Hey Folks! My friends at Nik Software have just released the latest version of their incredible Viveza plug-in for Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and Lightroom. Upgrading to this version couldn’t be simpler and current users should receive an email with a link to upgrade that takes only moments to complete! My hat’s off to the folks at Nik Software.
I’m taking today off work and heading to Austin, Texas to visit the McKinney Falls State Park, Bastrop State Park and Buescher State Park. McKinney Falls is the only waterfalls within 200 miles of Sugar Land, Texas and I’m finally going to have the opportunity to use my Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter to hopefully create some nice images of flowing water. Given the lack of rain we’ve been experiencing the past few years, this wonderful neutral density filter has been gathering dust (figuratively speaking) on my shelf for much too long. Wish me luck!
Seeing that Nik Software has recently made all their plug-in filters compatible with Lightroom, I thought I’d run through my updated workflow to give you an idea of how I process most of my RAW images these days.
This image illustrates how I use the Nik Software products to enhance my images and reduce the amount of time spent in post capture processing.
“Nik Software announces today that Dfine 2.0, its popular award-winning digital photographic plug-in offering photographers advanced and powerful noise reduction for their digital images, is now available for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 and higher. Dfine 2.0 provides superior noise reduction while maintaining detail and sharpness throughout an image and providing unprecedented selective control over noise reduction by employing Nik Software’s U Point® technology. The update is available now as a free download to current Dfine 2.0 owners at http://www.niksoftware.com/lightroom.”
“Dfine 2.0 now joins Sharpener Pro 3.0, Viveza, Color Efex Pro 3.0 and Silver Efex Pro and completes the Lightroom update for our entire line of software plug-ins for photographers,” said Michael J. Slater president and CEO of Nik Software. “We are pleased to announce that Dfine 2.0 is now available and this update, like previous Lightroom compatibility releases, is offered to Dfine 2.0 users at no additional cost.”
Nik Software announces today that Sharpener Pro 3.0, its popular digital photographic plug-in offering the most advanced and powerful sharpening solution for photographers, is now available for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 and higher. Sharpener Pro 3.0 eliminates the guesswork typically required for achieving superior and consistent selective sharpening results. The update is available now as a free download to current owners at http://www.niksoftware.com/lightroom.
“Sharpener Pro 3.0 now joins Viveza, Color Efex Pro 3.0 and Silver Efex Pro for Lightroom, enabling photographers to incorporate the leading sharpening solution into their Lightroom workflow,” said Michael J. Slater president and CEO of Nik Software. “Sharpener Pro has been one of the most anticipated additions for Lightroom compatibility and we are pleased to announce that it is available. This update, like previous Lightroom compatibility releases, is offered to Sharpener Pro 3.0 users at no additional cost.”
The folks at Nik Software sure have been busy! They announced Wednesday that Silver Efex Pro, their popular Black and White conversion filter is now available for Lightroom 2 and that the update is free to current owners.
Silver Efex Pro installs as a plug-in filter for Lightroom 2 and is accessible from the Photo>Edit In… menu. Edits made using the plug-in within Lightroom are non-destructive in nature, and are applied automatically to a newly generated TIFF and not the original RAW file.
Nik Software also said that they plan to make all their other Photoshop plug-ins including Dfine and Sharpener Pro compatible with Lightroom later this year. Good news for those of us using these wonderful plug-ins!
Nik Software announced Tuesday that Color Efex Pro, their popular digital photographic plug-in filter suite is now available for Lightroom 2 and that the update is free to current owners.
Color Efex Pro installs as a plug-in filter for Lightroom 2 and is accessible from the Photo>Edit In… menu. Edits made using the plug-in within Lightroom are non-destructive in nature, and are applied automatically to a newly generated TIFF and not the original RAW file.
Nik Software also said that they plan to make all their popular Photoshop plug-ins including Silver Efex Pro, Dfine and Sharpener Pro compatible with Lightroom later this year. Good news for those of us using these wonderful plug-ins!
Nik Software announced Tuesday that Viveza, their popular digital photographic plug-in filter is now available for Lightroom 2 and that the update is free to current owners of Viveza.
Viveza installs as a plug-in filter for Lightroom 2 and is accessible from the Photo>Edit In… menu. Edits made using the plug-in within Lightroom are non-destructive in nature, and are applied automatically to a newly generated TIFF and not the original RAW file.
Nik Software also said that they plan to make all their popular Photoshop plug-ins including Color Efex Pro and Silver Efex Pro compatible with Lightroom later this year. Good news for those of us using these wonderful plug-ins!
We had really great weather last weekend and Sunday after church I decided to drive out west of Houston to a little town called Columbus which sits right near the Colorado river. It’s a little like stepping back in time a hundred years. The beautiful stone work of City Hall sits at the center of this sleepy little town and you can hear the trains coming and going all times of the day and night.
Here is another image taken last Sunday and processed using Photoshop Elements and Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro filter. Josh Bradley turned me on to Nik’s plug-ins for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements and though they are a wee bit expensive, the value they provide is exceptional. This image was exported from Lightroom into Photoshop Elements and converted into this old fashioned style in only a few seconds.
Train’s a Coming
Copyright © 2008 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon 40D hand-held, EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM at 30mm, f/16 for 1/20th of a second at ISO 100 on SanDisk digital film. All post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 and in Photoshop Elements using Nik’s Silver Efex Pro filters. Click on the image above for a larger version.
Here’s another image to prove just how well the Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM performs in the real world. This time with no HDR “slight of hand”, just a single hand-held exposure at 85mm, f/ll for 1/45th of a second.
In the past I would have said this exposure (85mm at 1/45th second) would have been impossible without a tripod but the image stabilization in this lens is superb! Will I throw out my main landscape lens (EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM) and tripod? No, but I may not bring them along hiking anymore and the savings in weight alone (bless my aching back) is substantial.
David Ziser was right. This really is an all around great lens!
Bridge Bound for Nowhere
Copyright © 2008 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon 40D hand-held, EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM at 85mm, f/11 for 1/45th of a second at ISO 100 on SanDisk digital film. All post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 and in Photoshop Elements using Nik’s Color Efex Pro filters. Click on the image above for a larger version.
And yes, that is the color of the water slowly flowing down the Colorado river in East Texas.
Texas Landscape Photography 