Monochrome, Using
Silver Efex Pro 2
P
hotography started in
monochrome, meaning that
there was only one colour
in the picture plus of course,
shades (or different tones) of
it. This “colour” was essentially
black and hence the alternate
name for monochrome – Black
and White (B&W). Colour film
as a photographic media came
several decades later and slowly
dominated photography. However,
monochrome photography has its
own charm, elegance and beauty.
It is also worth remembering that
some of the greatest practitioners
of photographic art like Ansel
Adams (landscapes), Yousuf Karsh
(portraits), Henri Cartier Bresson
(street photography), etc. produced
their masterpieces predominantly
in monochrome.Processing colour film and printing
in colour became relatively cheap
due to the advent of mini-labs and
consequently during the waning
days of film, photography was
mostly done in colour. On the other
hand, processing of monochrome
film and printing negatives
commercially became progressively
difficult. Due to these reasons,
monochrome photography slowly
was relegated to a niche market
practiced by a few enthusiasts whohad the needed skills to develop film
and print negatives.While digital dealt a severe blow
to film, it did wonders to resurrect
monochrome photography by making
it very easy to digitally process
(or convert) a colour image into
monochrome with the help of post-
processing. For a while this process
too, was a bit difficult. However, a
monochrome conversion software
called Silver Efex Pro 2 changed
all that and now it is easy to create
beautiful monochrome images with
very little effort. Equally important
were the advances in inks and
inkjet printers which could produce
monochrome prints with a great range
of tones and longevity. All these factors
lead to the resurgence of monochrome
photography in the digital age.Initially Silver Efex Pro 2, which is a
part of Nik Soft suite of products, was
priced and hence was not within the
reach of all. Later Google Inc. purchased
this suite and made it free. Hence, you
can download this software without
any charge now. It works with either
Lightroom or Photoshop but not
standalone. In this article, we
will see how we can use it with
Lightroom as a plugin to produce
stunning monochrome images with
minimal effort.Smart Photography has been continually receiving requests to start a basic course for
beginners. With this in mind, we have asked a very knowledgeable photographer from
Chennai to take over writing these articles. We have also requested him to be as jargon-
free as it is possible, so that newcomers to photography feel comfortable to pursue the
hobby.���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
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engineer by profession and a photographer, he possesses a unique and deep insight into
the technical aspects of digital photography and equipment. He has published several
articles on photography and some of his writings have also been published in the well-
known international magazine Popular Photography.An avid collector of photographic books and vintage cameras, Ashok has a keen interest
in the history of photography and a passion for sharing his knowledge on photography
through teaching and writing. He is presently working as a Management and Engineering
consultant. You can see his work at ���������������������������������������������. He
can be reached at [email protected]Ashok KandimallaDownloading and installing
Silver Efex Pro 2:Open your Internet browser and
go to https://www.google.com/
nikcollection/ and download Silver
Efex Pro 2 software. There are some
sister products too in case you are
interested but we will confine ourselves
to this software alone.After you download this software,
install it following the instructions
that appear on your computer screen.
The process is pretty easy and straight
forward. Reboot your system after the
installation.Also, there is no manual hardcopy
available. However, you can access
online help at https://support.google.
com/nikcollection/?hl=en#top
ic=2991541Starting up Silver Efex Pro 2:
Go to the Develop module of Lightroom
and select the image that you want
to convert to monochrome from the
Filmstrip at the bottom of the screen.
First complete the processing of the
image in colour itself to suit your taste.To invoke Silver Efex Pro 2 go to the
main menu of Lightroom and from
there choose Photo > Edit In > Edit in
Silver Efex Pro 2.exe (Picture 1)LEARNING
Understanding Photography
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Smart PhotographyJuly 2017