There is a Brightness slider, for example, but below that there are subsidiary sliders for Highlights, Midtones and Dynamic Brightness, which applies an adaptive adjustment to produce a low-key or high-key effect without tonal compression or lowered contrast. Once you’ve created an effect you think you might want to use again in the future, you can save it as a new, custom preset.Ī trawl through the manual tools reveals the depth of control you have over your images. This means you can quickly select a preset that’s close to the final effect you’re looking for and then tweak a couple of the controls to apply the finishing touches. The presets panel uses the image you’re working on to produce a live thumbnail preview, so there’s no need for any click-it-and-see trial and error.Įach of these presets is created with a specific combination of tools and setting, which you can see in the tools panel on the right. It’s not a huge number, but they cover a very wide range of styles – and these presets are also organised into categories such as Modern, Classic and Vintage, to help you find them more easily. There are now around 50 presets in all, including new “En Vogue” presets added back in the DxO Nik Collection 2. It still uses the regular Nik Collection screen setup, with a big selection of ready-to-go presets in a panel on the left, backed up by comprehensive manual adjustments on the right, but there have been some changes – more on this shortly. Silver Efex Pro 3 is one of two plug-ins updated heavily for the DxO Nik Collection 4 release (the other is Viveza 3). There’s a choice of one-click presets (left) or in-depth manual adjustments (right). How it works You can launch Silver Efex Pro 3 as a plug-in from Photoshop or Lightroom, or as a standalone application.

It aims to replicate the look, feel and depth of classic black and white films and darkroom techniques and, unlike many of its rivals, it succeeds.

This is the black and white conversion plug-in against which all others should be judged. You don’t need to get your hands dirty with sliders and checkboxes if you don’t want to, but if you do then Silver Efex reveals its true power. Regarded by many as the best black and white tool on the market, even years after its introduction. Silver Efex Pro is a dedicated black and white photography plug-in that’s one of the key creative tools in the Nik Collection.

Silver efex pro 3