How To Photography: Creative Macro Enhancements with Nik Software

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I was pretty excited to start working with the new Color Efex Pro 4, as all the new updates sounded awesome. I really like that we can now stack filters, as it was something that I had been doing often with Nik’s Color Efex Pro 3.0, but I had to save each change, exit from the interface window and then enter the image back in each time to add additional filters. Also, I found the new added filters along with the new visual presets in each filter to be a nice improvement. I know I will be using the new Detailed Extractor filter a lot!

Here is the first image I processed using the new Color Efex Pro 4. I had this nice group of potted Gerbera Daisies that was for an upcoming Macro Boot Camp, and I decided to take a shot of it myself.

Here is the original image:

Step 1

After launching Color Efex Pro 4, I started with the Detailed Extractor filter to pull out all of the nice details in the petals and the centers of the flowers. The background leaves came out a little too dark, so I placed a minus Control Point on the green background leaves to brighten them up.

Step 2

Then, I clicked on “Add Filter” and experimented with some of the other filters, and decided that the Bleach Bypass filter added a nice look. Bleach Bypass gave the image that HDR (High Dynamic Range) illustrated feel.

Step 3

I wanted to play a little bit with the colors in the petals, and a filter that I like a lot for working with color changes is the “Cross Processing” filter. I took a look at some of the presets, but decided to start off by going through the different Method dropdown options. I chose B10, which added a little more purple in the petals.

Step 4

Then, I pressed okay and it took me back into my Photoshop program. I always take all of my images into Viveza 2 after Color Efex Pro 4 to do my final tweaking. With this image I wanted to tone down the highlights in the background leaves a little bit, and also do some darkening of the black circle near the flower’s center, as well as brighten the very center of the flower. Not big changes, just subtle tweaks, and I’m happy with the nice moody feel. I had lots of compliments when I posted this image on my blog and social media sites. Nik Software came through again for me again!

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