Practical Photography - UK (2019-09)

THEEDIT

114 PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY

1

Darken your background

Open your image into Photoshop

and open the Silver Efex Pro

plug-in with Filter>Nik Collection>Silver

Efex Pro. Once the Nik window opens,

head to the right-hand side to Global

Adjustments. Move the Brightness slider

left to darken the entire image. Repeatby

moving the Contrast and Structure sliders

slightly to the right for added punch.

2

Lighten selectively

Once your background isdark,

open the Selective Adjustments

tab and click on the Control Point icon.

Now click on any area you want to lighten.

When the Control Point menu appearson

your image, drag the first slider to increase

or decrease the affected area. Nowusethe

B slider to increase the brightness,andC

slider to add contrast for impact.

3

Add finishingtouches

To add a little extra flourish, head

to the Finishing Adjustments tab.

Open the Toning menu and choose the

Selenium option to give your image a silver

tone. Next, add a Vignette and choose

Lens Falloff 1, followed by All Edges (Soft)

1 in the Burn Edges menu to further darken

the background. Once happy, click OK to

return to Photoshop.

O

FTEN CONSIDERED THE

jewel in Nik’s crown, Silver Efex
Pro is a fully comprehensive
black & white conversion plug-in with an
emphasis on simplicity and power. This
darkroom-inspired software is widely
used today by photographers across many
different genres.
Silver Efex Pro offers a range of presets,
each aimed at giving you striking results
in a single click, while the U-Point RAW
technology allows you to define specific
areas and make localised adjustments.
It’s a very powerful approach to editing,
letting you fine-tune until you’re happy.
You can also use presets, including the
40 new additions for the updated version,
which are a great way to get classic looks
in an instant, including high contrast or
filmic looks. If you want to take it a step
further, you can add control points –
a common feature within the Nik Collection

• letting you refine and edit every inch of
  your shot to your liking. This method gives
  you the freedom to be as precise as you need
  to create the edit that you want.

Silver Efex Pro

Three steps to high

contrast excellence

Above In three simple steps,

we’ve taken a standard flower

shot and transformed it into

a selenium silver-toned,

contrasty fine art image.

Left Our original image is

rather unassuming, and low

on contrast. The background

also blends into the stem

and leaves.

BEFORE

AFTER