Digitalopia

Nik Software recently updated their Color Efex Pro 3.0 software to provide support for Aperture 2.1+ though the addition of an edit plug-in. Note that the Aperture plug-in is not available with the Standard Edition of Color Efex Pro 3.0, only the Select and Complete Editions.

Color Efex Pro 3.0 provides a set of digital filters for colour correction, retouching and creative enhancements. They are analogous to traditional photographic filters, and some of the filter names will be familiar, such as Graduated Neutral Density and Skylight Filter.

Color Efex Pro 3.0 is available in three different versions at different price points and number of included filters. A 15 day free trial version is also available.

• Standard Edition - 15 Filters - $99.95 (Aperture plug-in not included)
• Select Edition - 35 Filters - $159.95
• Complete Edition - 52 Filters - $299.95

The filters provided with each edition are listed here.

After opening the plug-in with a selected photo, the plug-in interface is opened. The Complete Edition is shown in the screen shot below after the B/W Conversion plug-in has been applied.

The left side of the plug-in lists the available filters, grouped into a number of tabs; All, Traditional, Stylizing, Landscape or Portrait. Filters can also be added to a dedicated Favorites tab.

The center of the plug-in shows the selected photo. A number of different display modes are available.

• A single image is shown with the filter applied (a check-box can remove the preview, simply showing the image before the filter is applied.)
• Before and after photos are shown side-by-side (as shown in the screen shot above.) This is my preferred display mode, allowing to see the filter effects upon all parts of the photo.
• A single photo is shown split in two, the left side showing before and the right side showing after.

The right side of the plug-in shows the available options for the currently selected filter. A loupe is also provided that shows the before and after effects of the filter at the pixel level. The loupe displays the photo detail at the current mouse pointer location.

I will be adding some subsequent follow-up articles taking an example image and passing it through a number of the available filters to show the their effect and the filters available options.

Overall, Color Efex Pro 3.0 is a great Aperture plug-in and a valuable addition to your digital kit-bag. However, as the Aperture plug-in is only available with the Select and Complete Editions, which at $160 and $300 (minus that 5 cents!) respectively are quite expensive, it will only be popular with a select group of Aperture users. However, if you have not invested in Photoshop, a couple of Aperture plug-ins may be all you need to complete your digital workflow. I would definitely recommend using the free trial version to see if it offers enough features for the cost.

Over the last few weeks I have been documenting the various adjustments available in iPhoto 08. Many people do not really make full use of the adjustments offered by iPhoto. With iPhoto 08, Apple has introduced image adjustments that were usually only previously found in professional image editing applications.

Each of the following articles concentrates on a specific set of iPhoto adjustments.

• Levels
• Exposure & Contrast
• Highlights & Shadows
• Saturation, Temperature & Tint
• Sharpness & Reduce Noise

I hope you have enjoyed following this series of articles and that it will inspire you to start experimenting more with the adjustments. I will hopefully be revisiting the iPhoto adjustments in future articles, perhaps concentrating in more detail on one or two specific features.

This article is the last part of a series where I have covered the image adjustment features of iPhoto. Many users do not make full use of the adjustments offered by iPhoto. With iPhoto 08, Apple has introduced image adjustments that were usually only previously found in professional image editing applications.

Sharpness & Reduce Noise

The Sharpness & Reduce Noise tools allow you to adjust the edge and noise definition of an image.

Sharpness - Increasing the sharpness above the default increased the edge definition, giving the image a more crisp appearance.

Reduce Noise - Increasing the reduce noise above the default removes the peaks and troughs from the image textures, smoothing out the image.

For most image editing requirements, these adjustments should provide you with a very complete set of color adjustment tools. It should be noted that these tools operate on the whole photo. I have been in situations where I only wish to adjust a part of the image. In these cases, a more advanced image editing tool, such as Apple Aperture or Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop is required.

Read the rest of this entry »

This article is part of a series where I will cover the image adjustment features of iPhoto. Many users do not make full use of the adjustments offered by iPhoto. With iPhoto 08, Apple has introduced image adjustments that were usually only previously found in professional image editing applications.

Saturation, Temperature & Tint

The Saturation, Temperature & Tint controls are focused upon adjusting the image colors.

Saturation - Saturation describes the richness of the color in your photo.

Temperature - Temperature describes the coolness or warmth of the colors in your photo. Temperature is also used to define white balance in RAW images.

Tint - Tint describes an overall color cast in your photo.

For most image editing requirements, these adjustments should provide you with a very complete set of color adjustment tools. It should be noted that these tools operate on the whole photo. I have been in situations where I only wish to adjust a part of the image. In these cases, a more advanced image editing tool, such as Apple Aperture or Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop is required.

Read the rest of this entry »

This article is part of a series where I will cover the image adjustment features of iPhoto. Many users do not make full use of the adjustments offered by iPhoto. With iPhoto 08, Apple has introduced image adjustments that were usually only previously found in professional image editing applications.

Highlights & Shadows

The highlights can be considered the lighter areas of a photo. However, it should not be confused with the overall brightness of a photo, as when you adjust the highlights it does not change the overall brightness of the photo, but concentrates the adjustment on areas considered to be highlights, leaving the lower and mid tones alone. It is easier to understand after you have made highlight adjustments on a couple of photos. Increasing the highlights will darken the highlights, that has the effect of increasing the detail in the highlighted areas.

Shadows are the converse of highlights. Adjusting the shadows will adjust the darker areas of the photo, whilst leaving the mid and high tones alone. Increasing the shadow will lighten the shadow areas, that has the effect of increasing the detail in the shadow areas.

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This may be common knowledge, but I found a real gem when researching my iPhoto Adjustment articles.

When you are adjusting an image using the Adjust HUD, if you press the Shift key, iPhoto will display the original image before the adjustments were made. This is a really quick way of previewing your changes and seeing what changes they have made to the original photo.

We have so far covered the Levels Adjustments and the Exposure & Contrast Adjustments. We will be covering the other available iPhoto adjustments in upcoming articles.

This article is part of a series where I will cover the image adjustment features of iPhoto. Many users do not make full use of the adjustments offered by iPhoto. With iPhoto 08, Apple has introduced image adjustments that were usually only previously found in professional image editing applications.

Exposure & Contrast

The exposure adjustment controls the overall lightness and darkness of the image. Similar to its meaning when taking a photo, a low exposure describes a darker image and a high exposure describes a lighter image. Even though the exposure adjustment can change the overall exposure of an image, it will not add any detail lost if the original image was either under (too dark) or over (too light) exposed. You should always be trying to take shots that are correctly exposed, ensuring that maximum detail has been captured.

The contrast adjustment changes the differences between the lightness and darkness of the image. By increasing the contrast, the lighter parts of the image become lighter and the darker parts become darker. Conversely, if you decrease the contrast, the differences between lighter and darker parts of the image decreases.

Read the rest of this entry »

This article represents the first in a series where I will cover the image adjustment features of iPhoto. Many users do not make full use of the adjustments offered by iPhoto. With iPhoto 08, Apple has introduced image adjustments that were usually only previously found in professional image editing applications.

To display the image adjustments HUD (Head’s Up Display) in iPhoto, either of the following will work.

• Select a photo in the browser and click the ‘Edit’ button in the toolbar at the bottom, or
• Double click a photo in the browser and then select the ‘Edit’ button in the toolbar at the bottom

Levels

The Levels adjustment is displayed as an RGB (Red, Green, Blue) graph at the top of the adjustments HUD. Three sliders are provided underneath the graph that control the various tone levels of the image, the Lows, the Mids and the Highs. More advanced applications such as Aperture allow finer-grained control of each color channel; however, iPhoto only operates across all three channels at once. For most adjustments this restriction is perfectly fine.

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