I’m very glad that you did take the time! Thank you for taking the time to link and share all of that. I believe that I feel very similarly to you in that I do really enjoy this plugin. Each separate film filter provides a very distinct look on its own, and as you’ve mentioned, doesn’t need any further tweaking, it is just nice to have the control if and when one would want it. I’ve been back and forth with a couple of people who offer free presets/actions, (see the next newest blog article) and I would be very interested to see if we could add some Exposure saved ‘presets’ to share. I’ve played around a little with a couple of them to fine tune them to the particular images I’d worked on and found that it has created a nice preset of its own on a couple of them. How many options are too many options? I guess it can get carried away, but it would be cool to see what others have come up with.

Thanks for coming back and sharing your beautiful images.

Cheers,

Tyson

I wanted to get back to you (and others following this post) on my experiences with Exposure 3.

The past few weeks I had my annual vacation and therefore had some more free time which I also used to catch up on some postproduction work.

Normally my workflow consists of Nikon Capture NX2 and afterwards sometimes some Photoshop work, often using the Totally Radical Actions set of plugins. Recently I have noticed though that often the result is not ‘real’ enough. It simply feels like the photographer spent more time working out something in postproduction instead of letting the original work shine through.

Therefore I was pleased to have stumbled upon Exposure 3 as it cuts down on the majority of gimmicks and tricks found in other plugins.

In order to illustrate my experiences I’ll add some examples below, both before and after using Exposure 3.

Two important remarks concerning my way of using it:
1.I hardly ever change anything to the presets. The conversion is usually very good in itself without me toying with the many advanced options (and thus spending more time, rather than LESS time in postproduction)

2.Most film filters in Exposure 3 come in two versions: normal and grain off. I have always used the ‘grain off’ version as I think artificially introducing grain on an image is a bridge too far. My attitude might change but for now I’m sticking to whatever grain/noise the original image has.

Example 1: Street parade Borgerrio (Antwerp, Belgium)
Original: http://www.kenlawrence.eu/blog_images/borgerrio_dancer_before_blog.jpg

Not bad but the I was there and everything was just a LOT more vibrant and colourful!

With Exposure 3 (Kodak Ultra Color 100UC): http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisco/4800669456/in/set-72157624391357437/
This looks much better!

Example 2: Graffiti and street art in Lisbon, Portugal
Original: http://www.kenlawrence.eu/blog_images/graffiti_lisbon_before_blog.jpg

The harsh sunlight has put something of a greyish ‘veil’ over the entire photograph, reducing both colours and contrast.

With Exposure 3 (Lomo – Kodak Film): http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisco/4828537458/in/set-72157624456208839/

See how the colour has returned and how it seems to leap off the wall. It was really a great piece of work in one of the vibrant parts of the city.

Example 3: When I get that Cinderella feeling
Original: http://www.kenlawrence.eu/blog_images/cinderella_before_blog.jpg

With Exposure 3 (Color Photo – Warm skin (fading) and extra vignetting):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisco/4767942550/in/set-72157623120432664/

Now there’s something magical about it, fairytale like…

It’s also possible to get other results, by using for example expired film stock characteristics.

Example 4: Landscape has no owner
Original: http://www.kenlawrence.eu/blog_images/landscape_has_now_owner_before_blog.jpg

With Exposure 3 (Fuji NPS160 Expired) and extra vignetting: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisco/4847371840/

The examples above all concern colour film but I also really enjoy the available black and white filters.

Illford HP5 Plus 400:
Apartheid for chairs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisco/4847275110/

Pride: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisco/4817432721/in/set-72157623120432664/

Illford Delta 100:
Oriente Station: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisco/4847296794/in/set-72157624623681436/

I hope this helps people a little in judging the plugin. The real way to test it would of course be to download the trial and test everything for yourself

As a final note though it might be worth adding that I have also recently started shooting film. It’s very interesting to shoot the same locations both digitally and on film to compare the results. The examples below all have grain but I feel that it is truly part of the image, rather than a trick added later:

Colour film (Fuji)
Chair in hotel room: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisco/4827804185/in/set-72157624580716332/

Shattered glass: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisco/4828398556/in/set-72157624456021137/

Funky shop window: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisco/4828401618/in/set-72157624456021137/

Black and white film (Kodak T-Max 400 and Fuji Acros)

Defining beauty: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisco/4850574198/

Just a glimpse: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisco/4850573006/

Travellers:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisco/4850571324/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisco/4849949991/

Well, that took me some time

Kind regards,

Ken

Thanks for reading through.

I use the Nik Software plugins as well, primarilly Color and Silver Efex Pro (I’m not familiar with DXO unfortunately). To directly compare CEP and Exposure’s Color filter module is a bit difficult as neither does exactly what the other does. CEP has some very cool presets and I am a big fan of Nik’s U-point which allows for selective adjustments. I think of CEP as a ‘better’ Topaz Adjust (which I also use from time to time) more than directly comparable to Exposure. I’d always been interested in Exposure whenever I’d seen an advert or heard about it mentioned and I have to say I’m glad I’ve been able to use it. First, because I have really enjoyed the quick application of their film filters, and secondly because of their interface which I feel provides much better control, for global changes anyway. Many of the film filters provide a very unique look whether you’re going for a “film” look or not. The fact that it really closely resembles the film it’s replicating is almost just an extra benefit if that makes sense. As for Exposure3 vs Silver Efex Pro, I think it is a closer comparison. Up until using Exposure3, I’d used SEP exclusively for my black and white processing. For my personal taste and workflow, I feel that Exposure provides a much better piece of software than SEP does. The one thing I would miss is again the U-point for localized adjustment. The big epiphany I’ve had with Exposure is for more or less the same price as either Color OR Silver Efex Pro individually, you get both Exposure’s Color AND Black and White adjustment presets. If I’d not already invested in NIK and was looking at CEP/SEP vs. Exposure 3, I would certainly take a hard look by downloading the free trials of all three and see how they compared for my personal taste.

How many plugins do any of us need? I don’t think ANY plugins are necessary, but more enable a photographer different abilities. Whether those abilities are worth the price is for any one of us to determine. Again, I would really suggest downloading trials for any software or plugins that anyone would be interested in and spend a little time with all of the free tutorials these companies have put together to see how useful they might be.

Thanks again for taking the time to read through and comment.

Cheers,

Tyson