The Real Silver Effex Thread and Gallery is now online.

[Streetshooter]

Please post your Silver Effex images on this thread and the new gallery. It would be nice to explain your PP so others may learn and enjoy the process.

I have started a new gallery for this thread.
The Real Silver Effex Gallery - SeriousCompacts.com Gallery

Please post images up there.
Thanks, shooter

[BBW]

Great idea Don, let's share the wealth of knowledge and experience along with the photographic images.

Now for those of us who have Silver Efex 2 - if we think of it, it is possible to copy and save one's history of edits. I did it the other day...but I haven't figured out a real system for this sort of thing. Often, but not always, I use keyword to remind myself of what I did. Most of the time I start off with my DNG file and add a touch of clarity...but not always, then go into Color Efex before I hit Silver Efex. I will try to put up some examples for which I remember more details.

[ajramirez]

Every single B&W conversion I have done since Fall 2010 has been with Silver Efex. It is a fantastic piece of software.

These are my latest conversions:










The clutches and fans were hand painted by my wife. She asked if I would take some photographs that she could use for documentation and promotional purposes. The photos were taken in a stairwell at the premises of the Puerto Rico Museum of Contemporary Art, using my Canon EOS 50D (sorry, not compact) and 17-40mm 4.0L lens. The photographs were processed as follows:

1. RAW files were converted with Adobe Camera Raw and opened in Photoshop CS5.

2. A curves adjustment layer was applied to add some contrast.

3. Silver Efex was opened as an Adjustment Layer. I used the High Structure preset and sepia toning. On some of the shots adjustment points were used to lighten shadows or tame highlights.

4. A mask was painted on the Silver Efex layer to allow for the selective color of the clutches and fans.

5. Finally, the file was sharpened using Unsharp Mask.

My wife was very pleased with the results.

Cheers,

Antonio

[christilou]

This is a great idea! Unfortunately Siver Effex is pretty expensive in the UK (isn't everything!)

[Streetshooter]

Antonio,
Thanks for posting your images and workflow.
The images pop and it's easy to see why the Mrs. is happy. They look great. Very good marketing idea with the way you processed.

[BBW]

I'm with your wife - and Don - really smart idea to show off the colors and artistry of your wife's creations. I'm sure that the location of the shots will be a big plus too and hope that it's mentioned in her advertisements, etc. Maybe the museum will even carry them in their gift store!

Your workflow is beyond my capabilities - no Photoshop, as you know, for me, however I really do appreciate reading the details. It helps me to understand the effort that goes into images like these.

[Amin Sabet]

I just started using SE Pro, and so far I like it. Here's a recent shot of my son processed using the 'Fine Art High Key Framed' preset:



Original image for comparison:

[Streetshooter]

That's a nice gentle conversion Amin.
I like the way the tones and contrast are in the B&W.
Welcome to the SEP club.

There are free webinars that are very interesting.

[Andrewteee]

I like it Amin.

[BBW]

You already know how much I liked it when I spied it on Flickr. Once you've tasted of SEP2, it's pretty difficult to ever go back... Well, it was for me.