Messing around with Silver Efex Pro 2.0

[neile]

I spent this afternoon messing around with the new version of Silver Efex Pro 2.0. I'd barely ever used v1.0 (bought it and then forgot about it), so the release of the new version kicked me to go spend some quality time playing around.

I just came back from Yosemite National Park where I took pretty much every photo with the intention of converting it to B&W. Instead of my normal LR conversions I used Silver Efex Pro 2.0. It is, I have to admit, loads of fun to play with. I love being able to see zones overlayed on the image. The new amplify whites and blacks sliders are sweet. Selective colour is kinda fun (if you can wrap your head around u-point). It's definitely a worthwhile purchase.

The one thing that bugs me is that once you press the save button that's it. There's no way to re-open and edit your adjustments. I'm so used to non-destructive editing in Lightroom it's a painful shock when you use an application that doesn't have it. Especially painful when I find I like to noodle on the conversion for a few days to see if it sticks, and then make fine tune adjustments.

Anyway, two blog entries are up with results from messing around. Check them out at:

http://www.danecreekfolios.com/blog/2011/2/27/yosemite-sunrise.html
http://www.danecreekfolios.com/blog/2011/2/27/selective-colour-in-yosemite.html

Neil

[Mark D Segal]

From the FAQ on their website:

Is Silver Efex Pro 2 Smart Filter compatible?
Yes, Silver Efex Pro 2 is Smart Filter compatible. To use Silver Efex Pro 2 as a Smart Filter, please perform the following steps:
1.   Open your image in Photoshop CS3 or later.
2.   Select the layer that you would like to apply Silver Efex Pro 2 to.
3.   Access the Filter menu, and select the option Convert for Smart Filters.
4.   Access the Filter menu again, roll over Nik Software, and select Silver Efex Pro 2.
When using Silver Efex Pro 2 as a Smart Filter, you can go back and edit the effect applied to the image as long as that file is saved as a PSD or TIFF file with the
layers retained.

[neile]

Cool, although that means my workflow would be: LR -> PS as Smart Object -> Silver Efex Pro 2.0 as Smart Layer. Ah well, the price of pretty

Neil

[deejjjaaaa]

Cool, although that means my workflow would be: LR -> PS as Smart Object -> Silver Efex Pro 2.0 as Smart Layer. Ah well, the price of pretty

Neil

well that is why LR is not exactly intended for a serious postprocessing... it has a very plugin un-friendly architecture

[Mark D Segal]

well that is why LR is not exactly intended for a serious postprocessing... it has a very plugin un-friendly architecture

When a large number of serious professional photographers are using Lightroom for accomplishing about 90-95% of their serious post-processing work, and the application was never intended to accommodate all manner of plugins offered by thirty-party developers, I don't see how you can justifiably make such a statement.

[neile]

What Mark said

Neil