Can Nik Silver Effects be mimicked or simulated using Photoshop/Lightroom?

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Mike D90

Senior Member
I like the Nik tools Silver Effects for B/W photos. I cannot buy the software though and would like to know if this effect can be closely mimicked or reproduced using Lightroom or Photoshop?
 
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Ruidoso Bill

Senior Member
There are lots of free filters out there for Photoshop, not sure how you would isolate one that resembles the effect you are try to replicate. Maybe Google the effect you are looking for and PS filters.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
You can probably do about 60% of what Silver Efex Pro does in Lightroom and Photoshop without too much difficulty. Where the Nik tool excels is in that other 40%, allowing you to do extremely fine manipulation of brightness and structure by zone (highlight, midtone, shadow), and also thru the incredibly useful Fine Structure and Soft Contrast sliders. You can surely take the time to make those adjustments using multiple layers and masks, but you're talking a significant amount of time compared to what you'll get in Silver Efex. Then there are the added benefits of predefined grain patterns and level curves to replicate film types, the toning section, burning and framing sections.

The differences gained with that 40% can be subtle, but it's also what often makes for the difference between a great image and a "Wow!!" image.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
WJYPhoto said:
There are lots of free filters out there for Photoshop, not sure how you would isolate one that resembles the effect you are try to replicate. Maybe Google the effect you are looking for and PS filters.
Click to expand...

Filters are great to get you most of the way there, but the thing that most people don't realize is that after the basic overlays have been done, it's the fine tuning with the brushes and layer masks that are required to bring out the best in an image. It's the difference between sticking a negative in an enlarger and exposing paper for a fixed amount of time and tossing it in the developer, or closing up the aperture and pulling out your burning and dodging tools.
 
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Krs_2007

Senior Member
If you have Lightroom there a various filters out there that will get you a good start. I use them a lot to get comparisons between LR and Nik tools, so what Jake said above is very true. You can get the cake made with LR and some presets, but you will get the icing from Nik Tools.

Also, take a look at the BW processing flow that Jake did. Its a fantastic start and I followed it for one of my BW shots and I thought it looked good as well as others on here.

Just for a recent example, both of my train shots I recently posted were done completely in LR. Could they be better, of course, but they worked for me.
 
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