There’s also a new adjustment for “fine structure”. The result is the increase of apparent detail throughout the image without unwanted artifacts”.): This has been expanded/upgraded – adjustments can be made highlights, midtones, and shadows.

Structure adjustment (quoting Nik Software: “Increasing contrast within the objects without affecting the edges of each object. A “dynamic brightness” adjustment has been added (the Dynamic Brightness slider automatically adapts the brightness applied to each area differently – more detail later in this review).Ĭontrast – Now provides three sliders: Amplify Whites, Amplify Blacks, and Soft Contrast. Brightness can now be adjusted in highlights, midtones, and shadows. You can also save your own adjustments in a custom preset.īrightness – previously had one slider adjustment. You can use presets for a one-click conversion, as a starting point for further edits and adjustments. There are some new ones, and all have been organized into categories for easy reference. Silver Efex Pro 2 has a great lineup of pre-sets – one click on a pre-set converts your image into your selected black and white “look”.

Note that SEP2 always starts out applying the default “Normal” preset (outlined in orange) – and in this case the image looks a bit dark to me. Here’s the original color image that I worked on for this article: And even if you’re only occasionally converting a color image to black and white, you’ll find the software to be well worth the investment in time and money. The high level of control and customization available in Silver Efex Pro 2 (SEP2) make this an excellent tool for serious photographers. Some might say that the presets and other tools available in programs like Lightroom or Aperture are sufficient to create good black and white images – but I can’t agree that they are the best choice. Whether you’re considering using SEP2 for the first time, or upgrading, you’ll find that the software is well-designed – it has an intuitive interface, good balance between presets and customization, improved editing options, runs faster, and produces excellent image quality.

Silver efex pro