[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by andy153

but there are some that are invaluable. How many of us use Noise reduction and Unsharp mask without thinking? They are often the last two things we do to an image.

Absolutely agree with you here.

I am not a technically good photographer, ie image in camera is pin sharp, exact dof, perfect lighting and white balance etc.

I’ll take it as too humble a comment.

Most of my stuff is "snapped" and needs some post processing.

Trust me Andy, that’s applicable to all of us here.

But what I find so useful about the Nik software is its precise control and how it does not spread into areas I wish to leave alone. Also it is non-destructive of the original. I would recommend people to follow the links to Nik in the first post and watch the learning videos.

Every single third party software/plug-in comes with one good feature and that’s always the reason for us to buy that.

I feel that these filters may be very useful to those who specialize in portraits, weddings etc because selective use may mean the difference between having an album/portfolio and not

I’m sure you’re pretty spot on here because you’ve tried these. I’ve no first hand idea/experience on these products and I shouldn’t be putting any comment.
Again Andy, I’m not for a moment saying anything against these products. I came from a very different point of view…

- particularly for those of us who cannot afford a camera tied to two 30" Apple Displays where each shot is checked in Aperture or it's equivalent as it is taken - face or dress slightly off?

..and even after engulfed in various gadgets, photographers and image composite guys need to go through various steps for correcting those images.

- a quick fix of that part of the picture with the appropriate Nik filter saves time.

Yes and no. A photographer friend was forcing me to use vanishing point filter for one particular job. I wasn’t convinced at all and told him to do it and show it to me. What he did was unacceptable and wrong.
I did his image composite and I didn’t use any filter there. Beyond a point these filters don’t work and this is my point of view only.

- Spring in Bury post showing the older man and woman - their faces were "burnt out" a little and have been restored with Viveza.

I’ve seen the image and it’s perfect according to me. One should go for a product like this.

But in a larger scale, these products play a very small role..if at all.

I don’t know if it’s the right thread to put up this example. But probably it’ll give some idea. This needs a little background to understand, hate or appreciate the composite:

Client needed an outlandish image for their new bike named FLAME. Bike should be parked on a terrace (don’t ask me why) and another bike should be there to show one of their so-called features in close up. Right outside the terrace there has to be a glass faced building, which should reflect evening setting sun sky.

Bike was shot in studio. Different lighting to enhance it’s various curves and all. See the bluish hue on the bike. Nine shots were blend together.Close-up of exhaust tip should have that superficial multi-coloured matt effect. Rest should be reasonably dark.

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/3232/bike1ek0.jpg

Building was shot in Singapore. Look at the angle and choice of lens due to lack of space.

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/1374/glass2at6.jpg

Terrace is not a terrace but an open space with railing. Shot in Singapore again.

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/3076/woodcs3.jpg

Sky was bought from Image bank or some such.

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/7313/skyao1.jpg

And here’s the final image for billboard. building shifted to left. Balcony was painted. Glass area and wall panels were totally touched up. No use of any filters. There are two more in this series.

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/4435/f2tsthp3.jpg

I've used imageshack and it's not taking our server space.