The explosion in the use of HDR processing of photos has seen the release of a number of software applications for photographers.

I've tried my hand at the trial version of Photomatix and also Dynamic-Photo HDR. Both did the job, but neither were as good as I had hoped. I've read about (but never tried) Photoshop's built-in HDR processor and more recently I've been hearing good things about FDRTools. There are dozens more, some are free, some hundreds of dollars, but which of them is any good?

I have Photomatix Pro and I like it a lot, although I don't use it that much as I thought I would. It gets the job done and results are pretty good. The program gives a fair amount of control over the image to have the result you're after. However, I have tried the FDR Tools free trial, and I must say, I like this one more. It seems more stable than Photomatix (Mine runs on Microsoft Vista and it has crashed several times). I like the interface on FDR Tools and the added options to control the final result. It renders preview a whole lot faster than Photomatix, which is a plus as well. I'm not really sure I will get a license, since I don't do HDR too much. But I certainly like FDR Tools more than Photomatix.

Thanks groenkemarquez. It sounds like I need to give FDRTools a go.

It looks like Photomatix is the clear winner. Not too much of a surprise; I think it's been around the longest and it certainly has a solid reputation.

Thanks to all those who took part in the Poll... now for the next one; How do you organize your library of photos?