ABOUT ME

I live in a camper van with a West Highland Terrier for company.
My passion is creating images but it is a work in progress.
I am always willing to share what knowledge I have and can be contacted through the comments on this post or e-mail ADRIAN
ALL IMAGES WILL ENLARGE WITH A LEFT CLICK

Sunday 27 March 2016

PLAYING WITH NIK. (27/03/16)

As I mentioned yesterday the free NIK filters are installed and I’ve had a play. They are much as I remembered them but of course I didn’t recall the work flow. There are some sets which are very extreme, particularly the analogue lookalike ones but then I’m not a Lomo enthusiast and nor have I ever liked cross processing so I suppose I ought to have anticipated that.
Yesterday morning I had a trip to Perth to pick up some bucket teeth._MG_3979_HDRThe view from Finning's. This is okay, it’s pushed quite hard and though there is noise and the trace of a halo it will do. I should have used the noise reduction filter that comes with NIK but forgot it had one.
_MG_3988_HDR
As you can see it was a bit damp. Again it is just starting to halo.
_MG_4003_HDR
Subtle.
_MG_3994_HDR
Not so subtle.
All these are HDR processed from three exposures.
Have a good week.

22 comments:

  1. I like the coloured broken tree shots best.

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  2. From the webpage there looked to be lots of options across the filters, so I'm guessing lots of fun to be had playing with all the settings. So far these all look great, and my guess is this is easier than manually altering each one?

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    1. Mark, yes lots of things. It does masking automatically and uses Photoshop brushes so still a fair bit of work for a perfect job. It does have zone markers which can be duplicated, grouped or adjusted separately so not necessarily any quicker unless you are happy with the presets.

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  3. Love the photos. The building in the reflection is my favourite. Have a great day.

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    1. Marie, I already have Alf's mum has been for lunch.

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  4. The HDR program was the only NIK program that I purchased back in the day. At some point in time, that allowed me to have the whole suite. Now, I find that LR and PS do HDR the way that I like them done although I use it seldom.

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    1. John, I like it because it gives more punch than Photomatix. I love HDR and would love to be able to apply it to video. Video is almost there but then I'd rather have a Ferrari than a computer that could handle the file sizes. I wish I could afford either.

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  5. I seem to find just about everything I need with Topaz and Photoshop, but I did spend quite a bit of time yesterday saying "NIK!' Looking at the results a day later, I can see I over-did everything. I will eventually explore more and more.... What the heck, it was free and I'm not wasting film!

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    1. Bill, I had Topaz years ago and it could certainly add drama.
      I start with default settings and work up. I find it difficult to tone down effects.

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  6. I like the reflection photo :)

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  7. I really must have another go with HDR, Adrian. I tried the free trial version of Photomatix, and got some results that I was quite pleased with - apart from the photomatix overprint!! I even found that I could get good results with just one photo - shoot in RAW, then tweek the RAW to get four other copies of the same image with different exposure compensations.

    By the way - I usually go to the dentist for my teeth!! But then I don't have buck teeth!

    Best wishes - - - Richard


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    1. Richard, NIK is free and not far behind Photomatix.. I rarely use a single image and for building interiors will often use five exposures. I say often but it must be a couple of years since I went to that trouble.
      Digger bucket teeth. Finnings are Caterpillar dealers.

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  8. I wish that I understood what you are talking about.

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    1. Graham I often wish I knew where and who I am.

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  9. The reflection of that old building in the puddle is just beautiful Adrian.

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  10. You got some really nice results with the filter.

    Mersad
    Mersad Donko Photography

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    1. Mersad, not really but I'll keep playing as the control points are excellent used properly.

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  11. I do like the reflective building and the broken tree. Not so sure about the last one but such things are very subjective. Today I ignored the preset offerings and had a play with control points in the Veviza filter. They can make for very speedy alterations to parts of a photo. I think I ended up with about 12 points. Dfine seems to work well at reducing noise. I'll put up the result tomorrow.

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    1. I am doing likewise. It's a pity that I haven't found a way of exporting the masks it does a great job. The noise reduction is good. Better than Photoshop I'm going to try sharpening now.

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