B&W Black & White, monotone and sepia

I am experimenting with a trial copy of silver efex pro 2 tonight using pictures I'd originally dismissed straight out of the camera, just to see if this software would make a difference.

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I really like the drama this software can add to your pictures. Can't tell if the pictures are any good as this pc has a poor graphics card, but still, I like what I see here.

Both taken with an e-p2 and oly 17mm lens.
 
Alf, yes I know - a classic scene of women window shopping for their next pair and beautifully done. I really like the tone of the black and white you chose...not too warm but warm enough. Good shot - and one that is out of time...well, not from the 1950s but certainly one that belies the year it was taken.
 
I am experimenting with a trial copy of silver efex pro 2 tonight using pictures I'd originally dismissed straight out of the camera, just to see if this software would make a difference.

I really like the drama this software can add to your pictures. Can't tell if the pictures are any good as this pc has a poor graphics card, but still, I like what I see here.

Both taken with an e-p2 and oly 17mm lens.

The answer is a resounding - yes!!!!! If you were going to delete these two, thank goodness you did not, Karen. The second resounding yes is that the pictures are extremely good. You need a new computer if you've even thought for a moment that the pictures were not good and worth keeping. I'm serious.

I really like both but I love your first. It's superb, Karen, in my not so humble opinion.
 
Thanks BB. I like the first one too. Kept playing with it using elements but not quite getting the picture right. One click in silver efex and I loved it! It was the picture I was looking for that day on the beach. Hmmm I think this software might be a keeper!
 
I agree totally - these are great and Silver Efex Pro is great software. I like the first more than the second just because of more interesting content, but both are very nice. As I think we discussed in a different thread, I have this funny process of really visualizing an image when I shoot it, being horribly disappointed when I first pull up the images from a shoot on the computer (with their default color processing), and then finding what I thought I saw as I process them. Which for me almost always mean in B&W and with Silver Efex Pro. I sometimes play around with the presets as a starting point and sometimes experimenting with a preset that you wouldn't think of takes an image in a surprising direction that works for it. That program is my best friend, at least in terms of software... :)

-Ray
 
Hi Briar. I absolutely love photo one. I posted this on your Flickr, but have since removed the "critical" part.

I admit that at first I thought there was a little too much washed out sky - so that you might use Silver Efex Pro's Control Points to bring back something from the highlights. But the more I look at it, the more I think darkening the top 2/3rds might take away from the overall feeling. I think this is a beautiful photo - it has a strong feeling of "memories" about it.
As the water creates a strong horizontal and affects how your eye moves through the image - scanning left to right. I think vignetting/darkening the left and right edges - via Efex's "Special Effects" Burn Edges tool - would help keep the viewers eye within the frame.

A powerful photo that beckons the eye. I just hope my small suggestion is taken as being constructive only....and with a rather large grain of salt. ;)

Also , love Silver Efex Pro. I don't use it enough these days....thanks for the inspiration! I have a brief for the weekend.....Hmmm...
 
Hi, with constructive criticism like that, how could I complain?! Thanks for your positive comments. I was feeling daring when I washed out the sky (and the hills across the water) but it seemed to me after I had done it that less was actually more. My little bird was getting lost when there was too much detail distracting the eye, so I just blatted it out to give the little fellow a chance to shine.
 
Ya know...there's the same image posted at Flickr... I posted on it there but here it looks better.
I really like this. It has a sense of drawing the viewer in to the scene. It makes you want to explore more than what is presented in the image....
Good job with this ....
 
Ya know...there's the same image posted at Flickr... I posted on it there but here it looks better.
I really like this. It has a sense of drawing the viewer in to the scene. It makes you want to explore more than what is presented in the image....
Good job with this ....

Couldn't have said it better myself!!!

You're certainly getting the hang of SEP, Briar. So do you think you'll take the plunge on the full-version?
 
So do you think you'll take the plunge on the full-version?

Oh I think its a keeper. Not sure I would buy the complete package though ... I've just downloaded a trial of colour efex on BB's recommendation.
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This is Buachaille Etive Mor, at the start of Glencoe. Captured with my e-pl1 last summer. I think it was the oly 9-18mm lens, guessing by the wide angle.
 
Karen - I looked through your Flickr stream and it looks like you've been going back and reprocessing a number of old photos with the software. i don't know what they looked like before, but they look incredible as you're processing them. Really great stuff, this one and several others as well. You have a much better handle on that software than I did when I was first trying it out. As Don said, once you really master it you're gonna be dangerous!

-Ray
 
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