Ullswater using NIK Silver Efex Pro

canon400d

I was looking at a tutorial by PhotoPlus and there was one on the disc about changing coloured images to black & white. After listening and watching the tutorial I downloaded the 15 day trial and I was very impressed. I know it is expensive for a plug in at 199.99Euros but anyhow I downloaded the trial copy and I found there is so so much you can do on it that Photoshop can't do. I have only had it a few hours and I think it is tremendous with a wee bit of familiarity and practice. As always so damned easy when you know how. The shots I have shown are from the side you can work on them and make them much better obviously. You can make the image just as you want it. It even sorts out the noise, etc, etc.
The first image is the original I changed from colour on CS3 and the rest are various shots I ended up with playing around. Let me know what you think of NIK Silver Efex Pro.
Regards
Bob
Lake Ullswater original changed from colour CS3

Nik Silver Efex Pro - Wet Rocks

Nik Silver Efex Pro - Vignetteing one of many

Nik Silver Efex Pro - Antique Plate one of many

Nik Silver Efex Pro - Ambrotype one of many

speedsk8r

Like the dept of field in the first one.

canon400d

speedsk8r wrote:

Like the dept of field in the first one.

Thanks Speedsk8r. That was the one changed from the original without going through Nik Silver Efex Pro. I am hoping someone who has knowledge of Nik Silver Efex will give me there views.
Regards
Bob

Jack'll do

Hi Bob
Boy the difference in the first two is amazing. I really like the the apparent ease with which you were able to do this i.e. short learning curve. Keep it up while you have the trial version. I think you'll want to purchase the plug-in if you keep getting these results. thumb

I don't particularly care for the last two effects but that's just me. I think it's worth your buying if only for the B&W. (I might just have to look into this as well )

Awais Yaqub

I like them all especially with vignetting

canon400d

Jack'll do wrote:

Hi Bob
Boy the difference in the first two is amazing. I really like the the apparent ease with which you were able to do this i.e. short learning curve. Keep it up while you have the trial version. I think you'll want to purchase the plug-in if you keep getting these results. thumb

I don't particularly care for the last two effects but that's just me. I think it's worth your buying if only for the B&W. (I might just have to look into this as well )

Thanks Jack I am sending you a PM
Regards
Bob

canon400d

Awais Yaqub wrote:

I like them all especially with vignetting

Thanks Awais I am pleased you like it. If you want to know more just PM me.
Regards
Bob

baldmountain

Sigh, I gave Silver Efex Pro a try too and loved it. But I can't afford $199 either so I live with Aperture's Monochrome mixer.

bryanj87

Nicely done! Nik Silver is my favorite plugin these days!

canon400d

baldmountain wrote:

Sigh, I gave Silver Efex Pro a try too and loved it. But I can't afford $199 either so I live with Aperture's Monochrome mixer.

Yes it is an excellent plugin as you say.
Cheers Bob

canon400d

bryanj87 wrote:

Nicely done! Nik Silver is my favorite plugin these days!

Yes I am really impressed with it. How do you cope with the Noise aspect?
Regards
Bob

bryanj87

canon400d wrote:

Yes I am really impressed with it. How do you cope with the Noise aspect?
Regards
Bob

Do you mean the film grain it adds? I think it adds a lot to an image. You can crank it down to a minimal amount and then run it through a noise reducer I suppose. I will adjust the intensity of the grain depending on the look I am going for.

canon400d

bryanj87 wrote:

Do you mean the film grain it adds? I think it adds a lot to an image. You can crank it down to a minimal amount and then run it through a noise reducer I suppose. I will adjust the intensity of the grain depending on the look I am going for.

Yes Bryan. I think it tends to add too much grain with the Film on.
Regards
Bob

rednblacc

WOW! Those are really nice I like the vignetting one the best. Makes me feel like I was right there.

-Sabirah

canon400d

rednblacc wrote:

WOW! Those are really nice I like the vignetting one the best. Makes me feel like I was right there.

-Sabirah

Thanks Sabirah for looking and commenting.
Regards
Bob

canon400d

alexkhoo82 wrote:

Push your contrast more and trust me, too much vignetting doesn't help.. my 2 cents..

Thanks Alex for looking and advice is truly welcomed.
Regards
Bob