{"id":1841,"date":"2013-04-10T10:57:44","date_gmt":"2013-04-10T10:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kebablog.co.uk\/?p=1841"},"modified":"2013-04-10T11:04:33","modified_gmt":"2013-04-10T11:04:33","slug":"plugins-time-is-almost-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kebablog.co.uk\/?p=1841","title":{"rendered":"Plugins – Time is almost up"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a very quick 2 weeks time is almost up for the Nik Collection plugin trial (15 Days – though I do have a plan to extend this by using my Macbook and possibly a VMware Mac!). So what have I done, well dabbled a little bit – sadly unless you have a bit of spare time 15 days probably translates to maybe 3-4 hours per week (hence my plan to extend time a bit). I’ve really not had a chance to dive into the individual settings on any of the plugins – just mostly using the custom presets.<\/p>\n

So below is a small selection of what I’ve looked at (Click on the links for the larger flickr hosted images – 3000x1000px). Oh and apologies for the mainly aircraft pictures \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

First up is Viveza<\/strong> (Selectively adjust the color and tonality of your images without complicated masks or selections. – text taken from the Nik Collecion site as it’s probably the best description of the plugin).<\/p>\n

\"Nik<\/a><\/p>\n

Quite a nice effect can be created to enhance a relatively dull image – here I’ve only adjusted the Structure slider to 75% (I’ve found Structure to be quite a handy tool on a number of plugins).<\/p>\n

Viveza again<\/p>\n

\"TSR<\/a><\/p>\n

This time using it for a black and white conversion (without wanting the effects of Silver Efex) – whilst this looks nice, this is probably achievable in CS6 or LR4<\/p>\n

Next up is Colour Efex Pro 4<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Track<\/a><\/p>\n

The number of filter effects are too numerous to list, but a quick Polarisation (to bring up the detail in the field) and fog effect look quite good. The Polarisation most likely could be achieved in CS6\/LR4 and fog possibly in CS6 using a white graduated layer faded in. Still this plugin saves you the time in doing this (though I an relatively inexperienced in CS6 – so it might be an easy action to create). <\/p>\n

Next the dreaded HDR Efex Pro 2<\/strong> (24 – Outdoor 2 filter applied).<\/p>\n

\"Silver<\/a><\/p>\n

Why dreaded, well cos mostly HDR looks awful – so does this image to be honest – but if I want the really horrible HDR effect I know where to go. In fairness, it does it simply and you can customise each filter so it doesn’t look like HDR (probably the best HDR method!).<\/p>\n

Now it’s time to get serious – Silver Efex Pro 2<\/strong> (005 High Structure – Harsh filter)<\/p>\n

\"Lone<\/a><\/p>\n

When you mention Nik plugins, Silver Efex seems to get talked about – and after a brief play I can understand. The standard filters have enough to keep most happy (especially certain northern based photo societies).<\/p>\n

Colour Efex Pro 4 again (Various filters added)<\/p>\n

\"Diesel<\/a><\/p>\n

Possibly a little overdone this one, but it’s a combination of stacked filter effects. Whilst this image isn’t great – it the process is one to get excited about.<\/p>\n

So I’ve missed out, Dfine 2 (Noise Reduction) and Sharpener Pro 3 (errrrr, it sharpens!) – these two I’ve not used yet. I’m sure they’ll be a good as the rest if you need them.<\/p>\n

As for the collection, well I’ve seen what they can do and for $150 for the whole set they are a bargain (there are some money off codes – if you search) You can find the plugins available on the www.niksoftware.com<\/a> website. All available in one package to try for 15 days (for use in Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom and Apple Aperture – possibly others as well, but I’ve not fully checked)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a very quick 2 weeks time is almost up for the Nik Collection plugin trial (15 Days – though I do have a plan to extend this by using my Macbook and possibly a VMware Mac!). So what have I done, well dabbled a little bit – sadly unless you have a bit of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Plugins – Time is almost up”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,4,19],"tags":[329,66,326,328,327],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kebablog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kebablog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kebablog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kebablog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kebablog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1841"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.kebablog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1849,"href":"http:\/\/www.kebablog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841\/revisions\/1849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kebablog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kebablog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kebablog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}