Silver Efex Pro Review
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This page is just for Silver Efex Pro. I have a full Nik Review up here on the site too
Nik Silver Efex Pro
Wow this thing is cool. Those of you that are regular readers to the blog know that I don’t do a lot of Black & White photography. I have nothing at all against it… I see things in a very vibrant and alive way, and I’ve spent a long time perfecting a technique that helps bring this to photographic reality. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate a good B&W pick. Often times, the default B&W conversion in Photoshop can just be… well, boring. And predictable. Sometimes I take something and convert it to B&W and then look at it and think, “Yeah, well, that’s how I kinda thought it would look”.
So, I reluctantly tried Silver Efex Pro, because I expected it to be a slightly improved version of what Photoshop can do — but I was wrong! This is very fun to use and you can get a wide variety of looks. Frankly, I really like the Holga and Pinhole settings on the left, and then tweaking it further on the right. There are many many wonderful options here that can really make a B&W image “alive” and pop off a page.
I have since talked to the rep from Nik and he tells me that they used a bunch of classic B&W shots to make sure they could get all those as presets. It’s very fun and you’ll see something immediately!
Below, I have put several screenshots of the things I have done with the product, so you can begin to get an idea.
Silver Efex Pro enables you to make a choice on the left to give you a basic look, then you can really make it unique on the right.
The Antique Photo treatment sounds like a gimmick. But it came out fairly amazing, don’t ya think?
The Holga and Pinhole treatments are two of my favorites.
This shot from Argentina I was able to customize with an icy blue tint.
Silver Efex’s B&W options can enable some cool results
When it comes to Vignette, the “Stylizing” dropdown has a ton of very easy-to-use options
Sometimes Silver Efex Pro can help remind you that some photos are more about shape and line than color
Any questions about the nature of these reviews? Visit my Ethics Statement. It’s all quite simple!
I love Silver Efex Pro and have been using it for a while. coming from the old school of B&W training I loved developing my own B&W, and this plug in is as legit (and easier) than working in the dark room! If you get only one… get this one.
[...] Silver Efex Pro Review [...]
Hi Trey
I also use this tool and like yourself I have always veered from B&W photography just because we all know what it will look like. However, since i found this little baby its changed my hole perspective of B&W. I tend to hdr everythig i do in colour then run them images through Siver Effex Pro. I use the High Structure style then tweak it a little. All in all i have to agree this is a worthy tool, and i cant recommend it highly enough.
[...] Silver Efex Pro Review [...]
Thank you for the review. I love both b&w and color and, like one of the previous comments, love the ease of use in the computer rather than chemicals in the darkroom, for b&w effects. i will definitely try Nik’s Silver … Another simple, inexpensive program with some cool effects but with less controls was developed from an iphone app for the computer, CameraBag. i would like to see your review of it some time as well. nice to have these kind of reviews from someone in the field. thanks again.
[...] Silver Efex Pro Review [...]
[...] Trey Ratcliff hyllar detta plugin och i hans recension av det hela så visar han på ett utmärkt sätt hur bra det fungerar ihop med HDR-bilder, som är [...]
[...] Shot In my few workshops, I always take time to show off this tool. If you want to see more, see my Silver Efex Pro Review here on the site. For those of you that have tried it before, then I probably don’t even need [...]
[...] Shot In my few workshops, I always take time to show off this tool. If you want to see more, see my Silver Efex Pro Review here on the site. For those of you that have tried it before, then I probably don’t even need [...]
[...] Shot In my few workshops, I always take time to show off this tool. If you want to see more, see my Silver Efex Pro Review here on the site. For those of you that have tried it before, then I probably don’t even need [...]