Nik Silver Efex question

[FrankG]

Some time ago I applied one of the presets in a separate layer but with some modifications to the control sliders.
I still have it as a separate layer but I want to find out what mods I applied so that i can apply the same to another image in order to match it to the first.
When i double-click the layer it only brings up blending options.
Does anyone know how I can kinda "reverse engineer" the effect I applied to see what I did exactly.
Trying to just match it visually is proving to be very difficult.
Thanks

[john beardsworth]

Not sure you can. That's why I always apply SFX to a smart object layer. Then in your case I would just reopen the original image, save its SFX adjustments as preset and apply it to the other image.

[makaphoto]

No, you can't. Even the Protocol in the File Information won't give you the numbers you used. I ran into the same issue several times until I started using Smart Objects.

[FrankG]

Thanks. Looks like I'm out of luck on this file.
I'm not familiar with Smart Objects( although I know that I should be).
Do I have that option from within the plug-in to save it as a SmartObject?

[john beardsworth]

Well, here's your opportunity to get up to speed on them!

What's the starting point? Assuming it's a raw image in Adobe Camera Raw, change ACR's preference to Open as Smart Object. When you open raw files via ACR, you'll see an Open Object button instead of Open. Then in Photoshop, launch SFX.

If you are starting off from a layered Photoshop file, hold down Alt/Option and from the layers palette choose Merge Visible. This creates a new layer, and you can then convert this to a smart object. Then launch SFX.

There are other starting points too.

In any case, the SFX work shows in Photoshop's layers palette as a "smart filter" (screenshot here). You can always double click this smart filter to fine tune your SFX work.

John

[FrankG]

Thanks for this.
I will give it a go next week as soon as I've done the manual/visual work of matching these 2 files (they have to hang next to one another so col /tone matching is important