USING GOOGLE'S NIK COLLECTION

Transcription

1 USING GOOGLE'S NIK COLLECTION Workshop Outline Resources Download Source: Video: There will also be a set of eight videos, each one describing one of the Nik modules, which will be available for download in the classroom; we will watch some of these video and then practise on provided photos. Overview The Nik Collection consists of seven modules, each of which is dedicated to a particular photo editing task: Color Efex Pro Create different looks for your photo by applying one or more filters Viveza Make localized, targeted adjustments to brightness, contrast, structure etc. Silver Efex Pro Black and White photo treatments HDR Efex Pro Gives your single photo an HDR look; you have complete control over how much. Also used to create an HDR photo from multiple bracketed images Analog Efex Pro Recreates old photos look Dfine - 1 -

2 Helps you remove noise, globally and/or targeted by area and colour. Sharpener Pro Used for RAW pre-sharpening; also used for output sharpening, tailored to how the photo will be displayed (e.g. Internet, printed). General Note: Use CTRL on a PC; use CMD on a Mac 1.Color Efex Pro (a) Getting a Photo into Color Efex Pro (or any of the other modules/apps) i. Edit in from Lightroom A. Right Click on photo and choose Edit in... B. Right Click on photo in filmstrip and choose Edit in... C. Go up to Photo, select Edit in... from the drop down list D. Usually best to select Edit a Copy with Lightroom Adjustments E. A file is created, the characteristics of which is determined by the Preferences setting in Lightroom (External Editing tab; Additional External Editor) default is srgb etc if you make changes to set up your desired parameters, then select Choose and, at the bottom, Save Current Settings as New Preset in my case, I have a preset called Colour Efex Pro in which I have chosen TIFF, ProPhoto RGB, 16 bits/component, Resolution 360 and Compression None. I also change the file name of the returned file by adding a sequence number to it. The sequence number is incremented each time so I can see how many times I have gone to an external editor. Typically, the filename with the most sequence numbers is the latest and last version of the photo. (b) Getting a Photo out of Color Efex Pro (or any of the other modules/apps) i. When you are finished with modifying the photo in Color Effects Pro A. Select Save bottom of right panel if you want to return the photo to Lightroom with the changes you've made; or B. Select Cancel if you don't want to make the changes but just want to return to Lightroom. Note that if you originally selected Edit with Lightroom Adjustments, Color Efex Pro (or any of the others apps in the Nik Collection) will have already created a file to receive the altered image (the file's characteristics determined by what is defined in the Edit in... preset for the app), so you may have to remove that file from Lightroom (delete from disk) if you've done nothing to the image in Color Efex Pro. (c) Screen and Work Space Components i. left column A. filter collections B. Recipes C. History ii. left top - 2 -

3 A. view options for photo being worked on just the photo before and after versions (side by side, top and bottom, sliding line vertical, sliding line horizontal) compare (click on, click off) Compare toggle on and off to jump between Before and After B. collapse left filter column C. Bring up Recipes D. Bring up History iii. right top A. zoom in and out B. change colour of workspace background (grey, black, white) C. collapse right column iv. centre panel A. workspace for photo v. right column A. Chosen filters and their controls B. Loupe/Histogram display select either the Loupe tab (default) or the Histogram tab C. leftmost arrow collapses/opens the filter details and Loupe/Histogram display D. Filters are sticky ; whatever was used for the previous photo will already have been selected for the next photo filters can be turned off by unchecking filters can be removed by clicking the x on the righthand side of the filter name bar (d) Filters i. The left panel is where you Select the filter(s) you want to use; A. Filters are gathered into Collections: ALL LANDSCAPE WEDDING ARCHITECTURE FAVORITES NATURE PORTRAITS TRAVEL B. There are a total of 55 filters (see collection ALL); C. Putting them into collections is an attempt to make it easier for you to see those filters relevant to the type of image you are working on; D. You can use ANY filter on ANY image; E. Clicking on the star to the left of a filter name toggles on or off whether that filter is a Favourite; F. As you work more with filters you will find yourself gravitating towards a small set of filters; by toggling the yellow star on, you are placing that filter into the Favourites collection. G. If you hover your mouse pointer over a filter, an icon looking like a stack appears on the right; selecting it shows you a number of different initial filter settings to get you started; H. When you first show the filter, if you do not select one of the four, your selection defaults to Neutral; - 3 -

4 I. When you are showing the stack, you can move up or down in the filter collection via the triangles on the right side. ii. Once a filter is selected, the right panel is where you make adjustments to the filter A. The filter name bar is shown in the right panel; it contains, from left to right: downward/upward triangle: clicking on it expands or contracts the display of sliders and other controls for the filter check box: when checked the filter is active i.e. applied to the image in the centre workspace; when unchecked the filter is inactive i.e. not applied to the image in the centre workspace. Filter name Fly out menu (see below) x : when selected the filter is deleted from the filter stack. B. Each of the 55 filters has its own set of adjustments. You have to invest the time to find out what each filter does and what adjustments are available for it. Play with the sliders and see what happens! C. If you want to undo what you've done, look to the fly-out menu on the filter name bar just to the left of the x. Choices are: Copy Control Points Paste Control Points Reset Filter (keep CPs) [use this one or the next one] Reset Filter (delete CPs) iii. When you first open Color Efex 4, because of its sticky nature the last filter you used will be already chosen A. you can turn off the filter by unchecking the left box; B. you can delete the filter by hitting the x on the right side of the filter name bar. iv. When you select a filter, it will replace the one open/selected on the right, or if there is only one filter it will replace that one; v. if you want to have more than one filter you must Add Filter by: A. Select + Add Filter at bottom of right filter work area; or B. Hold down the shift key and click on the filter you want in the left panel (e) Control Points i. A Control Point enables you to perform filtering selectively and locally; A. Most filters allow control points so that the filter effect is applied only locally, within the control's circle (for some filters, control points make no sense); B. To see information about your control points make sure the little triangle to the left of the words Control Point is pointing downwards; ii. Adding a Control Point A. You can select either + or -; the only difference is that a plus adds the control point with full effect while a minus adds the control point with no effect. B. Move your mouse pointer to where you would like the Control Point placed and left click to place it; i. Moving a CP - 4 -

5 A. Each CP has a central point; put the mouse pointer on the CP button, hold down the left mouse key and move the CP to where you want it; release the left button when it's in the right place; ii. Control Points have sliders (the number and type depend upon the filter); top slider is size move it left or right to adjust the size of the control circle; next slider(s) control the strength of the available effect(s); iii. Duplicating a CP A. Hold down ALT/OPTION key and click on the CP button to create a copy; then drag it to where you want it; iv. Grouping CPs A. You can group CPs so that whatever changes you make to a slider in one will also be made to the same slider in all members of the group; B. There are two ways to group CPs: in the Control Points List, select the CPs which you want to group hold down the CTRL/CMD key and click each one; if they are sequential, highlight the first, hold down the shift key and highlight the last click on the button labelled Group at the top Draw a rectangle to contain all the bullets of all the CPs you want in the group hold down left mouse key and draw the rectangle click the Group button v. Deleting CPs A. Highlight the CP's central button; hit the Delete key; or B. Highlight the CP's name and click on the trash can. vi. Showing the area affected by a particular CP A. Look at the list of control points (make sure the little triangle is pointing down, so that the list is displayed); B. Click into the square to the right of the control point name; the screen turns black except in the area which the control point effects; (f) Recipes i. What are they? A. If you find yourself using the same small set of filters a lot, with similar settings for each photo, you can use a recipe to ease the work. B. On the left hand panel, at the bottom, you'll see a couple of labels: Recipes and History C. Recipes are like Develop Presets in Lightroom. You can use a recipe to apply a selection of filters with predetermined settings immediately ii. Creating a recipe A. In the right panel, select Recipe and enter a name for it B. It will be stored in the Recipe collection, available to be applied to any photo at any time in the processing. (g) History i. Like Lightroom or Photoshop, a History file is kept, recording each step in Colour Efex ii. You can see it by selecting History at the bottom of the left panel iii. Like Lr and PS, if you highlight an interim step and then enter a new adjustment, you effectively delete all the steps which followed in History and begin from your new starting point

6 2.Viveza (a) General comments i. Normally one does normal processing in Lightroom before moving into Viveza for final tweaking of local/selective area adjustments ii. Viveza is mostly about Control Points iii. Viveza does offer Global Adjustments as well as Local Adjustment (the latter via single or a group of CPs) iv. The Control Points in Viveza allow you to adjust more parameters than Color Efex A. Global and/or Selective (i.e Local) B. Brightness C. Contrast D. Saturation E. Structure F. Shadow Adjustments G. Warmth H. Red I. Green J. Blue K. Hue v. If you don't see the above full list: A. Hit the E key; or B. Choose the Expand icon to the right of the title Global/Selective (b) Getting a Photo into Viveza (or any of the other modules/apps) i. Edit in from Lightroom A. Right Click on photo B. Right Click on photo in filmstrip C. Go up to Photo, select Edit in from drop down list D. Usually best to select Edit a Copy with Lightroom Adjustments E. A file is created, the characteristics of which is determined by the Preferences setting in Lightroom (External Editing tab; Additional External Editor) default is srgb etc if you make changes to set up your desired parameters, then select Choose and, at the bottom, Save Current Settings as New Preset in my case, I have a preset called Viveza - Mine in which I have chosen TIFF, ProPhoto RGB, 16 bits/component, Resolution 360 and Compression None. I also change the file name of the returned file by adding a sequence number to it. The sequence number is incremented each time so I can see how many times I have gone to an external editor. Typically, the filename with the most sequence numbers is the latest and last version of the photo. (c) Top Line i. Left: Usual Before/After choices ii. Right: A. Arrow: usual pointer; B. Hand: when image fills screen, hand tool allows you to drag window around image; has no - 6 -

7 effect if image does not overfill the screen; you can also hold down the SPACEBAR and the hand will appear as long as it is held down; C. +: when this is selected, clicking on the image will zoom in at that point (note: hold down ALT/OPT and click to zoom out); can also use CMD/CTRL + or CMD/CTRL to zoom in or out; D. -: when this is selected, clicking on the image will zoom out at that point (note: hold down ALT/OPT and click to zoom in); (d) Left Panel i. There is none! Presets aren't used or available because they don't make sense (e) Right Panel i. Top portion is dedicated to Control Points: A. creating B. Grouping/Ungrouping C. sliders controlling effects of single or grouped control points, global or selective Brightness Contrast Saturation Structure Shadow Adjustments Warmth Red Green Blue Hue If you don't see the above full list: Hit the E key; or Choose the Expand icon to the right of the title Global/Selective D. Control Point List Lists all the Control Points Active ones (those being controlled by the effect sliders) are highlighted E. All the points covered in Color Efex Pro also apply here (creating, duplicating, moving, grouping, deleting, showing the area affected, etc.) ii. Next is Levels and Curves A. works the same way as Levels and Curves in Lightroom B. Normally those adjustments are done in Lightroom before moving to Viveza iii. Bottom is Loupe A. Shows view of image B. Particularly useful when zoomed in. (f) Getting a Photo out of Viveza (or any of the other modules/apps) i. When you are finished with modifying the photo in Viveza A. Select Save bottom of right panel if you want to return the photo to Lightroom with the changes you've made; or B. Select Cancel if you don't want to make the changes but just want to return to Lightroom. Note that if you originally selected Edit with Lightroom Adjustments, Viveza (or any - 7 -

8 (g) Best Use of Viveza? of the others apps in the Nik Collection) will have already created a file to receive the altered image (the file's characteristics determined by what is defined in the Edit in... preset for the app), so you may have to remove that file from Lightroom (delete from disk) if you've done nothing to the image in Viveza. i. I use Viveza primarily to add Structure to selected areas of the image

9 3.Silver Efex Pro (a) General Comments i. Used for effects on Black and White photos ii. Long list of presets, to get special looks iii. From time to time, in Lightroom, convert your photo to Black and White; if it looks good, go back to HSL and then Edit in Silver Efex. (b) Getting a Photo into Silver Efex i. Edit in from Lightroom A. Right Click on photo and select Edit in...; or B. Right Click on photo in filmstrip and select Edit in...; or C. Go up to Photo, select Edit in from drop down list ii. Usually best to select Edit a Copy with Lightroom Adjustments iii. A file is created, the characteristics of which is determined by the Preferences setting in Lightroom (External Editing tab; Additional External Editor) default is srgb etc if you make changes to set up your desired parameters, then select Choose and, at the bottom, Save Current Settings as New Preset in my case, I have a preset called Silver Efex - Mine in which I have chosen TIFF, ProPhoto RGB, 16 bits/component, Resolution 360 and Compression None. I also change the file name of the returned file by adding a sequence number to it. The sequence number is incremented each time so I can see how many times I have gone to an external editor. Typically, the filename with the most sequence numbers is the latest and last version of the processed photo. (c) Left Panel i. Should be very familiar but there are some new tabs A. Preset Library Black and White different looks B. Custom If you eventually arrive at a look you like, you can save it as a preset and it will go into the Custom area; You can Export custom presets for use on other computers running the Nik Collection; When you first start there are no Custom presets. C. Imported You can Import presets from a variety of sources (Custom, commercially available ones, free ones just google presets silver efex ); When you first start there are no imported presets. D. History Same as History for Color Efex Pro (d) Right Panel i. Tabs are different from Color Efex Pro and Viveza A. Global Adjustments B. Selective Adjustments C. Color Filter D. Film Types - 9 -

10 E. Finishing Adjustments (e) Global Adjustments A. Brightness Highlights Midtones Shadows Dynamic Brightness Contrast Amplify Whites Amplify Blacks Soft Contrast B. Structure Highlights Midtones Shadows Fine Structure C. Tonality Protection Shadows used to protect the shadows from being clipped like the slider in Lightroom that is used to set the Black point you can see adjust the effect exactly by making use of the Histogram Highlights used to protect the highlights from being clipped like the slider in Lightroom that is used to set the White point you can see adjust the effect exactly by making use of the Histogram (f) Selective Adjustments i. Control Points (g) Color Filters i. Harkens back to the film days when filters were used to emphasize certain wavelengths ii. Some of the common filter colours are shown iii. You can also create a filter using any colour (h) Film Types i. Mimic how the image would look for a variety of particular film types ii. Grain how much and how big the grains iii. Sensitivity to various colours iv. Levels and Curves (i) Finishing Adjustments i. Toning A. can do sepia, selenium and 22 others ii. Vignette A. similar to Lightroom iii. Burn Edges

11 A. old time effects iv. Image Borders A. select various borders including frames B. adjust width and roughness of borders (j) Getting a Photo out of Silver Efex Pro (or any of the other modules/apps) i. When you are finished with modifying the photo in Siver Effects Pro A. Select Save bottom of right panel if you want to return the photo to Lightroom with the changes you've made; or B. Select Cancel if you don't want to make the changes but just want to return to Lightroom. Note that if you originally selected Edit with Lightroom Adjustments, Silver Efex Pro (or any of the others apps in the Nik Collection) will have already created a file to receive the altered image (the file's characteristics determined by what is defined in the Edit in... preset for the app), so you may have to remove that file from Lightroom (delete from disk) if you've done nothing to the image in Silver Efex Pro

12 4.HDR Efex Pro 2 (a) General Comments i. Creates a blended HDR photo from a sequence of one or more photos; parameters enable you to control the blending process and make other adjustments; ii. Also can be used to make a single image appear as if it is an HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo iii. HDR: typically, a blending of three or more photos of the same scene: A. the first exposing for the darks and shadows at the expense of the highlights and brighter midtones; B. the second for the midtones at the expense of the darkest shadows and the brightest highlights; and, C. the third for the highlights at the expense of the darkest shadows and darker midtones. (b) Getting photos into HDR Efex i. If only one photo is being sent over from Lightroom, use Edit in... ii. If more than one photo is being sent over from Lightroom: A. select the set of photos (highlight the photos in the film strip; or, highlight the photos in the grid display); B. Choose Export... and on the left side of the dialogue, choose Google> HDR Efex Pro You are led to a dialogue in which you set the parameters for how the HDR image will be formed: Alignment if selected, photos are aligned before being blended Ghost Reduction Strength (20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%) if selected, removes the multiple appearances of objects which moved between exposures (e.g. Grass or trees blowing in the wind), selecting just one appearance. Chromatic Aberration not infrequently found in blended images can be seen along edges (tree branches for example) best to remove it if you can see some in the preview (c) Left Panel i. the usual: A. Preset Library - looks B. Custom you can save your own preset C. Imported if you acquire a preset from elsewhere, this is where it resides D. History list of all the steps you've down can backtrack by selecting a prior step and going on from there (d) Centre Panel i. usual viewing options on the left ii. on the right: zoom, change photo surround, collapse right panel (e) Right Panel i. This is where the real work takes place. Tabs are: A. Tone Compression

13 B. Tonality C. Color D. Selective Adjustments E. Finishing F. Loupe and Histogram ii. Tone Compression A. There are no recommended settings; just play around B. Tone Compression slider C. Method Strength slider D. HDR Method spot slider: range from Depth to Normal spots are (L-R): Off, Subtle, Normal, Strong spot slider: range from Detail to Realistic spots are (L-R): Soft, Realistic, Accentuated, Detailed, Grungy spot slider: range Drama to Neutral spots are (L-R): Flat, Natural, Deep, Dingy, Sharp, Grainy E. May have to go back and forth between Tone Compression and Tonality iii. Tonality A. As for Tone Compression, there is no magic formula; you just have to play around with the sliders to achieve a look you like B. sliders: Exposure (Global) Shadows Highlights Contrast (Global) Blacks Whites Structure (Global) C. May have to go back and forth between Tone Compression and Tonality iv. Color A. sliders: Saturation Temperature warmer to cooler Tint may need to adjust this if change temperature v. Selective Adjustments A. Control Points Initially, new CP shows sliders for: size Exposure Contrast Saturation Structure

14 Down Arrow Blacks Whites Temperature Tint Method Strength Usual Control Points choices: duplicate, list, group etc. vi. Finishing A. Vignette can do a vignette here or back in Lightroom B. Graduated Neutral Density Applies to whole photo Better graduated neutral density tools in Lightroom C. Levels and Curves usual effects (f) Getting a Photo out of HDR Efex Pro (or any of the other modules/apps) i. When you are finished with modifying the photo in HDR Effects Pro A. Select Save bottom of right panel if you want to return the photo to Lightroom with the changes you've made; or B. Select Cancel if you don't want to make the changes but just want to return to Lightroom. ii. Note that if you originally selected Edit with Lightroom Adjustments, HDR Pro (or any of the others apps in the Nik Collection) will have already created a file to receive the altered image (the file's characteristics determined by what is defined in the Edit in... preset for the app), so you may have to remove that file from Lightroom (delete from disk) if you've done nothing to the image in HDR

15 5. Analog Efex Pro 2 (a) General Comments i. Used to make photos look old style - like the photo has been taken with a film camera; ii. Look will come from selecting the camera and film types; iii. Lots of choices, so this plug-in will reward you if you just play around with it tyou'll find some quite neat looks (b) Getting your photo into Analog Efex i. Edit in from Lightroom A. Right Click on photo B. Right Click on photo in filmstrip C. Go up to Photo, select Edit in from drop down list D. Usually best to select Edit a Copy with Lightroom Adjustments E. A file is created, the characteristics of which is determined by the Preferences setting in Lightroom (External Editing tab; Additional External Editor) default is srgb etc if you make changes to set up your desired parameters, then select Choose and, at the bottom, Save Current Settings as New Preset in my case, I have a preset called Analog Efex - Mine in which I have chosen TIFF, ProPhoto RGB, 16 bits/component, Resolution 360 and Compression None. I also change the file name of the returned file by adding a sequence number to it. The sequence number is incremented each time so I can see how many times I have gone to an external editor. Typically, the filename with the most sequence numbers is the latest and last version of the processed photo. (c) Opening Screen i. Left Panel A. Cameras B. Custom C. Imported D. History E. Instant Help ii. Top Line A. Usual viewing options iii. Right Panel A. Adjustments, filters, recipes etc. B. Loupe and Histogram iv. Bottom Line A. Left Help Settings B. Right Cancel Save (d) Cameras i. Begin by choosing what type of camera

16 ii. Default at opening is Classic Camera iii. Click on the title Classic Camera and a new fly-out screen is displayed iv. There are 14 Tools and 10 Tool Combinations i.e. 140 different starting choices plus you can build your own camera! v. Needless to say, we could spend an entire workshop on Analog Efex and only scratch the surface of looks which one can start with! vi. It gets even more complicated when we move to the Right Panel we find: A. we can make a variety of adjustments; the list of available adjustments (or filters) is determined by the starting choice/preset we made; each preset displays, in the right panel, the set of filters which can be applied; B. we can can make changes to any preset, and then save it as a new preset: once you are happy with whatever adjustments you've made to the starting preset, click Custom on the left panel to save your new preset. C. We have a HUGE number of combinations that we can use, each combination resulting in a different look. (e) Time for you to Explore!

17 6.Dfine Noise Reduction (a) General Comments i. (b) Getting your photo into Dfine2 i. Edit in from Lightroom A. Right Click on photo B. Right Click on photo in filmstrip C. Go up to Photo, select Edit in from drop down list D. Usually best to select Edit a Copy with Lightroom Adjustments E. A file is created, the characteristics of which is determined by the Preferences setting in Lightroom (External Editing tab; Additional External Editor) default is srgb etc if you make changes to set up your desired parameters, then select Choose and, at the bottom, Save Current Settings as New Preset in my case, I have a preset called Dfine2 - Mine in which I have chosen TIFF, ProPhoto RGB, 16 bits/component, Resolution 360 and Compression None. I also change the file name of the returned file by adding a sequence number to it. The sequence number is incremented each time so I can see how many times I have gone to an external editor. Typically, the filename with the most sequence numbers is the latest and last version of the processed photo. (c) Opening Screen i. No left column ii. Top row is familiar except for Mode drop down list: A. selection enables you to make manual specific changes to the way the noise reduction works iii. Centre area holds the preview of the image; A. you have the usual choices about how you want to see the Before and After previews. iv. Right column is where the work takes place: A. when you first arrive, the program estimates the noise automatically by looking at a number of different places in the photo (where the rectangles are shown), measuring the noise and then automatically showing what the image will look like if the suggested noise reduction is applied. B. Two buttons: Measure and Reduce Measure computes the noise and is the default if you make any changes you can press it again to initiate a remeasure. Reduce allows you to fine tune how the algorithm works C. Choices using Measure are Automatic (the default) and Manual Often you will find that Measure and Automatic are all you need If you want to see if you can improve upon the algorithm, use Measure and select Manual add rectangles to increase the areas consider when measuring the noise remeasure and see if there is any visible improvement D. If you select Reduce, Method changes to: Control Points; or used to select the area where the noise reduction will be applied and how strongly you can attack contrast noise and colour noise with control points all the usual control point commands apply

18 Colour Ranges used to select the colours from which you would like to remove or reduce the noise easiest way is to use the eye dropper to select specific colours in the photo (d) Getting a Photo out of Dfine2 (or any of the other modules/apps) i. When you are finished with modifying the photo in Dfine2 Pro A. Select Save bottom of right panel if you want to return the photo to Lightroom with the changes you've made; or B. Select Cancel if you don't want to make the changes but just want to return to Lightroom. Note that if you originally selected Edit with Lightroom Adjustments, Dfine2 (or any of the others apps in the Nik Collection) will have already created a file to receive the altered image (the file's characteristics determined by what is defined in the Edit in... preset for the app), so you may have to remove that file from Lightroom (delete from disk) if you've done nothing to the image in Dfine