Does anybody use Silver Efex / Viveza 2?

[iphonedyou]

Well hello there!

I shoot RAW with a Sony NEX-3, and particularly like shooting black and white. I'm going to New York in November and am buying Lightroom 3 (OS X) as I really need a decent RAW manager / editer, and having trialled it, it suits me perfectly.

Has anybody tried these two pieces of software from Nik Software? I'm particularly interested in Silver Efex 2 - it really seems the business for shooting in black and white. Before I commit to the (admittedly educationally priced) purchase, I'd appreciate some real world feedback on both pieces of software. Viveza 2 appeals because it would be nice to have a bit more control over my colour photographs, though in all honesty, 80% go straight to black and white!

Thanks

[andy-xr]

I have both, don't use either a massive amount but they're handy for a quick conversion thats going to look good at the click of a button.

Same old thing with filters though, left in default and they're the same as anyone else's, and this one in particular is 'a bit Flickr' if you know what I mean. If you use the control points on them (not recommended with SEP) then you can get some interesting effects

[londonagent]

I've just started using SilverEfex and I like the control it gives you. The presets are a good starting point for a B&W image, which you can then change. I'm only just scratching the surface with it at the moment but already I am pleased with the results.
Example of a LE using a B&W110 filter then converted to B&W using SFX:


Battersea Power Station by iainsr, on Flickr

[gingerpaul]

I've used them a bit. Their control point system is great if you don't want to tweek the whole image to fix a bit of underexposure for example. I realise you can do this with masks but to be able to do it in one hit is very useful. I'm pretty sure there's nothing there you couldn't do with Photoshop but to be able to jump in quickly and in 2 minutes have the picture you had in your head is great. That said I think they're quite expensive for what they are.

If you want me to run a couple of images through for you so you can see the end results I'm happy to do it for you.

That's a great picture by the way londonagent.

[iphonedyou]

Hi all,

Thanks very much for the responses - and in particular londonagent for the sample (stunning!), and Paul for the very kind offer! I couldn't possibly ask that of you, but the offer is very much appreciated!

Andy - by 'a bit Flickr' do you mean sort of, 'obvious' in their effect?

I do quite like the fact it only takes a little time. I think my camera is quite good, and I'm happy with my lenses, but I'm no wannabee pro. I just want to take slightly better than average pictures, especially for this trip! And I'm not particularly good at Photoshop, so I suppose this is a bit of a cheat really!

I think you have convinced me to go with Silver Efex. Perhaps I'll forego Viveza 2 for now.

[andy-xr]

iphonedyou said:

Hi all,



Andy - by 'a bit Flickr' do you mean sort of, 'obvious' in their effect?
.

I find the photography on Flickr has it's own style in a lot of cases, and you tend to see trends with it, especially with filters and effects. Cross process especially

[gingerpaul]

Here's a quick example of what you can do in a couple of minutes with Silver Efex.



It started off as this fairly unremarkable image.



It rescued a fairly "meh" snap and turned it into something worth keeping, even if it isn't particularly amazing. The only processing was done in Silver Efex.

I mentioned it in my previous post but the best thing about this software is the control points. I've used two of them to replicate having some lighting on the faces. I think it has made a huge difference to the image as all that detail was lost in the original.

[RobDickinson]

I used to use silver efex in photoshop.

I've stopped now mostly, because it always creates a new finished layer with no recording of how you created it (unless you manually save the settings for each conversion).

nice quick results, but not a way I want to work when I come back to an image later.

[gingerpaul]

RobDickinson said:

I used to use silver efex in photoshop.

I've stopped now mostly, because it always creates a new finished layer with no recording of how you created it (unless you manually save the settings for each conversion).

nice quick results, but not a way I want to work when I come back to an image later.

That is a very good point. It's a fairly large omission. Are other plugins able to do this or is there a limitation in the way the files are saved? I've must admit I've never noticed.

[iphonedyou]

Paul - thanks for that, your image really illustrated just what can be done. The lighting on the face makes a big difference!

I'm going to get Silver Efex I appreciate the point about there being no recording, but as a purely amateur photographer that doesn't revisit images with a view to further editing, it hopefully won't be a problem. Many thanks for all of the informed input everybody