How To Photography: Making Good Photos Great with Viveza 2

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It is often said that a good photographer is a successful storyteller. As photographers, we may have a really good photograph that could be improved to make it a great photograph. Often, the difference between good and great is just a minor adjustment.

As a professional photographer, one of the Nik Software tools I reach for most often to make those adjustments is Viveza 2.

Viveza 2 gives me greater control optimizing an entire image, and also allows for creative fine-tuning by targeting specific areas. As photographers, we often envision our subject a bit differently than how the camera records the image. Viveza 2 allows us to complete our vision with subtle and easy adjustments.

I work towards making an image look its best in the least amount of time. This gives me more time doing what I like to do best, make pictures! Viveza 2 gives me immediate control with sliders that control brightness, contrast and saturation. In addition, its sliders that control structure, shadow adjustments, color and hue are also at my fingertips.

Viveza 2 is sophisticated, yet simple and straightforward in functionality, which makes the learning curve a breeze. No complex masking is needed, I just place a Control Point on an area that I want to tweak, and Viveza 2 does the work. Control Points are completely adjustable in size and function. The first thing I do is a quick review of the image for what works, what doesn’t, and what can be improved. With that in mind, I can quickly make adjustments.

With the image above, taken from Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC, I optimized the image in Adobe Camera Raw, and opened the image in Photoshop for a few tweaks. It’s in Viveza 2 that I was easily able to reduce brightness in a small patch of clouds, and enhance the golden glow of the city lights without affecting the rest of the image. This type of adjustment makes my job as a photographer much easier, faster, and certainly more fun!

Bonus Tip

I like to use textures with my infrared images. This is a simple process of combining images using a blend mode in Photoshop. One of my favorite ways to work with an infrared image is to convert it to black and white using Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2. Next, I’ll add a texture layer and choose a blend mode to create a look with a little more depth and drama. Lastly, Viveza 2 allows for easy optimization such as contrast and structure, bringing out wonderful detail in the texture, and accentuating the image.

Photographers from novice to professional will find that Viveza 2 is an effective tool for easy and elegant adjustments to photographs.