Another month for the One Four Challenge which you can read about it, and join it here. This challenge is about processing 1 image in 4 different ways over 4 weeks.
For this month I decided to use a photograph I had taken of some cormorants sitting in a dead tree..with a cormorant flying in to join them.
This week I decided to take advantage of a trial download of the Black and White photography program Silver Efex Pro2 which I installed as an add-on to Photoshop. I went through the 38 presets and liked the effect of the overexposed( EV+1) preset and the high key 2 preset best. I was working with the uncropped original version of my photo and to my surprise I noticed that a few cormorants had been hiding in the colour photo(look hard and you can spot them in the original). Choosing to work with the overexposed preset, I did some fine-tuning of the preset but I don’t remember details(oops again!).
So for week 2 I changed to a more expanded crop than week 1 and got this black and white version. The cormorants are reasonably clear but the bushes at the bottom are a bit fuzzy unfortunately. I am not sure that this composition works..but I wanted to “show off” the extra cormorants and how editing can bring out missed details.
I do like this program but not sure if I want to spend the big bucks for it..$169 Canadian!!! I haven’t done a lot of black and white processing so I think I should probably learn the old-fashioned way(ie Lightroom or Photoshop!)
Gallery of edits so far:
Linking to One Four Challenge week 2 September here.
coolquilting 
Sorry if you get two comments Marsha – my first just disappeared 😐
I like the treatment you’ve given this – a kind of old feel… and fun that those other cormorants turned up!
Did you decide on the Nik suite? I have them too and think they’re great, but must confess I don’t use them much these days. They are good value though. Did you trial them all?
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I tried a few of them….didn’t like the HDR effects one…I am thinking I will not buy it yet
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You might find a coupon code somewhere Marsha – that’s when I grabbed it.
Have you tried the Topaz plugins? They are excellent and you can try them also for 30 days. Enjoy 😃
We can do lots in our software too without plugins – as you say 😃
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Love that flying Cormorant – it’s so graceful and so good that you found more while trying edits. It’s fun when that happens. Bonus 😃 I like the kind of old fashioned feel you’ve given this.
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I like the way it focuses in on the birds. Nicely done …!!!
Isadora 😎
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Beautiful, I like the texture of the week 2. Nik program is great, I need to use it more often. 🙂
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Black and White often brings out details that colored version don’t. I liked seeing the extra birds in this weeks edit but I liked the textural feel that last weeks edit had just a little more.
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The black and white is good, although it doesn’t quite have the action that last weeks had. I think there was something about the texture that made it special. A good edit.
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thanks..yes the background is a bit boring!
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It really feels like there is something missing. I look forward to next week.
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Beautiful, love black and white! 🙂
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Great image. It’s interesting how the black and white combined with the full crop gives the whole picture a completely different look.
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Very nice – i didn’t see those other cormorants before. looking at this edit I’m thinking you might want to spring for it! 🙂
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Hi Marsha – i found the other 3 cormorants. It’s funny how you focus on one side and can easily miss something. Like you when I was looking for Silver Efex thought it was a bit steep but got a surprise when the full kit appeared. It Is a nice program as Stacey said.
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I love your week one version and don’t see how you could improve upon it. I, too, would question spending the big bucks for SiverFx Pro2. But now in your comments, I see that the price quoted is for the complete bundle. Still, if you are working with Lightroom and Photoshop, there are so many free downloads you can get. Check out OnOne’s site for some free b & w downloads, for one.
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Thanks…I feel the same about trying to improve week 1…and I have a few items from On One…..
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Marsha – the Nik suite is really powerful – to get everything used to cost about $700 and then when Google bought it they dropped it to $149 USD and I snapped it up faster than a fast thing, never regretted it, there are about 7 programs in there offereing lots of options but I confess I use Silver Efex by far and away the most 🙂
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Thanks..I actually thought just the silver Efex pro2 was $169….I didn’t realize that was for the whole suite…….have to rethink my strategy now!!
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Yes you get everything for that price, Viveza, Colour Efex, DeNoise and an HDR thing and something else
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