Thread: How is Nik Silver Efex Pro better than Lightroom for B&W

Originally Posted by wt21

Dang, "website unavailable"

Go to X-Equals website. It's the same guy.

Olli, I have the big box collection and you just reminded that I did.
That's an excellent collection and you can do local adjustments.
$49.99 is a steal and could keep one happy enuff not to need SE.
Thanks...

Actually, they've got a 50% off sale right now, so it's $25. Use the code TURKEY50.

http://x-equals.com/blog/?p=8243

Man, I paid like $79.00 a while age but it's worth every penny.
I completely forgot about this. I never use presets in LR but that might change this evening.

Glad to be of service Don.

Originally Posted by Streetshooter

Man, I paid like $79.00 a while age but it's worth every penny.
I completely forgot about this. I never use presets in LR but that might change this evening.

This looks look a worthwhile investment.

Fora long time I didn't either use presets either, then I downloaded a few that were featured on LR Killer Tips. Overall, I think I still prefer tinkering, especially with NIK products. But there are times when a preset can be just right. Trouble is, I keep forgetting about them...

I suppose you could always start with a preset, then fine-tune in NIK...

Originally Posted by olli

Go to X-Equals website. It's the same guy.

Yes, you are right. I don't use many presets, but for black and white I use these presets to start with:

Cold Storage Film Presets Vol. 1
Cold Storage Film Presets Vol. 2

The presets I referred to are essentially earlier versions of these presets.

Originally Posted by pictor

I was contemplating the purchase of SEP, too, but finally I did not buy it. I have downloaded many free presets for Lightroom by Michael W. Gray which simulate films instead and have never missed SEP or any other comparable program.

Originally Posted by wt21

Dang, "website unavailable"

At the moment the website is available again.

I have been trying Viveza, as I cannot get another trial of SEP.

The control points are really handy, but here's something I didn't realize, unless I'm doing something wrong: the control points are not saved. That is, the edits are final. So, you add two control points, do some adjustments, save it (and Nik closes) and if you want to edit it again, you'd have to start over with the original image, correct? The control points are saved non-destructively? This is perhaps why Ray said his workflow was to make edits, create the jpg and delete the Tif (to preserve disk space), because you can't go back to make adjustments later anyway?

My workflow right now is to keep the RAW in LR, make edits, and create jpgs that I store/file/manage in iPhoto. The idea was if I wanted to make adjustments later, I'd do so in LR, but this seems like I'd have to adjust my workflow.

Not sure if this is good or bad -- I just want to make sure I'm understand the software.

True, you save the file you made in Nik's software and that is that - though you can take that same file and go back into any of their other plugins...but your control points, etc., will not show up...though the image you saved will be as you saved it. I do that all the time. I also save the Tiff files that I consider my "keepers" in LR along with the original DNG file.