Just tested out another new digital darkroom toy- Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro. Silver Efex Pro is a tool for creating black and white images. For my test shot, I revisited my WIRR from a few weeks ago- the solitary tree.
Here is the picture in color:
Here is the version that I created using Aperture’s monochrome mixer (with a red filter):
Not too bad- good enough for my image of the week. But if you look at it, you’ll notice some noisy blotches in the sky. That noise appeared to be introduced by Aperture, as it wasn’t in the original shot, and Aperture’s noise reduction tools didn’t seem to have any effect.
So here is the shot with Silver Efex Pro, again using a red filter. I lowered the exposure in Aperture to make it look closer to the original black and white image above.
Wow. No noise whatsoever. This is great… but… it seems a little lifeless, doesn’t it. How about we go back into Silver Efex Pro, and add some grain. You know, like the old black and white film that you loaded into your camera way back last century.
Das Haus von Ruh 