I wanted to start a new post instead of tacking onto Howard's for reasons I'll explain in a moment. First of all I want to say how much I enjoyed this get together. I'm not a very outgoing person and it is hard for me to meet and mingle. But those of you I met and those I watched from a distance made me realize what a warm and friendly group this is. I'm intimidated by the magnitude of talent that exists in this group. What I observed Friday night and Saturday morning was also a warm and collegial side of the awesome talent.
I especially want to thank Bret for the thought and effort putting it together. And doubly thank him for the excellent presentation on Nik Software. That was probably the main draw for me to come down. I have been intrigued and impressed by the black and white conversions I have seen processed through Silver EFX Pro. I bought it several weeks ago in anticipation of his presentation. Bret, you made a believer out of me before I ever got to Moab. But here is the reason for this post...
Several months ago I purchased Tony Kuyper's Luminosity Actions. They made an immediate and phenomenal affect on my work. I have yet to learn the art of Luminosity Painting. I have been a Photoshop user for years, but don't consider myself a pro. I found the actions easy to use, and while I don't understand entirely their structure, I get the gist of their use. It didn't occur to me until after I left Bret's presentation that there was a similarity between the two approaches. I wish I would have made the connection sooner so that I could have asked the group some questions. The ability to select a tonal range and adjust curve, color, etc seems to be exactly the same idea. Am I correct in this? I would be interested in reading what others impressions are of this. The single most obvious benefit to the TK actions is that the file remains editable for it's entire life. At least that's what I walk away from this with. There is no question that I will dig into, and enjoy Silver EFX pro. I'm not sure I want to invest in Viveza though, because of what TK has provided through the luminosity masks. Please chime in with your thoughts and observations. Thanks again.
The two main differences between Viveza and Tony's luminosity mask actions are that those PS actions only affect tones and not colors.
They're also quite a bit cheaper.
Note that you can apply Viveza as a Smart Filter in PS so that it too remains editable for its entire life.
Posted by Scott Fricke on May 10, 2011 at 12:32 AM
I'm sorry I missed it, and I could have really benefitted from those Photoshop seminars. I'll have to try to make it next year.
Posted by Sarah Marino on May 10, 2011 at 11:40 AM
I agree - thanks to Bret for organizing. It was great to meet a lot of you. Finally meeting some RMNP folks has definitely made me more comfortable in participating in this forum.
I found Bret's presentation on Silver Efex Pro to be interesting, as I had tried out the software and did not like it. Seeing him take an image through his process was helpful. For me, however, I plan to continue using luminosity masks for my black and white conversions as the process is more intuitive for me and offers more control. While I cannot speak to Nik's plug-ins for color corrections/effects, luminosity masks can still be really useful for some of the functions that Bret described during his presentation. For example, you could use a "light-lights" or "bright-lights" luminosity mask to easily whiten the snow in the color image that Bret processed (choose the luminosity mask that best isolates the snow and then use a black brush to mask out any other light spots that you do not want to brighten). For affecting tones in an image, I will definitely stick with luminosity masks because they work well for me and are easy to use. I might revisit Color Efex Pro based on Bret's presentation for color corrections/effects.
Ultimately for me there is no 100% right answer. I use the right too depending on the photo I am editing. Sometimes if the Nik software works well, then I use it, because it certainly saves time. Other times I prefer the detailed control of doing it in Photoshop. To date I have found the useful software from NIk is their SEP and their noise/sharpening software as well. Each person will have to make their own decision on what works for them and what they like and do not like.
Thanks Bret for giving the presentation though. I was pleased that I picked up a few tips.
Discussion
4 repliesI especially want to thank Bret for the thought and effort putting it together. And doubly thank him for the excellent presentation on Nik Software. That was probably the main draw for me to come down. I have been intrigued and impressed by the black and white conversions I have seen processed through Silver EFX Pro. I bought it several weeks ago in anticipation of his presentation. Bret, you made a believer out of me before I ever got to Moab. But here is the reason for this post...
Several months ago I purchased Tony Kuyper's Luminosity Actions. They made an immediate and phenomenal affect on my work. I have yet to learn the art of Luminosity Painting. I have been a Photoshop user for years, but don't consider myself a pro. I found the actions easy to use, and while I don't understand entirely their structure, I get the gist of their use. It didn't occur to me until after I left Bret's presentation that there was a similarity between the two approaches. I wish I would have made the connection sooner so that I could have asked the group some questions. The ability to select a tonal range and adjust curve, color, etc seems to be exactly the same idea. Am I correct in this? I would be interested in reading what others impressions are of this. The single most obvious benefit to the TK actions is that the file remains editable for it's entire life. At least that's what I walk away from this with. There is no question that I will dig into, and enjoy Silver EFX pro. I'm not sure I want to invest in Viveza though, because of what TK has provided through the luminosity masks. Please chime in with your thoughts and observations. Thanks again.
They're also quite a bit cheaper.
Note that you can apply Viveza as a Smart Filter in PS so that it too remains editable for its entire life.
I found Bret's presentation on Silver Efex Pro to be interesting, as I had tried out the software and did not like it. Seeing him take an image through his process was helpful. For me, however, I plan to continue using luminosity masks for my black and white conversions as the process is more intuitive for me and offers more control. While I cannot speak to Nik's plug-ins for color corrections/effects, luminosity masks can still be really useful for some of the functions that Bret described during his presentation. For example, you could use a "light-lights" or "bright-lights" luminosity mask to easily whiten the snow in the color image that Bret processed (choose the luminosity mask that best isolates the snow and then use a black brush to mask out any other light spots that you do not want to brighten). For affecting tones in an image, I will definitely stick with luminosity masks because they work well for me and are easy to use. I might revisit Color Efex Pro based on Bret's presentation for color corrections/effects.
Thanks Bret for giving the presentation though. I was pleased that I picked up a few tips.