RAW challenge: Can you beat Silver Efex Pro

[Clactonian]

I've had a quick play with my sliders in Lightroom and then some local USM adjustments in CS4.

[Hansm]

Here in Silver Efex.
Took me 1 minute max.

[carregwen]

Just for kicks and to go for that nitty-gritty look everyone else seems to like, I tried to match Rufus's image. I have to try to find a good marriage between the Rufus way and the Old Toot way. Perhaps this is where working in RAW and Silver Efex will come into play. I like the contrast of the Rufus way but don't like losing the richness of detail in the shadows...so, Rob, how can I do this?

Chris

THis one is done using Silver Efex, with the High Structure option, which gives a gritty look to the details



You can repeat the process, stacking one conversion on top of another as layers in Photoshop. And of course, you can reduce the opacity of each layer too. Here's the same one with the High Structure applied three times.



You can see from the title that I used 'control points' which allow you to select an area and adjust brightness, contrast etc within that zone. I did this for the area of bright wall behind the bike, and also to increase the detail in the top-left corner, which was dark.

[Donald]

Download the DNG RAW file

Any questions, post them below.

This is great fun and some very creative ideas coming in.

I'd just like to point out the very obvious and clearly deliberate discrimination that's been shown against DxO users here by a DNG file being put up for use (most folks will have read previous threads when it's been discussed how DxO can't use DNG files).

It's a pretty low-down way of trying to prevent DxO showing up the weaknesses of Silver Efex! But, we'll not say anything about it.

But, on the other hand - I'm not sure that I'd be able to better what's already been presented in this thread.

[carregwen]

This is great fun and some very creative ideas coming in.

I'd just like to point out the very obvious and clearly deliberate discrimination that's been shown against DxO users here by a DNG file being put up for use (most folks will have read previous threads when it's been discussed how DxO can't use DNG files).

It's a pretty low-down way of trying to prevent DxO showing up the weaknesses of Silver Efex! But, we'll not say anything about it.

But, on the other hand - I'm not sure that I'd be able to better what's already been presented in this thread.

Donald

I posted both the DNG and the full JPEG to get around these problems. Can you not load the JPEG into DxO? Or just do a conversion of the JPEG (which is basically the same as the DNG)?

[Donald]

Donald

I posted both the DNG and the full JPEG to get around these problems.

Okay, in that case .................



The route to this (had to split the picture), with DxO was:-

1 - Start by conversion using DxO B & W default setting ... and then ....

2 -




and then a wee final sharpen in the GIMP

[MiniChris]

My layering technique and your stacking technique are similar in concept but because you have that selective point editing, you can keep the details and still get a good filmic look...Nice job. Now I have Silver Efex envy.

[nickjohnson]

Hello All,
New kid on the block here ... or should that be new in class ? Had a quick go at the task.
In LR 2.6 - did all the usual stuff nothing exotic. Pushed the colours up a bit prior to grayscale conversion.
In grayscale split the yellow and orange to get some modelling into the bike basket. Export to PS2.
In PS2 ran a plug-in called PercepTool - then Layers for Levels and Curves. Curves has a hefty S curve with a long tail at the white end. All done to keep the shapes in the central bin lid without blowing the white wall or burying the left wheel in the shadows. (well - in my dreams).

Regards,

Nick.

[Donald]

Hello All,
New kid on the block here ... .

Nick

Welcome to CiC. Good to see you jumping right in and joining in the fun.

Have a read of this post which will help you get started, where you'll also find a link to take you to some advice on posting your images into threads. And please have a look at our Code of Conduct in the FAQ HERE

[carregwen]

Hello All,
New kid on the block here ... or should that be new in class ? Had a quick go at the task.
In LR 2.6 - did all the usual stuff nothing exotic. Pushed the colours up a bit prior to grayscale conversion.
In grayscale split the yellow and orange to get some modelling into the bike basket. Export to PS2.
In PS2 ran a plug-in called PercepTool - then Layers for Levels and Curves. Curves has a hefty S curve with a long tail at the white end. All done to keep the shapes in the central bin lid without blowing the white wall or burying the left wheel in the shadows. (well - in my dreams).

Regards,

Nick.

Hi Nick, and welcome to CiC! That's a pretty good conversion. You have evened out some of the extremities of the tonal range but still kept it well contrasted. I can see you know what you are doing. Have fun.

[ScoutR]

Here is my second try. Probably too far the other way, but here goes. This was done in LR for Raw and then Topaz for some grit and Elements for a 10% cooling filter. BTW if this is a race the LR Topaz combo is pretty quick, if you are smart enough to leave things alone after a certain point. ( which I'm not )



Wendy

P.S: hope to get more feedback on these at some point to see what was good and what was bad on mine and others. This is very interesting and educational, and fun too of course.

[ScoutR]

Is this over? Will we vote?

[Donald]

Is this over? Will we vote?

I had a quiet word with Rob ...... and told him that I had won!

Go on Rob, listen to what the lady is saying.

[MiniChris]

Well, I may not win for my image, but I ought to get some kind of award for the number of posts to this thread...that is if you all don't string me up for being such a thread hog.

[Shadowman]

Used PSE8, removed color, tweaked the color curves midtone contrast.

[jeffmoll]

Ok, here's my best efforts. For starters I tuned in Adobe Camera RAW then opened in Photoshop CS4. Duplicated the background layer (original image) and put a 5.5 pixel Gaussian blur on the duplicate, desaturated the layer, and set the layer mode to soft light at 15% opacity for a soft contrast enhancement. Then I started with a B/W adjustment layer mixing the colors to personal taste. Underneath that I then added a Selective Color adjustment layer and mixed each color to personal taste again. In between those adjustment layers I added a contrast/brightness adjustment set the layer mode to luminosity and set the opacity to 29%. On top of all that I added a levels adjustment layers and set the black slider at 2. On top of that I added a curves adjustment layer and adjusted the tone curve a very tiny bit. Did a good bit of dodging and burning in some of the more extreme low and highs, flattened the whole mess and here she is.

Oh, and yes... I am a control freak.



Don't personally care so much for the high structure/gritty detail look myself.
Let me know what you all think.

[ScoutR]

Go on Rob, listen to what the lady is saying.

Well?

[Steve S]

Not much of a black and whiter, but i gave it a go..............................DXO,Lightroom, CS4

[Fit]

How about a much darker corner of the garage... door just cracked open...

[Ruddle]

OK... my take. I am a huge fan of Silver Efex Pro. The presets give a great starting point and save a huge amount of time. I have been a PS user for years and years and will take SEP for B&W conversion. Anyhoo... I gues my take is much like Fit's above except for a little more contrast, sharpening and film grain. I like how your eyes are drawn more to the brand of the bike... the trash cans seem to direct your eye to it. Like Fit said, darker corner. You get the essence that it is a bike without actually seeing much of the detail. The trashcans serve more of a supportive roll.

My workflow...
1. JPG into SilverEfexPro
2. Holga preset
3. Ilford Delta 3200 Pro film type
4. Slight Coffee (7) tone to take off the edge and warm it up
5. Nik's Define Pro to tone the noise down a bit in the background and black areas
6. Nik's Sharpener Pro for a final touch of sharpening.

All in under 5 minutes! I love Nik's products!

I guess I am more of a fan of the more contrasty/gritty B&W though I did like carregwen's and ScoutR's take (kinda HDRish) and arith's toning.

Nice job by all. Very interesting task. Look forward to more like this!

Rick

BTW... was I too late with this post?