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My way of using SEP effectively

Posted by Merco_61, 28 January 2015 · 1,764 views

I made a promise in April to try to write down how I use Silver Efex Pro. Here it is.

I start by choosing the film type I want.

After chosen film emulation, I run the panes from top to bottom. I start by setting Brightness, Contrast and Structure overall.

Then I add Control points and adjust B, C and S locally where I want to. After that I check that I haven’t introduced any artifacts from too aggressive adjustments by switching the control points off and on one by one.

If necessary, I use the protect highlights/shadows sliders, but remember to open the histogram so I see what I am doing, not only what happens in the photo.

Now it is time to emulate filters. I try out what looks best, and if I end up by one standard filter having too much and the next too little effect on balance, I set my own hue between the standard settings. It is possible to get a subtle or strong degree of the filter effect by adjusting the strength.

The last step before finalizing the edit is playing around in the stylizing pane until I get the look I want.

Final step is a last check of the tone placement in the zone system. I turn zone overlay on and hover the mouse pointer over each zone in turn and check that it is balanced the way I want before hitting save.



Here is an example

This is the starting point
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PanF
Brightness, contrast and structure adjusted
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Added control points
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Slight protection of the shadows
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A yellow-green filter applied
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Selenium toning with an added yellowish paper tone
Checked tone placement. Only the deepest of shadows in zone 0 and the brightest highlights in zone 8
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Very nice Peter!  Thank you for taking the time to put that out...

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Yes--thanks! It's nice to see the process applied by someone who actually knows what they're doing and has a background in B&W film…unlike myself, who does it just by eyeballing and thinking "oh, that looks ok." :)

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Thanks for putting this together. Now I need to find an image to play with.  

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