Gerry M
Gerry
If this topic has been beaten to death, my apologies. I am curious about the learning curve with this software. I used PS CS2 for a while, and abandoned it in favor of PS E7. This for color only. My post processing is very basic. Having said that, how steep is the learning curve with SEP2? For b&w, I have been using film, and use hybrid process and/or conventional darkroom. Boiling it down, if the time to learn the software is too involved, maybe I would be better staying with film? I'm asking this because I have seen some very excellent digital conversions on RFF. Thanks for any input.
Gerry
Gerry
david.elliott
Well-known
It takes 15 minutes to figure it out. And they have videos showing many of the features on their website.
peterm1
Veteran
Its very intuitive software. The way all Nik software is laid out makes it easy to try different effects and see how they look in real time, before applying them.
ChrisN
Striving
It is not non-destructive editing (that means the changes you make are written permanently to the image file). So you might like to always make copies to work on in SEP2.
Also, for Lightroom users, be aware that there is a bug in the way that SEP2 handles keywords in the image file, and it scrambles them. If you use Lightroom and have a good keyword hierarchy worked out, beware of importing files that SEP2 has worked on. The work-around is to export a copy from Lightroom with the keywords stripped from the file (see the export dialog) then work it in SEP2, then reimport the worked file and reassign keywords as needed.
Also, for Lightroom users, be aware that there is a bug in the way that SEP2 handles keywords in the image file, and it scrambles them. If you use Lightroom and have a good keyword hierarchy worked out, beware of importing files that SEP2 has worked on. The work-around is to export a copy from Lightroom with the keywords stripped from the file (see the export dialog) then work it in SEP2, then reimport the worked file and reassign keywords as needed.
v_roma
Well-known
Not to highjack the thread but I was wondering if anyone could compare Silver FX Pro with Viveza. I have Viveza and I'm trying to figure out if it's worth getting Silver FX Pro. It seems to me that, other than grain and presets, if you start with a grayscale image, you could do same thing you do with Silver FX Pro using Viveza. Or is there something different (better?) about Silver FX Pro's algorithms for B&W images?
Thanks!
Thanks!
back alley
IMAGES
is it stand alone software or does it need to work in concert with other software?
v_roma
Well-known
mathomas
Well-known
Same for Aperture
. I have learned to only apply keywords after I've done my SEP2 work. Have yet to get around to cleaning up my keywords. It's a real mess.That being said, SEP2 is super-easy to learn and pretty quick to get really great results. I bring flat grayscale film scans into it and bring them to life there. Great stuff!
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gshybrid
Well-known
In PS5 you can apply it as a separate layer leaving your original unaltered. The resulting files are a bit larger though.
lewis44
Well-known
Here is an image shot using Kodak BW400CN that was processed using Silver Efex.
You won't get this look any other way.
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You won't get this look any other way.
">lewis44
Well-known
This one from My M8, Silver Efex Processed.
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">Matus
Well-known
looks nice on the screen - very dramatic. But how is 5x7" or 8x10" print?
EDIT: I mean the Kodak shot
EDIT: I mean the Kodak shot
lewis44
Well-known
Prints out quite nicely on an inkjet.
I've gone up to 8x12 on 11x17 paper and it holds well.
Gerry M
Gerry
Randy,
Your two , above, posted images are one of the reasons that I am seriously considering SEP2. Great job and thanks for the examples.
Gerry
Your two , above, posted images are one of the reasons that I am seriously considering SEP2. Great job and thanks for the examples.
Gerry
lewis44
Well-known
Gerry,
You might want to find a copy of Silver Efex Pro, 1st version.
Unless you have Photoshop CS5 and a really good graphics card, version 2 is not a big change.
I tried the new version using CS3 and the new one seemed slower.
Should be cheaper as well.
Just a thought
whitecat
Lone Range(find)er
They have a trial to download and try. I just love the plugin. Love that second shot, Lewis.
ChrisN
Striving
Actually you can run it as a standalone, but it doesn't have a file-open dialog. You can create a desktop shortcut for the executable, then drag-and -drop image files onto the icon to make them open in SEP2.
But yes - easier to run it from a host program. I usually have SEP2 open a file after exporting an image copy to a separate folder. (The export dialog has a setting for an after-export action.)
pachuco
El ****
SEP is super easy to use, you will have no problems figuring it out! If it were not for SEP I could not have made the leap to digital, it is essential to my workflow these days.
R