4/27/2011 Our Jury selected presets
A jury from Nik Software and Digital Outback Photo selected presets we liked the best. This was not so easy because many of the 42 presets looked very nice. So here is our selection:
Jury's Top Pick
Runners-up
All three picks will be notified by Nik Software and receive complementary Nik software.
In the end we hope we all are the winners because we now have many presets to study and use as the basis for our own work.
Preset Download (ZIP file)
We plan a new contest soon with a different style of scene (likely more urban).
The Contest #01 is now officially closed. Thank you all!
4/25/2011 All Presets now available for download
You can now download all the presets for your own use and analysis. The pictures in the gallery and the name of the presets are matched by name.
Preset Download (ZIP file)
Thanks to all participants and followers.
4/22/2011 End of submissions
We don't accept any more submissions. We publish all presets ASAP and hope to have results about next week.
4/20/2011 Rule changes
An internal jury from Nik Software and Outback Photo will select the top presets. A public vote does not really work with our gallery platform.
Motivation
Up until about 2007, Digital Outback Photo had about 26 different contests that were quite popular. Our contests were not so much about winning, but were more about sharing experiences so that we could all be the winners (ourselves included).
So, we thought it was about time for a new contest! Converting an image from color to B&W allows many different interpretations. There is not really a right or wrong way to do it and it is often just a matter of personal style. Exploring the “style” of black and white conversions is the theme and motivation of this new contest.
A Note on Copyright
This image provided can only(!) be used in the context of this contest and the only site that has the right to publish images is Digital Outback Photo (or other sites that were granted permission, in this case also Nik Software). If you want to use this image for any other purposes (e.g. marketing) you can acquire a license from us.
Results
We post selected results here in the SmugMug Contest Gallery.
Note: You can view and download the results for your own inspection up to original size.
At the end of the contest we will make also all presets used available to our readers.
The Silver Efex Pro 2 Preset Contest #1
Why did we chose just one software and not all B&W tools in the market?
- Silver Efex Pro 2 (SEP2) is a leading state of the art B&W tool (read our review)
- SEP2 allows to exchange presets. This way there is no needs for any textual descriptions as the preset contains all instructions (Control Points excluded)
- We want to make sure that all of our readers can experience the conversions on their own machines. This will also enable them to create their own presets derived from the original.
This time we selected a landscape photo taken with the Canon EOS 60D.
Contest Rules
- You need a version of Silver Efex Pro 2. Don't worry a demo version (works for 2 weeks) will do.Demo version of SEP2 can be downloaded from www.niksoftware.com/trial.
- Download the original image (16 bit TIFF zipped) from here.
- Create a B&W version you like.
- Important Note: Although the Control Points are a very powerful and unique feature in SEP2 they cannot be saved inside a preset. This means for this contest you cannot exploit them.
- Create a preset from the settings you used (read note about Control Points above). Name the preset like "SEP2_C01_<FirstName>_<LastName>.np" (<FirstName> and <LastName> replaced by your name).
- Export the preset and name it "SEP2_C01_<FirstName>_<LastName>.np" (<FirstName> and <LastName> replaced by your name).
- Send an email to:
- Address to: contests@outbackphoto.com
- Subject: SEP2_C01_<FirstName>_<LastName>
- Body: SEP2_C01_<FirstName>_<LastName>
- Attachment: Your presets *.NP file, no image attached
- All entries that don't follow these rules may be discarded
- One entry per person only
- By entering this contest you accept that:
- The preset can be used by other people
- Your email address maybe shared with Nik Software (they are involved in the selection process)
- We do not share the email address with any other parties
- We accept entries till 4/22/2011 12pm PSD
- We will show some rendered entries during this period (but no presets will be available at this point)
- After the deadline we stop accepting new entries and make the presets of all the images published available (images have the name, title and caption "SEP2_C01_<FirstName>_<LastName>").
- An internal jury will select the top 3 presets (of course this is very subjective).
- After that the active contest ends (but all results stay open)
- Thetop selected images will receive a prize donated by Digital Outback Photo, Nik Software. Right now we anticipate 3 prizes.
SmugMug Contest Gallery
Note: You can view and download the results for your own inspection up to original size. |
