Master the art of black and white photography with the most comprehensive range of darkroom-inspired controls to help you create stunning monochrome images.
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The only disadvantage I can see in working with Capture One Pro compared with Lightroom is the way it controls only 6 color channels instead of the 8 offered by Lightroom (I haven't tried the latest release, which is 11, but I hope they have considered this). Nik Silver Efex. All X100s & via Capture One Pro = Lightroom = Silver Efex Pro 2 = Lightroom (RAW conversion to a reasonably flat image then imported to Lightroom & sent straight to Silver Efex for push process +3 Agfa APX Pro & light coffee toning and finally back to lightroom for exposure, dodge / burn, contrast, etc, and final vignetting). The Silver Efex Pro interface is clearly easier to use than Capture NX's Side-Note: Color Efex Pro 3.0 for Capture NX 2 It would not be a complete comparison to not at least acknowledge the fact that Nik Software does offer its Color Efex Pro 3.0 plug-in suite for Capture NX 2.
UNIQUE ALGORITHMS FOR BETTER RESULTS
To create great black and white photos you need more than a simple desaturation tool to remove the color from an image. Silver Efex Pro is the most advanced black-and-white photo plugin you’ll ever use. With its unique algorithms and an array of tools and adjustments for changes like brightness, contrast, and amplifying whites, you get total control of your digital darkroom. Silver Efex Pro’s advanced Grain Engine produces lifelike recreations of classic black-and-white film with superb levels of accuracy.
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Silver Efex Pro 2 Manual
20 Legendary Films
Silver Efex Pro includes an exclusive range of filters and effects that can emulate the look of classic film emulsions like Kodak Tri-X 400, Ilford Delta 100, and Fuji Neopan. With Silver Efex Pro’s unique range of custom presets, you can manipulate the grain structure of your images and the contrast characteristics to accurately reproduce some of the world’s most iconic black-and-white films.
Designed for ultimate precision
Silver Efex pro includes Nik Collection’s exclusive U Point technology that lets you make adjustments exactly where you want them using Control Points. With U POINT you can boost or reduce contrast, tweak brightness, and apply structure to the smallest zones of your photos with absolute precision!
The most powerful suite of 8 photo plugins offering almost 200 high-quality creative effects as well as a range of innovative image-editing tools, all available with a single click while giving you non-destructive editing for total control.
Lifetime license no subscription
including the 8 plugins
I recently tried to handle a rather extreme lighting situation using HDR. The results I got from Adobe Lightroom CC and Silver Efex Pro 2 would look and work good for posting online, but there is no way the image could be printed. Some of the details totally fell apart. Based on what I’ve been doing with Capture One Pro 8.3.3, I decided to give it a try, and found an exposure with some of the highlights intact, but no real shadow detail.
HDR image created using Lightroom CC and converted to B&W in Silver Efex Pro 2
While the above image, which is an HDR created with Adobe Lightroom CC looks really good on the web, there is no way I can print it. The next image is the wooden board on the bottom of the window slit on the left. Pay close attention to the corner of the board closest to the camera.
Lightroom CC HDR showing digital degradation – Click on to view at 100%
Same section of the image, when processed in Capture One Pro 8.3.3 – Click on to view at 100%
The weird digital degradation that is so prevalent in the Lightroom CC HDR image, is nowhere to be seen in the second image. Yet if anything there is better detail.
Photograph before editing in Capture One Pro 8.3.3
Silver Efex Pro Capture One Free
Finished photograph, done using Capture One Pro 8.3.3 and Silver Efex Pro 2
Yes, the same effect can be achieved using Lightroom or ACR, but as mentioned in my previous post on Capture One, neither Lightroom or ACR are as good at handling shadow detail. Though in the case of the following two shots, the LR version seems noticeably sharper, which might help to account for some of the noise.
Silver Efex Pro Vs Capture One
Lower Right-Hand Corner, Capture One – Click to view at 100%
Silver Efex Pro 2 Capture One
Lower Right-Hand Corner, Lightroom CC – Click to view at 100%