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03/07/2011 01:31:13 AM · #101 |
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
I'm getting several comments that some of my shots don't "need" the ragged borders. I'll agree with that, "need" is not an issue. But back in the day I used print with the film borders intact, largely because I felt uncomfortable with the enforced linearity of perfectly rectangular prints. I'm enjoying playing with these delightfully random border shapes, because they are taking my images out of the tightly-controlled boxes I used to have to store them in.
R. |
I am digging the border options a lot. Takes me back to darkroom days with sheet film, too. |
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03/07/2011 07:23:31 AM · #102 |
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03/07/2011 07:50:24 AM · #103 |
Nik Software seem to be taking a while to get back to me...
Any of you able to help me?:
I have downloaded the free 15 day trial cersion of Silver Efex Pro 2. It said everything was installed correctly. When I have an image open in Photoshop CS3 and I choose filter>Niksoftware>Silver Efex it opens Silver Efex for about 1 hundredth of a second and then closes everything and closes Photoshop. I cant get into it at all to test it on images.
I have downloaded it twice now. Uninstalled after the first download but it is still giving me the same problem of closing everything when I try edit the photo in Silver Efex
Message edited by author 2011-03-07 07:52:30. |
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03/07/2011 07:57:15 AM · #104 |
Originally posted by Silent-Shooter:
Nik Software seem to be taking a while to get back to me...
Any of you able to help me?:
I have downloaded the free 15 day trial cersion of Silver Efex Pro 2. It said everything was installed correctly. When I have an image open in Photoshop CS3 and I choose filter>Niksoftware>Silver Efex it opens Silver Efex for about 1 hundredth of a second and then closes everything and closes Photoshop. I cant get into it at all to test it on images.
I have downloaded it twice now. Uninstalled after the first download but it is still giving me the same problem of closing everything when I try edit the photo in Silver Efex |
dumb question -- forgive me. Have you restarted your computer? Sometimes that makes a difference. |
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03/07/2011 09:18:05 AM · #105 |
Originally posted by vawendy:
Originally posted by Silent-Shooter:
Nik Software seem to be taking a while to get back to me...
Any of you able to help me?:
I have downloaded the free 15 day trial cersion of Silver Efex Pro 2. It said everything was installed correctly. When I have an image open in Photoshop CS3 and I choose filter>Niksoftware>Silver Efex it opens Silver Efex for about 1 hundredth of a second and then closes everything and closes Photoshop. I cant get into it at all to test it on images.
I have downloaded it twice now. Uninstalled after the first download but it is still giving me the same problem of closing everything when I try edit the photo in Silver Efex |
dumb question -- forgive me. Have you restarted your computer? Sometimes that makes a difference. |
Many times... (but it was a question worth asking) |
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03/07/2011 09:21:13 AM · #106 |
Originally posted by Silent-Shooter:
Originally posted by vawendy:
Originally posted by Silent-Shooter:
Nik Software seem to be taking a while to get back to me...
Any of you able to help me?:
I have downloaded the free 15 day trial cersion of Silver Efex Pro 2. It said everything was installed correctly. When I have an image open in Photoshop CS3 and I choose filter>Niksoftware>Silver Efex it opens Silver Efex for about 1 hundredth of a second and then closes everything and closes Photoshop. I cant get into it at all to test it on images.
I have downloaded it twice now. Uninstalled after the first download but it is still giving me the same problem of closing everything when I try edit the photo in Silver Efex |
dumb question -- forgive me. Have you restarted your computer? Sometimes that makes a difference. |
Many times... (but it was a question worth asking) |
4 Gb of RAM? |
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03/07/2011 09:22:56 AM · #107 |
Originally posted by hahn23:
4 Gb of RAM? |
Isn't it 2gig minimum, 4gig preferred? |
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03/07/2011 09:53:30 AM · #108 |
Originally posted by hahn23:
4 Gb of RAM? |
I have 9 Gb apparently |
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03/07/2011 09:56:26 AM · #109 |
Originally posted by gcoulson:
Originally posted by hahn23:
4 Gb of RAM? |
Isn't it 2gig minimum, 4gig preferred? |
Yes, you are correct. But, are other apps open? There is a finite limit to how many balls can be juggled at one time. When I have problems with image editing apps, I'll find I have Aperture, PSE8, Firefox, Safari, Spreadsheet, Word processing, Address book, Itunes and several other apps running. I take a quick look at iStatPro which shows Memory use (Wired, Active, Inactive, Free). Usually, there is a high correlation between a crash/freeze and the exhaustion of Free memory available. I have 7 Gb of RAM. It wasn't a constraint until I started using Nik's HDR Efex Pro and SEP2. I just need to either get more RAM or quit being lazy about trying to keep too many apps open at one time. |
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03/07/2011 10:12:18 AM · #110 |
| Oh dear, that disturbs me Richard. I was hoping to treat myself to the Nik software suite. I only have a laptop with 2GB RAM, and was planning on upgrading to 4GB. Hopefully that would be sufficient! |
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03/07/2011 10:19:15 AM · #111 |
Originally posted by gcoulson:
Oh dear, that disturbs me Richard. I was hoping to treat myself to the Nik software suite. I only have a laptop with 2GB RAM, and was planning on upgrading to 4GB. Hopefully that would be sufficient! |
You should be okay with 4GB. Just don't be a lazy person, like me, trying to keep too many other apps open. There is one more concern. Sometimes, new releases of software have memory leakage issues, which are subseequently fixed in v.2. I have zero evidence of this happening with NIK software. Just circumstantial.... |
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03/07/2011 10:27:26 AM · #112 |
| BTW...I'm curious what is more important, more RAM or a better video card? |
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03/07/2011 10:31:14 AM · #113 |
Originally posted by gcoulson:
BTW...I'm curious what is more important, more RAM or a better video card? |
More RAM. And 4GB should be fine, it's what I have and I have no issues.
R. |
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03/07/2011 10:32:38 AM · #114 |
BTW, I just noticed that one of the SEP 2.0 bordered images in the Free Study has a "This image has been validated" stamp, so I guess that means this feature has passed muster.
R. |
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03/07/2011 04:50:58 PM · #115 |
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03/07/2011 05:56:15 PM · #116 |
Ran this one through HDR Efex Pro, lightly, then into Silver Efex Pro with my supergrain, lomo-style preset, then SEP layer set twice, once for color and once for luminosity, and then the color layer faded to 72% to allow some of the color to leach back in for an old-school, colorized look. |
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03/08/2011 03:02:18 PM · #117 |
Here's another where I used SEP 2.0 in a color image: again set in luminosity mode on one layer and color mode on another layer. The image was first processed in HDR Efex, then in Silver Efex 2.0 for the soft contrast feature and to "bloom" the blacks, plus the very customizable edge burning and the border. The luminosity layer was left at 100%, and the color layer was dropped backto about 20%, which had the effect of muting the exaggerated color that came from HDR Efex...
R. |
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03/09/2011 10:53:33 PM · #118 |
  
Some questions for you Nik folks... though not necessarily about Silver Efex (which I will upgrade soon, I promise!).
I'm finding I like Nik's HDR software. Lots of different preset options. I tried both Photomatix and Nik - probably very different settings on each - and while I do like the newish Photomatix a lot better than the oldish version, I'm thinking I may want the Nik HDR software.
Which leads me to my questions:
1) of the rest of the suite, will I be just as impressed, or do I just need HDR and Silver Efex? In other words, anyone use and love DFine or the Color Efex software?
2) How do you use the software from within Lightroom instead of within Photoshop? To get the LR bundle is a lot cheaper than the Photoshop bundle - what am I giving up?
Thanks for any input! |
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03/09/2011 10:59:54 PM · #119 |
Deb I do use Color Efex frequently, as well as DFine. Many of the Color Efex presets can be done manually in PS, it's just MUCH easier, and you have the power of control points. If you already have a noise reduction software, you may prefer Viveza 2 over DFine and/or Color Efex. I find it to be very useful. For me: LR for crop, white balance, exposure...Viveza 2 for improving the light, etc., maybe Color Efex, then Silver Efex 2, then CS4 for soft light blending and sharpening.
ETA: No masking in Lightroom plugins.
Message edited by author 2011-03-09 23:01:53. |
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03/09/2011 11:05:50 PM · #120 |
Good input. I have a very old, decrepit copy of Neat Image that I use VERY infrequently, and with a sledgehammer approach which results in sort of gooey mud. I may download the trial of DFine and see if I can at least finesse it a bit.
Good point about no masks in LR, but I don't know the last time I've used a mask. Maybe three or four years ago? Perhaps I should learn? :-) |
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03/09/2011 11:13:22 PM · #121 |
Originally posted by Melethia:
Good input. I have a very old, decrepit copy of Neat Image that I use VERY infrequently, and with a sledgehammer approach which results in sort of gooey mud. I may download the trial of DFine and see if I can at least finesse it a bit.
Good point about no masks in LR, but I don't know the last time I've used a mask. Maybe three or four years ago? Perhaps I should learn? :-) |
To be honest, I rarely use masks because of the control points (built in masks) with Nik images; however, you can't fade the effect if desired in LR as in Photoshop. DFine is good. |
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03/10/2011 12:05:28 AM · #122 |
| Deb, you would love Color Efex, many many options available in that suite, I particularly like the color contrast filter. That was the first Nik plugin I got. I second Ben's comments about Viveza. It's really a very useful tool. I find I do nearly all my editing with the Nik plugins these days. I don't really use Dfine, prefer Topaz DeNoise Give the others a try, I'm sure you will be impressed. |
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03/10/2011 12:20:20 AM · #123 |
Originally posted by Melethia:
Good input. I have a very old, decrepit copy of Neat Image that I use VERY infrequently, and with a sledgehammer approach which results in sort of gooey mud. I may download the trial of DFine and see if I can at least finesse it a bit.
Good point about no masks in LR, but I don't know the last time I've used a mask. Maybe three or four years ago? Perhaps I should learn? :-) |
I think the entire suite is worth it, actually. Viveza is part of my regular workflow before going to Silver Efex or Color Efex. Color Efex has a number of very useful filters, including a nice b/w converter and paper toner. Dfine does good NR, and I like the RAW Presharpener as well. |
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03/10/2011 12:30:38 AM · #124 |
| Hmmm. I'll download the trials and play for a bit and see what I think. In trying DFine, I can't figure out what I'm to do other than just hit OK.... I'll look a bit deeper. Maybe watch a tutorial or two. Hope for rain on the weekend so I can stay in and learn, yes? :-) |
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03/10/2011 02:35:56 AM · #125 |
Originally posted by Melethia:
Hmmm. I'll download the trials and play for a bit and see what I think. In trying DFine, I can't figure out what I'm to do other than just hit OK.... I'll look a bit deeper. Maybe watch a tutorial or two. Hope for rain on the weekend so I can stay in and learn, yes? :-) |
That is pretty much what I do with dfine--though I think you can apply control points to eliminate or alter the amount of NR in an area if you like. Haven't had the need for that, though I am no doubt missing out on some features. Nik offers online webinars (free) for the various plugins. I learned a fair few things from the silver efex pro 2 one, so I should probably do the others :-)
Viveza 2 and Color Efex are much more interactive :-) |
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