
In the following black-and-white image, I use the technique to open up some dark shadows on the mountain’s rockface. One technique I like to use with Nik Silver Efex Pro is to combine the Soft Contrast slider with the Dynamic Brightness slider. Fortunately, Nik Silver Efex Pro has some tools that we can use to correct the problem. Colour helps us to distinguish between different areas of the image but once we remove the colour, the tones appear similar. At the same time, it can cause image detail to become lost. When converting an image to black and white, removing the colour often causes a reduction in contrast. Creating Tonal Separation to Reveal Detail But it’s always best to start by making these subtle changes before using other adjustments in Nik Silver Efex Pro. Which colour response sliders and filters work best will depend on the colours in the image. This created better defined clouds and has given the foreground rocks greater definition. At the same time, I moved the Yellow and Red response sliders right to make those colours lighter. Here you can see the colour image we will use in this tutorial, before converting to Black and White.įor this example, I moved the Blue and Cyan sliders to the left to darken those colours. It’s also one that you might want to consider for every photo that you convert in Nik Silver Efex Pro. It’s therefore a good idea to start with this technique. This one is such a powerful technique because it can completely change the way a colour photo responds to black and white conversion. Colour Filters and Colour Response Sliders With that out of the way, let’s look at the first technique. If you don’t have Nik Silver Efex Pro, you can download a 30-day free trial of the Nik Collection (including Nik Silver Efex Pro) from the DxO website.

Although I’ll be using Nik Silver Efex Pro from the Nik Collection 3, they work with even the older free Google version of Nik. One of the things that so great about these techniques, besides them being easy to use, is that they work with all versions of the Nik Collection. With a little practice, you will be able to understand which these as you start to apply adjustments. It’s usually best to pick individual techniques that work well, rather than thinking you need to use all three. Also, trying to use all three techniques with a single photo may just be too much. You will probably find that one of the techniques works better with some photos than others.

Whilst this tutorial covers three techniques, you don’t need to use them all with every photo. Which Nik Silver Efex Pro Technique to Use
