The Windows operating system is an accessible application that allows
the users to work with almost every file format available in the
present. Today, Microsoft announces a new format patented by the
company that will enhance the qualities of the digital images created
by
professional photographers, allowing them to create improved
quality bundled with reduced size. The HD format will provide up to
twice compression efficiency than JPEG, allowing editors to decode only
the information included in certain regions or elements of the image.
“With HD Photo, we’re taking a new approach to creating and editing
photos that simply isn’t available to photographers with today’s
formats,” said Amir Majidimehr, corporate vice president of the
Consumer Media Technology Group at Microsoft. “HD Photo fully preserves
the original image fidelity with high dynamic range while still
allowing for significant improvement in compression size.” In addition,
HD Photo offers both lossless and lossy image compression, and can
retain the full dynamic range and color gamut data from a camera’s
sensor,” Microsoft sustained in a press release.
Using a powerful partnership with Adobe, Microsoft revealed a new set
of HD Photo plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop that will help professional
photographers manipulate the images taken in the HD format directly
from Photoshop. If you want to try the new set of tools, you should
check the Microsoft download website.
The HD format is already compatible with Windows Vista through the
Windows Imaging Component (WIC) codec and can be also used on Windows
XP or Windows Server 2003 if you install a free WIC utility. This
format is also compatible in the .Net Framework 3.0 development
platform and also available for Mac OSX.
“With support on popular platforms such as Windows XP, Windows Vista
and Mac OS X, HD Photo will allow consumers to easily view, edit and
share images without conversion or special applications. The format
also allows for flexible metadata handling and supports
industry-standard metadata formats,” the software giant concluded.
