TrulyObscure - article - gadgeteer - Nik Software and Datacolor: Digital Imaging Tools For Pros (or Anyone)

Posted by Greg May Nov 8, 08:54 PM to gadgeteer : -

We love using Photoshop here at TrulyObscure. As you can imagine from our array of photography equipment reviews, we take a lot of pictures using various digital SLR and pocket cameras. Taking so many images comes with a price- heavy storage needs for starters, but also a lack of time to handle post-processing.

Luckily, Nik Software offers some great plugins to Photoshop along with Lightroom and Aperture. We’ve had the chance to try out two of their tools, a collection of nifty filters they call Color Efex Pro 3.0, along with Viveza, a light and color control tool that can help make skin look natural, skies look deeper, and bright shades pop out.

Both software programs install easily to either Macs or PCs, and integrate seamlessly into your typical image editing applications. Typically, you’ll load your image into the application, and often folks will first either use auto-correction tools or use the “Curves” tool for finer adjustments. Viveza gives you more control, with less time, as you can select various spots on the image (they call them U Points) and apply changes evenly across them or using them. So, you can select your background, or grass, or stage, and easily adjust colors around that baseline- or use multiple control points to indicate various zones you can then effect individually. Alterations are non-destructive, as they can be modified later thanks to the Smart Objects feature in Photoshop. And we especially liked the ability in Lightroom and Aperture only to modify multiple similar images rapidly, by opening them at the same time and applying changes to one (then clicking “Next”). We weren’t huge fans of the varying feature sets- some items as mentioned above won’t work across all supported applications, and we also found out partway through our review that Viveza 2 will be released in December of 2009- but customers who purchase now will be eligible for a free upgrade. At $150, it’s potentially a tough sell, but they do offer a 15-day trial to help convince skeptics out there. We found it certainly useful, but primarily as a timesaving tool.

Color Efex Pro 3.0, though, offers some effects that it would be quite difficult to achieve otherwise. Though largely a collection of filters, some of them offer quite a bit of control. It’s easy to create gimmick images, but harder to make them look realistic or natural, and we’re happy to report that Color Efex offers a bit of both. Some can enhance the mood of most any shot, like the Brilliance/Warmth and Sunshine filters are quite flexible and natural, while others can be used to simulate various processes like old photos, film grain, and even one of our favorites shown above, Bleach Bypass. Offered in 3 different editions depending on which filters you need, the pricing is again a bit high between $100-$300. But the filters themselves are excellent, the best collection of filters that we’ve seen to handle color and lighting, and it works quite well in conjunction with Viveza. We found our image processing times decreased, and felt better about end results, with interesting and attention-grabbing images that still looked natural. You can’t ask for more than that.

That is, unless your monitor is off. Photo professionals will carefully calibrate their equipment, using white balance controls, and printers will ensure that your CMYK files are properly reproduced in true color. Of course, if your monitor is giving less-than-accurate impressions, all is lost. And that’s where Datacolor’s Spyder3Express comes in- a simple monitor color correction tool that automatically adjusts your monitor settings. It’s easy to setup and install, and does indeed look a bit like a spider- you place it onto your monitor, a bunch of colors flash on the screen, and it almost does the rest. Applications like Adobe’s Creative Suite can use the color management profile, and your pictures will come out truer and more accurate. Of course, at least one tester complained about the results- after calibration, the monitor looked different, and the ‘before and after’ feature can helpfully show you the changes made. But that tester was used to a brighter, more artificial image, and after walking away for a while and then coming back had to admit that the new version was far more accurate. You’ll probably only need the Express model, but they do offer others at varying price points for those with deeper needs, like multiple monitor matching and such. At $90 and available widely online, it’s a great way to easily and quickly improve your imaging results- and it couldn’t be faster.