I am a real fan of B&W and today I am pumped
A while back Topaz announced a new set of B&W Effects for Photoshop where on the way and today they released them. I downloaded a full demo and decided to work on an image I took earlier in the day. The image has a good composition but the lighting was a bit harsh and the colour was close to monochromatic so and overall effect is a bit flat.
It was very easy to tweak the image in Photoshop and I ended up with a good but not so stunning image.
Now I want to see how old time B&W would look like. I opened up Topaz B&W Effects and found that there are over 150 presets and a bazillion ways to modify each preset. I went through all the presets and as I have a passion for old time effects so I stopped one that gave a dreamy albumen look. I delved deeper into the fine tuning and added a bit of over all softness and then added a harsh grain to it and this is what I ended up with.
The big question is how does it compare to Nik Silver Efex Pro? I am very familiar with Nik so the I can get around in it easier but that is just something you can get use to. Second Topaz has more features so you can be more creative or get lost easier. Nik is faster that Topaz and that will mater with huge files. Topaz’s handling of grain seems far more advanced that Nik. Finally with Nik the program creates a new layer to work on and Topaz doesn’t. This can be worked around by duplicating your layer before you work on it in Topaz.
Here is a Tri-X effect.
To sum up at $59.99 the price is very attractive and the icing on the cake there is an introductory price of $29.99. be Careful as this expires in about three weeks. If you don’t have Silver Efex Pro this product is a great bang for the buck. If are very serious about B&W conversion and have Nik this is a great addition.
Grant – I too love B&W and joined the Topaz Webinar today and will purchase this! I am really pleased with what I saw. Hope you are well?
Sheila it is a fee trial download and it is a very impressive set of effects.
Great critique and lesson rolled into one. I like the old time B & W as I feel this image lens itself to that. Any way you look at it this is a great shot!!
Thank you very much Mary Lou!
Great post. This looks like one of the shots you got today, very nice!
In fact it was and you were there.
Of Course Monochrome was long before Colour and it was aways a challenge to make a great photo better. Now we are in the reverse…..making a very good colour shot into Monochrome and you did a good job! I like the Sepia effect the best.
Thank you Bill for giving me an idea for an up coming blog. Working title may be “How I Select and Image for B&W and All the Ramifications this Entails Good, Bad or Otherwise” or something like that.
I was going to pass on B&W Effects until I saw your post a few days ago. So far, I like it a lot.
I like them a lot and these new effects should give Nik a run for their money.