![]() ![]() Here's another example where I created more depth by darkening the background and I improved the skin tone with a saturation adjustment:Īnd here's yet another where I took a nice red smoke-stack and ruined it by making it green to prove a point:Īnd in this case my point is quite simple - just because you can doesn't mean you should! :-) You can do some cool stuff in Viveza, but it is easy to get carried away and start making perfectly nice images quite garish by going nuts with the saturation adjustments. ![]() Here's one example where I used Viveza to partially desaturate the background and to enhance the skin tones of the kids (hover over for a before and after): Some good examples can be found under the video lessons on the Viveza home page. While this may seem trivial at first, it is very easy to see how powerful this can be. So now that you have an idea about U-Point, I can tell you that Viveza is quite simple in that it allows you to place U-Point controls on a portion of an image and modify the Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Hue, Red, Blue, Green, and Warmth settings for that masked area. Now would be a good time to check out a great video of what Viveza can do! What Makes Viveza Good? Anyone who has done masks in Photoshop can clearly recognize what a time saver this really is! The cool thing here is that with no tedious masking, you are able to apply your changes in an instant. Viveza only has the concept of positive masks, and by holding down the control key when adjusting the image circle you can see what elements of the image are being modified by your adjustments. The easiest way to understand what is happening here is to see an effect mask (taken from Color Efex) where I used a positive U-point control on my son's face and a negative one (to exclude) on my daughters face: From there you can adjust how big of an area is impacted by the changes you will make. This is basically a smart mask created automatically for you that isolates a part of an image based on the color that you place the point on. What makes this product, and others like Color Efex so good? The first thing that comes to my mind, especially in the case of Viveza, is its U-Point technology. I've actually come to love it now and I find myself trying to use it for nearly every photo I run through Photoshop - it's that good. If you've kept up with my blog since the beginning then you know that I bought Nik Software's Color Efex Complete 3.0 and gave it a sorta okay review. In this case, the cool app is Nik Software's Viveza. This offer excludes 3rd party software, bundles and upgrades.ĪTTENTION CS4 Users: Mandatory updates are required for Nik Software products to work with CS4.Įvery so often a cool little product comes along that just makes you so much more productive that you wonder how you lived without it. You can also find some of my books published here in the Lenscraft Shop.NOTE: A 15% discount on Nik Software for readers of this blog by entering the code rmartinsen when you order online or call to place an order. Want to know more about the Nik Software? Take a look at my range of books on Amazon. Think of Color Efex as an optional step to apply special effects to your image. Think of Viveza as an essential step to correct your image ready for any further enhancement. When deciding which tool to use, consider the adjustments you want to make. But if you want to add special effects such as a Vignette or simulate faded print film, Color Efex is perfect. Trying to achieve the adjustments performed above to the tone and contrast of an image would be much more difficult. In contrast to Viveza, you should think of Color Efex as a collection of special effects filters. ![]() Most images benefit from adjustments in Viveza and it should form a core tool in your workflow. Achieving such adjustments is where Viveza’s strength lies. These enhancements were achieved primarily using adjustments to the contrast and tones in the image to produce a natural look. ![]()
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