Jeff Wendorff » NIK

HDR with Nik HDR Efex Pro

Jeff — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:11:45 +0000

I’ve never been a big fan of HDR photography, I’ve normally put it in the category of just because you can does not mean that you should. As you know, I almost never photograph anything that does not have a heart beat and so it is the rare case when I have a HDRable (my new word) image to work with. Seriously, try to get a bird to sit motionless for 30 seconds… Anyway, on my trip to Costa Rica we stopped at a church with the specific intent of getting some interior shots to HDR. I was grousing about the whole concept while looking out the van windows for some birds to photograph, but Greg showed me an image that he had taken at the church and I was sold.

Using my Nikon D300s and a 10mm lens I set up the shot and programmed the camera to take 9 images and to change the exposure by 1 stop on each image. My exposure duration went from 1/400 to a little more than half a second so of course I was on a tripod. In the camera, the images went from nearly black with just the light from a few of the stained glass panels to nearly blown out all over the image in the last. UGH, this was ugly.

I am a big NIK software fan and I buy all of their software whether I really needed it or not and so I have their HDR Pro software. As a side note, I use Dfine and Sharpener on all of my images. The next step is really the easiest. You open the images in Photoshop and open the NIK HDR filter and say “merge says a me” and voila, you’ve got a fully exposed image. Yes, I know you don’t really have to say the magic words, but it so magical it makes it more fun. Try it, you know you want to. This is the quite simplified version, there are a lot of sliders and effects that you can play with and come up with a bunch of other looks for your HDR image. I was trying to create as natural an image as possible given the situation. Many of the options will give you a far more artistic rendering, so enjoy it! Click the image to embiggen it. I like to make up words too…

You can buy a copy of NIK HDR Pro from this link.

Nik Software HDR Efex Pro Software

NIK Updates All Plugins to 64Bit

Jeff — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:14:13 +0000

NIK finished off their laborious update of their incredible photography plugins. With the update of Dfine and Sharpener all of their products can take advantage of the speed and performance benefits of 64Bit operating systems.

WOOHOO!

As with the other plugins, these updates are also free. You can download them on the Nik Software site…HERE!

If you’ve been waiting to take the plunge, I have added a link for the complete package and it is on sale for less than $450. That is for all of the plugins! As of this writing the description does not include HDRPro, but that is incorrect this collection is for all plugins.

Nik Software Complete Collection – Professional Photographic Tools for Photoshop, Lightroom, and Aperture

Nik Software Updates 64 Bit Goodness

Jeff — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:03:22 +0000

My favorite photography photoshop plugin developer, Nik Software continues to push out updates to take advantage of 64bit processing power in Mac computers. They have now made Viveza 2, Silver Efex Pro and Color Efex Pro 3.0 available in 64 bit. These updates are all free and available for download on their website…HERE.

Nik Sharpener and Nik Dfine are going to be able before the end of the year.

If you don’t own these filters, I think you should. They are all outstanding and work really really well. As I have said before, at least one Nik filter touches every image I’ve taken…

I’ll make it easy, here are links to Nik products. Go on I know you want them!

Color Efex Pro 3.0-Complete

Viveza 2

Silver Efex Pro

Sharpener Pro 3.0 by Nik Software

Dfine 2.0

Nik Software Updates Viveza to 64 Bit

Jeff — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 01:52:28 +0000

I love NIK software, I doubt there is an image in my portfolio that at least one of their magnificent software packages has not touched. They have just released an update (FREE to registered users) of their crazy good Viveza software. The good news is that Mac (finally) gets 64bit support. If you read what they say they was not a trivial matter and yet, they are not charging for the upgrade. That customer service is a hallmark of this greta company. I highly recommend them!

I am sure the rest of the packages will be rolling out shortly.

Per Nik Software and a link to the free updates is…HERE.

Version 2.003 for Mac includes:

64-Bit Compatible
Fixes additional minor bugs

Viveza 2.003 has been updated for 64-bit compatibility for the Macintosh and Windows operating systems. If you are currently running a workflow that supports 64-bit, such as Adobe Photoshop CS5 and/or Macintosh OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard), please download this update.

However, if you are currently using Adobe Photoshop CS2 and/or Macintosh OS 10.4 (Tiger), which do not run natively in 64-bit, the update is currently not compatible in these environments.

Version 2.003 for Windows includes:

64-Bit Compatible
Fixes additional minor bugs

Of course, if you don’t own Viveza, you can buy it from me!

Viveza 2

NIK Sharpener 3.0

Jeff — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:28:10 +0000

YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!

You don’t even need to read my post just follow this link and buy it! It is really that good…

I have been waitng seemingly forever for this new release from Nik Software. I absolutely love their products and literally use them every day. Every image I take gets touched by at least one piece of NIK software. The biggest “problem” with sharpener has been the size of the image that could be seen while you were working. It was very small and while you could enlarge to 100% and beyond it was still quite hard to see what was going on. All better now! Taking the same UI as Dfine and the filters it really gives you an ample workspace. I also love that all of the filters dock together and I can NIK whatever needs “Niking” all at once.

Sharpener Pro 3.0 is the most advanced and powerful sharpening solution eliminating the guesswork typically required for achieving superior and consistent results.

New adaptive sharpening algorithms and award-winning U Point® technology for selective sharpening ensure desired sharpness or creative softening of details are easily accomplished. The Sharpening Soft Proof that lets you accurately inspect results before printing saving money in costly test prints, improved handling of new output devices, and new output presets provide repeatable, professional results. Sharpener Pro 3.0 is the only tool that provides controls for both output and creative detail sharpening of different objects quickly and easily without the need to make different adjustment layers for each object or area.

A recognized leader in digital imaging technology, Nik Software has developed class-leading solutions to specific challenges photographers face when sharpening images throughout the photographic workflow and packaged them in one convenient toolset. Use Sharpener Pro 3.0 to regain clarity in digital images, draw the viewer’s attention to the focal point of an image and achieve professional, high quality sharpened images every time.

Read the rest of what they have to say on NIK’s website here.