Tim Ashley
Moderator
Good evening everyone!
Like a lot of photographers of a more serious bent, I am somewhat allergic to 'fun with filters': the effects can be garish and ill-considered. I have loads of them installed and other than those required in the process of optimising files for large exhibition quality prints I very rarely use any. But I saw a demo of Viveza and downloaded a trial and I must say I rather like it. Photoshop's dodge and burn functions are notoriously lame and whilst there are a number of layers based alternative treatments, I rather prefer the new tools in LR2 Beta and in Aperture 2. But on my machines, both are buggy so Viveza seemed worth a go.
Overused, it is a nightmare - great circles of obvious user intervention - but with careful use it can add a subtle edge to images that would be harder and slower to achieve in any other way I know.
Here's an example. First version is more or less LR defaults from a 1DSIII file. Second version has been prepared for a 30" wide print and had some Viveza applied. This process was:
Tweak in Lightroom. Export to Photoshop where Photokit Punch Black and Punch white were applied, then Photokit Burn Top 1/3rd. Then photokit Add Grain 100. Then Viveza, with control points added on the 'Private' sign and the flag/rag, both given a little boost to brightness and contrast and on the flag a saturation boost. Then two much larger circle control points were added to the back of the car and to the bench, both of which had small brightness increases and the car had a touch of contrast enhancement too. After that, the file was upresed 200%, given a Photokit Creative Sharpen and then Output Sharpen for Inkjet 300 dpi.
The majority of the difference between the two files appearance here, though, is due to the Viveza adjustments. Subtle, I hope, but quite effective? What do others think? Has anyone else tried it?
Best
Tim
Like a lot of photographers of a more serious bent, I am somewhat allergic to 'fun with filters': the effects can be garish and ill-considered. I have loads of them installed and other than those required in the process of optimising files for large exhibition quality prints I very rarely use any. But I saw a demo of Viveza and downloaded a trial and I must say I rather like it. Photoshop's dodge and burn functions are notoriously lame and whilst there are a number of layers based alternative treatments, I rather prefer the new tools in LR2 Beta and in Aperture 2. But on my machines, both are buggy so Viveza seemed worth a go.
Overused, it is a nightmare - great circles of obvious user intervention - but with careful use it can add a subtle edge to images that would be harder and slower to achieve in any other way I know.
Here's an example. First version is more or less LR defaults from a 1DSIII file. Second version has been prepared for a 30" wide print and had some Viveza applied. This process was:
Tweak in Lightroom. Export to Photoshop where Photokit Punch Black and Punch white were applied, then Photokit Burn Top 1/3rd. Then photokit Add Grain 100. Then Viveza, with control points added on the 'Private' sign and the flag/rag, both given a little boost to brightness and contrast and on the flag a saturation boost. Then two much larger circle control points were added to the back of the car and to the bench, both of which had small brightness increases and the car had a touch of contrast enhancement too. After that, the file was upresed 200%, given a Photokit Creative Sharpen and then Output Sharpen for Inkjet 300 dpi.
The majority of the difference between the two files appearance here, though, is due to the Viveza adjustments. Subtle, I hope, but quite effective? What do others think? Has anyone else tried it?
Best
Tim
