Silver Efex Pro 2 advice

[IWC Doppel]

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Well I bought the collection and so far so good. Lots of video's and experimentation today. A few questions :

 

1. Can I go back to the SEFP2 plug in and carry on where I left off, I can only seem to recreate another image and start again from that point, when I move between LR 4 and SEP2

2. When I go back into LR4 it seems as though some information is lost, I cannot adjust the colour channels in a raw image when I am back after adjusting in SEFP2

3. Any guidance regarding workflow and advantages between certain activities best done in LR and best done in SEFP2

 

Many thanks

[AndyMc]

I think that using from within ps is more flexible as it uses smart layers...

 

No experience of LR 4 other than similar findings to you

 

A

 

 

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[sanyasi]

I am not totally sure, but I think Lightroom saves the file as a grayscale rather than RGB file, which means the color information is gone. So if you reopen the file in LR, it has no color information (assuming I am correct).

 

Photoshop is the better launch pad for LR because, as noted, you can use it as a smart filter.

[250swb]

Lightroom definitely shouldn't be saving the file as a Greyscale image. It goes into Efex as an RGB and should come out and be saved as an RGB. It can after all have colour information still in the file, such as toning or selective colour.

 

But yes, you need Photoshop and its Smart Filters to re-edit colour information a second time. Using SEFEX without it being a Smart Filter you (for want of a better description) 'use up' to colour information from the three separate RGB channels. So if you decide you want a red filtered sky instead of a yellow filtered sky you can't go back and change that element of the post processing to make the blue sky darker.

 

If you are using Lightroom I would size and save a copy of your colour image as the first stage in your post processing. Keep the original untouched. Make the copy a 16bit TIFF. Also do any spotting or image corrections in Lightroom at this stage. Then open Silver Efex and treat it as the main processing software. Apply any changes you want, from simple contrast and filters to vignetting and toning, then go back into Lightroom for sharpening. Keep it as a RGB 16 bit file and make any JPEG copies for web posting from this.

 

Steve

[jaapv]

I find it is inconvenient that SEP is a destructive step in the LR workflow.

[AndyMc]

Nik has had some quirky features along the way. As a Ps addition it works well.

If you save as a tiff, display in Lr and the if you want to re edit export an original version it should retain your layers?

 

Worth a test?

 

A

 

 

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[IWC Doppel]

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I only use LR and will try to get a workflow where I do as little destructive work as possible when transferring to SEP2 and back again. I also noticed that the Color equivalent is split into filters and adjustments seperately, which seems a little annoying. I have not tried Color Efex Pro 4 and Viveza on one image yet.

[Jeff S]

I played with Efex a while back, and decided to keep things simple instead, i.e., mostly LR, with an occasional trip to PS. I do better when trying to master a few tools, rather than expanding the toolset, especially if I can get to where I want, which I can. YMMV.

 

Jeff

[IWC Doppel]

Jeff, hi

 

I have seen a lot of good work using control points and find the spot brush a little clumsy in LR by comparison for selective work, so far so good with some of the work I have been able to achieve with Silver Efex Pro 2 over the bank holiday. I hope to settle on a workflow that is easy and straughtforward. At the moment I go from camera to LR to print and have proactively avoided PS.

 

I am also very keen not to produce processed 'HDR' like images that to me look more style than substance

 

IWC

[Jeff S]

Thanks...whatever works for you is key...different strokes and all that.

 

I rarely need to go to PS anymore, since recent LR iterations have greatly improved.

 

HDR? No interest whatsoever.

 

Jeff

[IWC Doppel]

I did a couple of developments in SEFP2 and just LR, quite similar, surprisingly so, but I am a little happier with the SEFP2 (the second version). However I might have overdone the contrast at the expense of tone !?

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[Jeff S]

Personal choice, but version one could easily have been adjusted in LR to match second version, or countless other versions. Whatever works for you.

 

Jeff

[sanyasi]

Lightroom definitely shouldn't be saving the file as a Greyscale image. It goes into Efex as an RGB and should come out and be saved as an RGB. It can after all have colour information still in the file, such as toning or selective colour.

 

Steve

 

You are technically correct. I launched a color file from LR to Silver Efex. The color information is clearly there on launch. But when you save it in Silver Efex and then relaunch the file from LR to Silver Efex, the color information is gone--at least the color filters have no impact. Moreover, when the file is re edited in LR after first being edited in Silver Efex, LR's hue, saturation and luminance controls have no further effect.

 

I then launched the file that was edited in Silver Efex from LR into Photoshop CS6. Image\Mode reports the file as RGB. However, the behavior is equivalent to grayscale, at least on this score.

 

I find this behavior very odd. If the file is still RGB, why is the color information gone. I understand that if I put a border on the image in Silver Efex and save the file, I can't eliminate the border by reediting in Silver Efex, but I don't see why Silver Efex is destructive with respect to color information if it is saving the file in RGB format. It would make sense if the color information reflected the alterations I made in Silver Efex using its color filters.

 

In any event, this makes an even stronger case for using Photoshop as as the launch pad.

[Guest tanks]

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In any event, this makes an even stronger case for using Photoshop as as the launch pad.

 

Exactly, another reason why my workflow is Photo Mechanic 5 -> ACR -> PS CS6