HDR Efex Pro isn’t just for special effects. It can enhance your images in much more straightforward ways, improving the tonal balance, sky detail and colour saturation. I like to use it on landscapes, where professionals can wait for hours for the right lighting, but the rest of us have to grab shots when we […]
Structure
Structure is a relatively new concept in image editing. It enhances detail and outlines using the same basic principles as regular sharpening but across a wider radius. It's not designed to enhance fine detail, but shapes and outlines seen from normal viewing distances. It's like Lightroom's Clarity adjustment, but on a finer scale.
You can find structure adjustments in the DxO Nik Collection plug-ins, DxO PhotoLab and other photo editing applications. Adding structure to an image does give it a lot more 'bite' without losing any key shadow or highlight detail. It works especially well for black and white images.
Pushed too far, it can create ugly edge effects and make images look a little coarse – like so many image editing adjustments it needs to be applied with a certain amount of care.
How to bring out textures with the Silver Efex Pro Structure slider
The Structure tool is one of Silver Efex Pro‘s secret weapons. It helps to give black and white images that indefinable ‘bite’ that we’re always trying to recapture with our digital images. You can think of the Silver Efex Pro Structure control it as a kind of ‘coarse sharpening’, which acts over a slightly larger […]
Discover the power of Silver Efex Pro Soft Contrast
The Soft Contrast slider is one of the new features introduced in Silver Efex Pro 2, and its effects are quite different to the regular Contrast control. At first it can seem quite difficult to work out a use for it, but you’ll soon discover when you start digging around in the presets that it […]