-alone-program of HDR Efex Pro 2? Or how would be the correct way, so Affinity transfers all 3 (or 5 / 7) images into HDR Efex Pro 2 in order to then generate a HDR image, which is then transferred back into Affinity Photo?

Maybe someone here has a hint for me...

Another question would be, if I really should use the JPeg image or rather the RAW file...

Thank you!

[MEB]

Hi DirkW,
Welcome to affinity Forums
Yes, you have to use the standalone version to process bracketed images. Currently there’s no interface to access the Image Selection Dialog ( similar to *File > Automate > Merge to HDR Efex Pro 2…* in Photoshop) or the Nik Selective Tool to load a set of bracketed images in Affinity Photo. We don't support any plugins or functions that rely on automation or custom UI.

Ideally you should use the RAW files wherever possible as they provide additional range/tonal detail. JPGs were already processed by the camera according to the manufacturer specifications and compressed so you won't get the same results as using the RAW data.

[DirkW]

Thanks for your reply.

I hope, that "currently, there's no interface to access the image selection dialog" will really be a "currently", and will be changed in the future 😉