Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual

Miscellaneous Plug-Ins

Most of the plug-ins in this section relate to specific tasks like creating black-and-white images, making enlargements, merging HDR images, building websites, creating actions, and so on.

Silver Efex Pro

This plug-in isn’t a black-and-white converter; it’s a virtual black-and-white darkroom that helps you create stunning black-and-white images (Figure 20-6) from color ones (though you can also use it to improve images that are already black and white). It has more than 30 black-and-white presets and also lets you create your own. You can make global adjustments using the plug-in’s sliders or drop control points to tweak the brightness, sharpness, contrast, and structure (level of detail) in specific areas of an image, such as eyes, patterned clothing, and so on. You can also add a color filter just as if you’d put a filter on your camera lens. Silver Efex Pro lets you choose from over 20 different film types to simulate the look and grain of real film, add tints, or burn the edges of your images. It works as a Smart Filter and is included in the $150 Nik Software bundle (www.niksoftware.com). (See the Note on Note regarding the current state of Nik plug-ins.)

Figure 20-6. Silver Efex Pro, currently the most powerful black-and-white plug-in on the market, includes a gazillion gorgeous presets that you can fine-tune. It even helps you create the look of black-and-white ...