11 Doorways to Extraordinary Black and White Photography with Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro 2

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silver_efex image 1. Open Door #1 and you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that Silver Efex Pro 2 from Nik Software has become the world’s leading black and white software because it delivers multiple power-and-control solutions for a wide range of photographers.

Read real customer reviews of the Silver Efes Pro 2 here.

2. Behind Door #2 is Nik Software’s patented U-Point Technology that makes Silver Efex Pro 2 and other Nik Software products, such as HDR Efex Pro and Color Efex Pro 4, superior photographic enhancement tools. U-Point Technology provides a level of precise control that no competitive software matches. With one click of your mouse, you can create a single control point and select an area of an image. Sliders then appear that are directly linked to the control point, so you can carefully and accurately fine-tune the tonality and contrast in that portion of your black-and-white image, saving the time and headaches often associated with complicated selections and layer masks found on other products.

3. Door #3 leads to the Intuitive History Browser, one of the new features of Silver Efex Pro 2. With this tool, you’ll have total flexibility to return to any previous state of your editing session. The History State Selector makes it possible to compare any of the states of your work either in full-view, side-by-side view or split-view.

4. Door #4 provides you access to the Structure and Fine Structure features. Structure has been a part of Silver Efex Pro 2 from the beginning. Instead of being limited to contrast adjustments of light and dark areas along the edges, Structure gives you accurate control between the edges. Fine Structure is a new enhancement for version 2 that allows you to reveal the smallest details throughout your black-and-white image, but still keep it realistic.

5. You won’t hesitate to enter Door #5 when you discover the new Soft Contrast capability. Instead of producing the often stark look of typical contrast, Soft Contrast makes light and dark details look more natural, since it applies contrast according to the specific parameters of the details.

6. Door #6 is the way to another important point of control, which is Nik Software’s use of the latest multi-threaded, 64-bit GPU processing. Silver Efex Pro 2 responds quicker to your commands and selections, so you can create more in less time.

7. Door #7 is definitely a smart choice because waiting on the other side is another new feature, Dynamic Brightness. “Dynamic” is certainly an excellent description of this tool. You can adjust the brightness of different portions of your image, according to their tonal readings, with no effect to the lighter or darker objects in the photo.

8. Door #8 will reveal the Natural Image Borders feature of Silver Efex Pro 2. It works with a randomizing algorithm to provide you with a variety of border styles that are beautiful, realistic and scalable.

9. Be prepared to be amazed when you open Door #9. You’ll find yourself in a magical place of Specially Developed Algorithms that provides you with fully integrated controls. As you adjust any of the contrast capabilities of Silver Efex Pro 2, these intelligent algorithms work together to ensure that a change here is in balance with a change there.

10. Door #10 gives you access to the Amplify-Blacks-and-Whites feature. You’ll be more creative and render more impact by emphasizing highlights and shadows, with no blocking of dark areas or blowouts of light portions of your image.

11. Open Door #11 to add color to your edited black-and-white image with Nik Software’s U Point Technology. Pick the area where you want color with a single click of your mouse, and then utilize the new Selective Color slider to adjust any color enhancement you choose.

12. The final door puts Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro 2 and its unparalleled black-and-white precision in your hands for just $199.95.

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