Nik collection free version how to#
Nik collection free version update#

ItвЂ™s likely that whatever host program you use will have better sharpening and noise reduction tools than these old-timers, but they may still prove useful. Sharpener Pro 3 and Dfine 2 are perhaps less useful these days. Until the arrival of Aurora HDR, this was arguably the most comprehensible and effective HDR software on the market, and itвЂ™s still pretty good even now.

HDR Efex Pro 2 is an HDR tool that can merge bracketed exposures or tone map single images.Silver Efex Pro 3 doesnвЂ™t offer any new tools, but it does change the way Control Point adjustments are applied and makes them more selective with Chrominance and Luminance mask sliders.

This is one of two plug-ins to receive a substantial upgrade in Nik Collection 4 вЂ“ see below.

Silver Efex Pro 3is a celebrated black and white plug in that goes beyond the usual channel mixing, tone adjustments and grain effects to embrace the jargon, techniques and styles of classic darkroom photography.

Individually these filters are useful collectively, their scope and potential for creative image effects is huge. WhatвЂ™s more you can combine these filters any way you like to create processing вЂRecipesвЂ™.

Color Efex Pro 4 is a collection of more than 50 individual filters, each with its own adjustments and many with the clever Nik Control Point selective adjustment tools.

If it was sold on its own, Analog Efex Pro would be impressive enough, so to get it as just one part of this whole suite is even more remarkable. It doesnвЂ™t just simulate old analog films, grain, borders, bokeh, dust and scratches, it also simulates old, cheap cameras, motion blur, double exposures and even multiple tiled images.

Analog Efex Pro 2 is the only tool introduced by Google during its ownership of the Nik Collection, but itвЂ™s rather exceptional.

Nik collection free version how to#

See also: Best image editing software вЂ“ what to look for, how to choose.ДЄctually, although theyвЂ™re usually described and used as plug-ins вЂ“ in other words, launched from a вЂhostвЂ™ program like Photoshop or Lightroom Classic, they can also be launched as standalone programs, so they can also be used with programs like Capture One, which work with external editors rather than plug-ins.

Nik collection free version update#

The Nik Collection 4.2 update has made the Nik plug-ins work with Photoshop running in native M1 mode on M1 Macs, fixed a compatibility issue with Capture One and the new versions of Silver Efex Pro and Viveza, and has made Silver Efex ProвЂ™s U-point adjustments more responsive.