Silver Efex - Opinions

[Marko]

Lots of people singing the praises of silver efex (http://http://www.niksoftware.com/silverefexpro/usa/entry.php) I'd like to try it as well.

Does anyone here use it regularly?

I'd love some opinions especially with regard to how it compares to b/w in Photoshop.

many thx!!

Marko

[kat]

I have it. I find that 99% of the options it gives you I would never use. Lots of the options really turn your photo noisey.

But that is just me.

[JAS_Photo]

It has a 15 day free trial. I actually like it but you can get some similar effects in LR.

[Marko]

I have it. I find that 99% of the options it gives you I would never use. Lots of the options really turn your photo noisey.

But that is just me.

I'm just looking for easier ways to do the basics...how does it do on selecting specific parts of an image for dodging or burning?

many thx - M

[kat]

Well, you can "add control points" which is basically a circle that you can make big or small and within that you can alter the brightness, contrast, structure. It works fine, but it is a circle so if you want something a bit more defined than that you'll be going in to photoshop.

You may like it. There are a lot of options, all the different filter with BW, underexposed, overexposed. I just find when I use it, I go for the neutral and do my adjusting in photoshop.

But I didnt' dwell much into it either. there may be more things I can do within the program I am not aware of.

[Marko]

Thx Kat - always lookin' for more opinions :)

[casil403]

Lots of people singing the praises of silver efex (http://http://www.niksoftware.com/silverefexpro/usa/entry.php) I'd like to try it as well.

Does anyone here use it regularly?

I'd love some opinions especially with regard to how it compares to b/w in Photoshop.

many thx!!

Marko

So far Marko. I am impressed....it is a ton of $$$$$ but I am on the 15 day trial for free so I am using it as much as I can. I will probably purchase it. I find it a bit more dramatic than PS BW conversions. it, like lightroom has alot of presets.
Give it a try for the 15 days and see what you think...you don't have to purchase it if you aren't impressed. I am a noob and not very tech smart but i really like it. :)

[tirediron]

I have it, and I do use it, but IMO, it's the least worthwhile of the Nik line unless you do a LOT of mono-conversion work. Pretty much all of the main tasks that it performs are easily replicated as Photoshop actions. The control-point technology is pretty trick, but again, IMO, doesn't have near the application for this as it does for say noise-reduction. Definitely download the trial and test-drive the heck out of it before you buy.

[F8&Bthere]

There's a deal going where you can get a Nik Software bundle of plugins for Lightroom or Aperture for US$199.99. It includes Color Efex, Silver Efex, Nik Sharpener Pro, Dfine, and Viveza. You go to the website, put the bundle in your cart and use the coupon code jodell (compliments of Jason O'Dell from the Nikonian Image Doctors). It's kinda weird that it only is supposed to take the price down to around $250 but when I used it, the total calculated down to $199.99 (this was for the instant electronic download version of the Lightroom plugins) and after conversion through my Visa it was only a little over CA$200 (like $214 or something).

I had used the demo before, and I have been playing with all the plugins in Lightroom like crazy lately. I'm happy I jumped on the deal, but the regular price of Silver Efex on it's own (or any of these plugins for that matter, compared to Topaz for example) is way too high. It's got a lot of praise in the photo community and although I agree with earlier comments that most of the filters are not that great, it seems capable of getting results quickly that I'd have a hard time achieving with various other conversion methods in LR/PS Elements. And the control points in these plugins are really slick. When I combine a Photomatix HDR with the Silver Efex plugin, wow! You may not like it, but it's a very 3D sorta look.

[Barefoot]

Without going into as much detail as I did on my opinion of NikSoftware's Capture NX2, all I have to say about SilverEfex is...If it's Nik, then it's slick. :thumbup:

[F8&Bthere]

I know this thread is primarily about Silver Efex but for anyone considering the Nik Software bundle, the Color Efex Pro plugin has a popular filter called Pro Contrast, and one of the things it does is removes any colour cast from your image. And it seems to do this automatically, at least it did for me, on its default settings. And even though I am using a calibrated monitor, using this filter exposed a greenish yellowy colour cast I had in images captured with my Pentax K10D that I hadn't noticed before. But when I compared before and after it was obvious. And I then read that this is a fairly common thing for Pentax DSLRs. So with this, I was able to calibrate Lightroom to remove this cast and set it as a develop default to be applied upon import of all images from that camera. This is just so that I don't have to process every one of my images with the filter.

Color Efex has some other neat filters too, like film types and grain, a fog filter, graduated filters of various kinds, polarization, and one that adds an adjustable vignetting blur that kinda simulates the look of a Lensbaby.

[Marko]

Thanks for the comments everyone - I'll give it a try!

[Marko]

Ok everyone I've tried it for a half hour and it's very very cool for people like me that dig precise b/w control. Emulating film grain is also cool. control points for local contrast control not bad at all for quick play. Overall, it rocks!

[AcadieLibre]

Did you convert to Jpeg or another file format like .psd, .tiff, ect. I have the whole set of Niksoftware, I get a seat for from a friend who does Graphic Art and they always have a few extra seats and feel sorry for this starving artist and give me one of the seats and I have that program and also would like to try it as I was was unaware I even owned it lol. I have not toyed with PS much since I went to photography full-time, I used to use PS a lot for when I did Graphic Art, so I like to play with it just to keep familiar with PS just so I can keep up on the changes and make sure I don't forget how to use it. Like what happened with flash, sure I would pick it up quickly but moving from flash altogether when HTML 5 comes out and you can get away with out having to use flash. Anyway :sorry: :offtopic: .... I have most of those plugins for Lightroom should I want to convert to B&W and add film grain from a whole range of film types. Like to see if it is as good or better. In lightroom I can do the changes while working it RAW.

[kat]

I use my Raw file. The nice thing about it is that it does come back as an other layer (new,, not to sure how you word it) when you accept the thing you want.

[Marko]

I used RAW as well and it works as Kat says.

My biggest gripe and it actually IS a gripe....is that I can get to a final stage VERY quickly using this software.

For me, believe it or not, I like the journey; I like the struggle.

I like dissecting an image and carefully deciding how much contrast it needs, which areas need dodging and burning.... I come from the darkroom world where a 4 hour printing session would normally get me 3-4 prints (11x14 inches fibre based) of the SAME image.

With this software there is MUCH less struggling and If I spent 4 hours...I could probably finish 20 different prints.

At the end of the day, the silver-effex image would likely outshine my b/w printing. But I likely would feel less satisfied with it.... time will tell.

For older world photogs like me....there's something tangible about doing the majority of the work yourself versus the computer doing the majority of the work. :twocents: (and I know I've said this all before :eek: )

[JAS_Photo]

Conversely, Marko, for those of us who never did darkroom work and had to rely on the judgement of others or a machine that processed everything the same, the various programs and Photoshop, LR, elements, Topaz, photomatix gives us control over what happens to our photos. Plus its cleaner, faster, probably now better too.


I found another photoshop plugin that is supposed to be amazing. Problem is it is $600 (gulp) and no free trial. :(

https://www.lucispro.com/lucis-artistic/artist-index.htm

[Marko]

I hear ya Jas...the times they are a changin' :)

[AcadieLibre]

Just glad Marko brought this up, when I have time I will give it a try, if it is a long learning curve I do not care as long as the results are better than I would get through other methods.

[Marko]

You WILL be happy A.L.....

It's very intuitive imo.

[F8&Bthere]

IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION-
As far as I can tell the Complete Collection deal I mentioned above only applies to the Lightroom/Aperture versions of the plugins. To be able to use the same plugins with Photoshop you need to get the Ultimate Edition which is $599.99 before any promos, discounts or coupons.

This kind of sucks, because Topaz lets you use their much more moderately priced plugins with many popular programs without having to buy a different version or upgrade.

Using the plugins right within LR is pretty nice, as I mentioned, but I would also like the option of bringing the image into PS to use layers and such to adjust the plugin's effects, use multiple plugin effects, or to do further editing before saving.

[casil403]

Silver effex offers additional presets you can download for additional processing options::)

Nik Software, Inc. | Silver Efex Pro (http://www.niksoftware.com/silverefexpro/en/entry.php?view=intro/styles.shtml#Landscape)