(Photoshop users: this slider is the equivalent of adjusting the opacity of any Photoshop layer in the Layers palette.) Setting the Opacity at 100% applies the filter at full effect, and sliding towards 0% will slowly reduce the opacity – and therefore the effect – of the particular filter. Every filter in CEP has an Opacity slider, and adjusting this slider allows you to dial back the effect of any filter in your stack.

While I'm not going to use this functionality specifically in this article, this slider represents one of the most powerful features in CEP. The first thing you'll notice is a new slider labeled Opacity. Second, the scene that I've chosen represents a common compositional scenario (blue sky background, structure, green grass foreground), so applying the lessons from this example should be straightforward.Ĭlicking on this triangle reveals some added functionality.

First, it will allow me to show how control points are useful for directing the viewer through your composition. For this demonstration, I have purposely picked a nondescript image (below) for two reasons. The easiest way to explain how control points work is through an example, so let me show you how to use them when editing an image. Understanding Control Points via An Example One aspect of control points that make them particularly helpful is that they're essentially smart masks they are aware of their surroundings and recognize changes in color. This is helpful if you want to (for example) apply contrast to a specific area or color range of your photo.

Control Points are a way to apply any CEP filter to just a portion of an image.

What Are Control Points? Why Use them?Ĭolor Efex Pro 4 has 55 filters that can be applied individually to images or stacked to create more dramatic effects. Therefore, the concepts that I discuss can be applied to any of the other NIK plug-ins that use control points. In this article, I will be using examples within the CEP interface, but control points are used throughout the NIK suite. Before I continue this series by highlighting some of my favorite filters and how to use them, I need to cover one intermediate point: Control Points. In my last article, I gave a brief overview of Color Efex Pro 4 ( CEP).

Nik color efex pro