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The magic of Silver Efex Pro

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Here is the "before Silver Efex" image.

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Well it was nice as it was, and a fraction better with a tiny bit more contrast. Where the transformational 'magic' is I don't know. Although I use Silver Efex Pro all the time such minimal changes can be easily done in Lightroom or Photoshop. But a very nice photograph whatever the result 👍

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13 hours ago, albert said:

I was happy with the original but was pressured to de-flatten it. Thank you for your comments. 

You did the right thing, good photographs are not just about the subject but the presentation. You have some terrific textures to work with and it would have been a shame to not go the final mile. 

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  • 3 years later...

Is there a simple explanation what Silver Efex is then more capable to do in 2025 that LrC is able to do anyway with a colour image converted to b&w. We have all the colour sliders available in the b&w module in LrC (in its development module).

My actual question that I have in the back of my head: Is it worth to buy the NIC package? Or is it just a pain in the neck?

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1 hour ago, M11 for me said:

LrC is able to do anyway

Of course you can get as good a conversion in LR alone. Over the time I have been using LR the b&w conversion features have been significantly developed.

For me, the many NIK presets are a quick way of seeing what gives the 'best' result depending on what you are trying to create (contrasty, high or low key, high structure etc)  It also has film simulation presets but I have never used them. The fine controls allow for tweaking but I am sure exactly the same could be produced in LR. 

Bottom line, if you work just in LR you will get great results. You might find this useful, but LR have further developed the software since Jeff Schewe did this

 

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1 hour ago, M11 for me said:

Is there a simple explanation what Silver Efex is then more capable to do in 2025 that LrC is able to do anyway with a colour image converted to b&w. We have all the colour sliders available in the b&w module in LrC (in its development module).

My actual question that I have in the back of my head: Is it worth to buy the NIC package? Or is it just a pain in the neck?

Photoshop and Lightroom have a deep structure for photo editing that can be scary, and even after 20 years or more I still only use the simple 'darkroom' based tools in Photoshop and little of the other functions because I don't really need them (yes nobody needs to learn all of Photoshop, only the bits you use). But the Nik package in Silver Efex takes all that ability in Photoshop/Lightroom and makes it easy by giving you sliders for almost everything you need without having to create layers and such stuff in Photoshop/Lightroom. So maybe you want to increase mid tone brightness, easy just use the slider, or you want to increase the 'structure' (micro contrast) do it for all or just say limit it to the shadows. That is only scratching the surface, but it can be as simple as you like by using one of the many presets, or using a preset as a jumping off point, or just free forming adjustments from the image you import. When you want to make it the final image you export it back to Photoshop or Lightroom to flatten the many background layers it has created and then maybe do some re-sizing etc.

And with the Nik Collection is Color Efex, an equally powerful editing package of tools and presets. Basically it's making your Lightroom or Photoshop understandable and very easy to use when it comes to more complicated tasks that you may normally have avoided because of the 'deep tutorials' you once needed to make it happen; like applying a specific film look from the presets or applying or removing lens vignette, etc.

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Thank you for both comments and the interesting Youtube video.

A pro and a cons view.

I decided to instal a test version as a plugin of Nik Software on my Mac. I really have to find out . . .

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18 hours ago, M11 for me said:

Is it worth to buy the NIC package? Or is it just a pain in the neck?

OR just download the free [older] version, can probably still find the download links via google search 

 

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21 minutes ago, frame-it said:

OR just download the free [older] version, can probably still find the download links via google search 

 

For how I use SilverEfex the original (free) version is fine.  However I've upgraded to the paid version because the original does not play nicely with my 4K monitor. As Steve (250swb) points out above there are many tools in SilverEfex that are not present in Lightroom (or C1).  I find them useful so have been using the program since I purchased my M9M, which Leica bundled with SilverEfex.

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Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

I am just playing around. Never got this with LrC alone. I am thrilled. 

Look at the details of the birch tree. And the flowers in the right corner that are getting withered now. In Lightroom ist hard to make then stand out as they do here.

It say first testing day. If I had to decide today I would say: Go for it.

Do not judge the content of the image or the perspective. It's just a quick shot out of the window. But to play around with Siver Efex it turned out to be ideal.

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