
Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 Zone System Tutorial Manual Cloud Folder
Free demo of the Nik software available. This is the version in the 2020 DxO Nik collection. If you cancel or downgrade your paid membership, you will still have access to all of the files in the Creative Nik Software Silver Efex Pro 2 Manual Cloud folder on your computerNik Silver Efex Pro 2 Download Mac, Oem Siemens Solid Edge 2020, Lynda.com - AutoCAD 2016 Essential Training Download Free, Cyberlink Power2go 13 Free DownloadEver since I published my article about metering for film and how to approach exposure to achieve optimal results with color negative film, I have gotten an overwhelming amount of positive feedback from film photographers who were finally able to achieve good, consistent results by applying a very simple approach to metering.Keith Cooper has been looking at the latest version of the Photoshop plug-in Silver Efex Pro (V2), from Nik Software. Your Creative Nik Software Silver Efex Pro 2 Manual Cloud files are stored on your desktop as well as on the Nik Software Silver Efex Pro 2 Manual Creative Nik Software Silver Efex Pro 2 Manual Cloud servers.
The Silver Efex brings the images to life (preset 005 is my favorite for most of my images). My workflow for digital is to convert RAWs to TIFFs, then load into Photomatix, convert to b/w in PhotoShop, process in NIK Silver Efex, then add high-pass sharpening. Along the way, get tips on using Niks zone system and U Point technology and be.Push or pull development using the zone system is pure HDR processing. Many traditionalists asked about the Zone System, and how I could so blatantly ignore the rules of physics and what master photographers like Ansel Adams and Fred Archer have established in the darkroom for all of us decades ago – long before I ever picked up a camera.He also explains how to use Silver Efex Pro 2 to make gorgeous. I also received a lot of questions and some criticism.
Like many other photographers before me, I often wasn’t happy with how my results looked and it seemed to be a matter of luck whether or not a technically good and properly exposed negative would look good as a final image. I was looking for something that works well in both worlds, preferably with identical results.When I first started shooting B&W, I metered and exposed very traditionally. Overexposed and underdeveloped negatives are easier to print in the darkroom, but they usually look flat and lifeless on the scanner and need a lot of tweaking. The mantra “expose for the shadows, develop for the highlights” reflects exactly that, and suggests to overexpose and underdevelop.That in itself doesn’t really make sense according to the Zone System, because it artificially changes the density and the tone curve of the negative. The general consensus among B&W photographers always seemed to be that you can overexpose color negative film, but shouldn’t try that with B&W film or you would risk losing your highlights. They are not paying me to do these videos nor will I make any commission if you choose to pu.I had shared before that you don’t need to worry about your highlights when shooting color negative film and demonstrated this by shooting an exposure bracket for Portra 400 in search of an answer to the question for where the limit for overexposure really lies (about 7-8 stops over base exposure, believe it or not).This motivated me to research a little more in depth for B&W film too in order to see if I could come up with a similar approach.
I have since then researched the topic in depth, shot hundreds of rolls of B&W film, experimented with all kinds of exposure settings, chemicals and development formulas. Until the current day I have never lost a single frame due to increased exposure or even gross overexposure.What I discovered led me to challenge the foundation of how we think about photography today. Yes, the look of B&W film changes the more you overexpose it, but despite an increase of grain and contrast, my results were always good. I even tried overexposing Tri-X 400 by 5 stops and then overdeveloped it another 3 stops – just to see what the film can take – and I still got usable results. Instead of flat and lifeless, my B&Ws all of a sudden looked rich, vibrant and had a beautiful tonal range without losing either shadows or highlights.Leica M2 + Leica Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (Kodak Tri-X 400 in XTOL, overexposed by 1 stop, overdeveloped by 1 stop)I started shooting my B&W film just like I shoot color negative film, rating it at half box speed and metering for the shadows. The more dense my negatives were, the better my scans came out.
The technique is based on late 19th century sensitometry studies and it provides photographers with a systematic method of precisely defining the relationship between the way you visualize a photographic subject and the final results.That sounds complicated, but it simply means that you have to pick your exposure based on tonal values, so that the black you see in a scene also looks black in your final result and not middle gray. It’s a photographic technique for determining optimal film exposure and development. The great news is that you can forget about it now (in case you didn’t ever completely understand or like it anyway), because there’s a much easier and more reliable way to get good and very consistent results.Leica M2 + Leica Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (Kodak Tri-X 400 in XTOL, overexposed by 2 stops, overdeveloped by 1 stop)But let’s take a step back and look at what the Zone System is about. Along with that, I discussed my findings with accomplished photographers and master printers like Paul Caponigro and Gary Briechle.All of my efforts only confirmed my theory and lead me to a very simple but relatively disturbing conclusion:What may sound funny and flippant is meant very serious: I believe Ansel Adams’ Zone System, the holy grail of traditional B&W photography, is fundamentally flawed.

A digital response curve is way more harsh and binary, but you don’t have to worry about shadow detail.Leica M-A + Leica Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (Kodak Tri-X 400 in XTOL, overexposed by 4 stops, overdeveloped by 1 stop)One of the most important things about film photography, which I mentioned in my last article about metering, is that you work with an exposure range when shooting film, rather than a “fixed value” that delivers a perfectly exposed image. Digital cameras just clip the highlights if you overexpose too much, and don’t gently fade off like film. Depending on the contrast range of the scene, slide film won’t be able to capture more than 7-8 stops and you will lose your highlights if you don’t meter accordingly. That’s even more so with slide film. Dividing every image into 10 identical zones is a questionable approach, because the tonal response of a large format negative and a way smaller 35mm negative to the same exposure, the same amount of light, are completely different.It’s also important to take into account that color negative film and true B&W film do not respond the exact same way.
This makes for very thin negatives without enough density and resulting images that look flat and murky (yes, the once so popular faded blacks in digital post processing were never based on properly exposed film).No correlation between exposure and tonal valuesThe biggest misconception resulting from the zone system is the suggested correlation between tonal values in a scene and tonal values in your print or scan. For very many scenes the tonal range at the lower end of the histogram (the first 2-3 zones) is brought onto the wrong end of the histogram and doesn’t receive sufficient exposure to carry any information in the chemical emulsion. How many zones a scene really has changes based on the lighting situation and the contrast range.Metering for neutral gray often makes shadow areas fall into the wrong range, or if you like, zone. Not because metering is more difficult than with a digital camera, but because all light meters are using medium gray as their point of reference. Tri-X 400, for example, requires to be metered and exposed for at least ISO 400 (“box speed”), but it can be exposed from about ISO 800 to ISO 25 (-1 to +4 stops) with very good results without adjusting the development times (normal processing, no pushing or pulling).The most common problem in film photography is underexposure.
Every image is an interpretation of the negative, no matter if it’s scanned or printed.Ansel Adams talked about that in his writings. The photographer decides with each print how he would like to final result to look like and can adjust the brightness and the contrast of a print frame by frame – just like a pro lab does this on the scanner. If you meter two stops darker to bring medium gray into a different zone, you will get a darker image but also mess up your negative and get faded, washed out looking shadows and blacks.Leica M2 + Leica Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (Kodak Tri-X 400 in XTOL, underexposed by 2 stops, overdeveloped by 1 stop)It’s also not correct that darkroom prints are straight, unmanipulated results where the metered tonal value of the scene translates from the negative directly onto the paper. If you would like to achieve a dark and moody look with B&W, you still have to expose your negative correctly and then adjust on the scanner or the enlarger.
His famous print “Moon over Hernandez”, for example, significantly changed over time with his personal preference while the exposure of his negative obviously didn’t change.
