Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Beginner's Questions => Topic started by: Harry on February 11, 2018, 08:41:07 am
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I have been doing some black and white conversions in Lightroom and DXO and have not been satisfied. I remember a photographer who used a specialized black and white computer program. What program would you recommend?
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Have a look at Silver Efex Pro. It's part of the Nik collection, it's well regarded and currently free from https://www.google.com/nikcollection/products/silver-efex-pro/
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VitaminBW (https://www.knowhowtransfer.com/photoshop-professional-plugins/vitaminbw-single-triple-tone-bw-converter/) is also very good, but at €32.00 compared to Silver FX being free, I'd start with the latter.
David
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Have a look at Silver Efex Pro. It's part of the Nik collection, it's well regarded and currently free from https://www.google.com/nikcollection/products/silver-efex-pro/
I'm surprised that Google still offers it for download now that DXO owns it. DXO claim to have plans to update it don't expect future versions to be free. Still, looking forward to seeing what they do with the collection.
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Hard to beat Nik Silver Efects. You may have to click several of the links on Google to find the right one for the package, though, since the main link simply ends at DXO's site.
However, the Black and White Adjustment layer in Photoshop may also be a good place to start, but doesn't have the micro contrast tweaks you can get out of Silver Efects with much less effort. Blending layers also is another option, but after the B&W adjustment layers that came out with Photoshop CS3, I pretty much left that method behind.
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I'm surprised that Google still offers it for download now that DXO owns it. DXO claim to have plans to update it don't expect future versions to be free. Still, looking forward to seeing what they do with the collection.
The new home for the former Nik plugins is:
https://nikcollection.dxo.com/
Cheers,
Bart
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You may have to click several of the links on Google to find the right one for the package, though, since the main link simply ends at DXO's site.
The download button on the Google page referenced above works fine for Mac and Windows.
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I've been happy with the B&W conversion I am getting using Topaz Labs B&W Effects...
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There's also Tonality Pro - https://skylum.com/tonality
Has layers which lifts it somewhat. Most of these are a tad heavy-handed in the marketing materials. You can use them much more subtly if desired.