Silver Efex Pro 2 Examples

I just upgraded from Silver Efex Pro to Silver Efex pro 2 and I thought I would share a few early and quick examples.

Close up of the entrance to this unusual bird house. Added structure and contrast only in Silver Efex Pro 2 in Lightroom 3.0.

Visit to the vets office with some nice and very life like photos of their pets. Processed with Silver Efex Pro 2 in Adobe Photoshop CS5.

Alpacas checking out visitors, note their jackets to protect their valuable wool. Processed with Silver Efex Pro 2 in Adobe Photoshop CS5.

Old unoccupied mansion rendered using a antique plate filter in Silver Efex Pro.

Another photo rendered using Silver Efex Pro 2 in Adobe Lightroom 3.0 to add more structure to the clouds.
Early observation of this upgrade include a much faster rendering and saving of images. More preassigned filters including some frames. Updated interface and a history view and much more that I haven't yet explored. I will let you know how I like this new version in a later post.

Rainy Days

It has been rainy all week after having a winters break the previous three weeks. In those three weeks we lost our male German Shepherd Ricki to liver cancer. Then a week ago a opportunity came our way to add a 14 month old male German Shepherd Monty to our family.
Monty flew into our lives from Ohio on Valentines Day at 11:00 PM and of course so did the rain and it has stayed all week long. I do have a few pictures to share from this hectic week all taken with the Leica D-Lux 4. I'm afraid I can't bring myself to drag my M-9 out into the rain. I will hopefully have some M-9 pictures shortly depending on the weather.
The picture above is of Monty enjoying playing with his new toy. He has made the transition to his new home seamlessly.

Here is a fence with interesting yellow growth on it and framed nicely by the green plants and wet roadway. Post processed in Viveza 2 and Color Efex Pro 3.0

Monty and Nika are checking out the horses running in the pasture.

The same picture post processed in Silver Efex Pro and then using Color Efex Pro 3.0 to adjust the color tones to get this interesting effect.

Interesting fence post and contrasted by new green growth and bare fallen tree limbs. Post processed in Adobe Lightroom 3.0.

Tonal Adjustment

Today I'm sharing some pictures taken this week with the Leica D-Lux 4, post processed in Adobe Lightroom 3.0. Then I adjusted the tonal values using the tonal contrast adjustment tool in Color Efex Pro. Using this filter tool allows you to fine tune Highlight Contrast, Midtone Contrast and Shadow Contrast along with saturation.

Tonal contrast used to smooth the sky and highlight the dark shadows.

Even in black and white tonal contrast brings out the subject of the picture.

Tonal contrast adjusted to make the leaf pop.

Tonal contrast used to highlight the subtle color differences.

Tonal contrast brings out the paint loss and rust on this pick-up.

Poplar Beach

Pictures taken at Poplar Beach in Halfmoon Bay California on the first week of February. This week has had some early spring mild weather conditions and warranted a trip to the beach. 60 + degrees and sunshine were the only prodding necessary to get out of the house and enjoy the weather. All photos were taken with a Leica M-9 fitted with a 90mm Elmarit 2.8 lens. Post processing was done using Adobe Lightroom 3.0.

Never to old to enjoy a romp at the beach.

Late afternoon light.

Out for a jog.

Wind blown tree on a cliff over looking the sea.

A sea bird looking out to sea.

1:1

The Leica D-Lux 4 examples shot in the 1:1 aspect ratio and set to film mode Nostalgic which gives a interesting look that I think works well for blog postings. All of these examples were shot using this mode and down sized from 2736 x 2736 to 1200 x 1200. To access this mode go to the menu and select film mode and select the film mode of your choice. Then continue to the third menu screen to select the 1:1 Aspect ratio.

 Black and white converted using Silver Efex Pro.

 Post processed using Viveza 2

 Post Processed using Color Efex Pro - Glamor Glow filter.

 Post processed in Adobe Lightroom 3.0

 Close up post processed in Adobe Lightroom 3.0

 Post processed on Color Efex Pro to add definition and added brilliance and warmth.

Post processed in Color Efex Pro the cross processing filter.

It feels like spring

The weather has been very spring like encouraging longer walks which results this mix of indoor and outdoor pictures taken this week.
The indoor shoot to the right was a indoor picture I took looking to highlight color saturation with interesting lighting used to bring attention to different areas of the photo.
The picture was taken with the D-Lux 4 and post processed in Adobe Lightroom 3 plus Color Efex Pro 3.0 to add  the soft glow on the dried flowers, background and table.

 

The picture above was taken with the M-9 and caught a quite moment on the sofa. I wanted to depict this exposure in soft colors and soft sharpness to capture the mood. I used Topaz Labs Adjust 4 to deepen the colors and soften the sharpness.

Light blue skies and flimsy white clouds mesh nicely with this pathway photo taken with the M-9. There was some heavy shadows throughout this image so I shot it by taking my exposure reading on the bright white and then in Lightroom I brought up the fill light added back some black and clarity.

This unused boarded up cabin appears out of the trees and is heavily shadowed. I took my exposure reading on the white of the building and then adjusted it in Lightroom using the tone adjustment sliders to balance the photograph.

M-9 F16 at 1/45 sec allows for a slightly blurred background and sharp subject. I panned this pictured to get this desired effect it gives the photo depth and dimension.

Walkers out enjoying a warm morning on a shady lane, captured with the M-9 as the light filtering through the trees highlights them. Post processed in Lightroom and converted to black and white in Silver Efex Pro.

D-Lux 4 Musing

Some thoughts on the Leica D-Lux 4, its usefulness, quality of build and quality of images. In the last year I have taken in excess of 4000 exposures with my D-Lux 4 over 154 days shooting this camera. My first thought is I take this camera with me more than any of my other cameras so size and easy access has played a important factor in its heavy use.
I have tried the camera in all the different modes available and have found that I shoot in aperture priority mode the most. The macro selector switch allows for very acceptable macro focus shots with very close focus distances. Some of the other settings that I have found useful are the burst mode in snapshot mode that I have used to capture continuous action shots. Other scene mode choices that are useful are high dynamic and portrait. The movie or video option allows for limited video capture at acceptable quality levels.
The build quality is excellent, battery life has been more than acceptable and still holds its charge at original levels. Wear and tear, all I can say is that I have dropped the camera several times, it has been in and out of all types of weather and the camera still works and looks great. Plus I still have almost two years left on the three year factory warranty.
I will continue to use this camera for at least this year before I consider upgrading to a newer camera. The Leica D-Lux 5 seems to have upgraded the zoom range and some other minor functions but not enough for me to upgrade at this time. The D-Lux 4 takes excellent photos and is extremely flexible for people want more photographic control than your every day compact cameras.
Pictures for this week taken with the D-Lux 4:

 Winter Skies

 Antique Look

 Trespassing is Frowned Upon

Wild cat that lives creek side.