I did! And the results were usually not that good. I may be wrong but I’m guessing that most photographers go through an “I’ll shoot that in HDR” phase. Here is just one video example that shows the power of using control points in Viveza. One of the features of control points is the accuracy with which specific parts of an image can be selected to adjust, without affecting other areas of similar color and/or brightness. While not particularly artistic I used a control point to highlight the base of the tower just to the left of the stairs. In the Signal Station photo I used control points to make specific areas stand out in the image. I must confess that I rarely used Viveza with previous versions of Nik Collection, however the addition of Control Points has added a whole new powerful creative option to Viveza. Start with a preset, add or subtract film grain, use a black and white film style, add filters, and do so many other things to arrive at the black and white finish that you like.Īnd like other Nik plugins, you have the option to save your own settings as a Custom pre Reason Number 4 – Viveza With 64 presets Silver Efex Pro is the ideal starting point for anyone wanting to get a feel for the many moods that black and white photography evokes. This is probably my favourite of the plugins in Nik Collection 5. A Kodachrome 64 preset was applied and slightly modified using the Foliage filter to make the grass in the foreground pop. This photograph of Mt Taranaki, New Zealand, was exported into Color Efex Pro from Photolab 4, and the ClearView filter (now in most Nik plugins) was applied to bring out detail in the cloud and mist areas at the left of the mountain. If you are a landscape photographer then Color Efex Pro is almost a must-have – at least if you believe what you read on the internet, or see on YouTube. I think there is one thing to be aware of when using Analog Efex Pro, and that is it won’t work with all images – for example, it probably won’t work well with a photo of a modern car, and there is a hint of that in The Glockenspiel. The starting point was the preset called Old English, which when modified I saved as a custom preset called Faded Postcard Effect. You can then save that effect as a custom preset, which is what I did with The Glockenspiel image above. The app features 90-plus built-in presets, allowing you to either create one-click finishes, or you can use a preset as a starting point to create your own final effect. So here we go… Reason Number 1 – Analog Efex ProĪnalog Efex is the “go-to” tool if you like, and want to add aged analog (as the name implies) effects to your photos. It may well be post-purchase positivity but I am sure that version 5 of Nik is faster – and that didn’t even make my original list of 6 reasons to use Nik!Īctually, my list is based on the individual components of the Nik Collection. Why? Let me tell you… 6 Reasons To Use Nik Collection 5 In the end, I decided to go with upgrading to Nik Collection 5…and I certainly don’t regret that decision. I had decided to skip version 4 for a reason that escapes me now, but then I started looking at, and downloaded a trial version of, Nik Collection 5 and that created a bit of a quandary for me, Should I upgrade to Nik v5.0 or should I upgrade my DxO Photolab 4 to version 5? My budget wouldn’t extend to both. The latest version I had up until a few days ago was version 3…somewhat outdated but still fully functional. In fact, I loved it so much that when DxO acquired the Nik Collection in 2017 and updated it I was more than happy to start paying for it. I loved it – as did many photographers all around the world. I can’t remember when I first started to use the Nik Collection – I think it was back in the day when it was free from Google. It has been around for years and years in various guises – since 1995 in fact. What is the Nik Collection? The Nik Collection is arguably one of the most comprehensive collections of plugins, or stand-alone apps, for corrective and creative processing of photographs. Before I get to the 6 reasons to use Nik Collection 5 – first things first.
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