So, at some point in the future, the Nik collection will stop working because of an incompatibility with Lightroom, Photoshop or your new operating system. Google knows that the future of photography are smartphones, and they will continue to focus on that area. Just bug fixes and the addition of Analog Efex (which was probably already in the pipeline when Google acquired Nik).
And while Snapseed was developed further and further, the Nik collection did not see any major development. Snapseed is a solution to process and enhance your pictures on a mobile phone. The real reason they acquired Nik was Snapseed. So – why I am posting this under “Commentaries” and not under “News”? 1.The future of the Nik collectionĪt first sight, this seems to be good news for us photographers, right? A very capable suite of plugins available for free, there is not a lot to complain about, right?īut then, you might have followed Googles approach of acquiring companies and products for purely strategic reasons. You can download your copy on the Nik homepage. And a few days ago, Google announced that they are giving away the complete suite for free. In March 2013, I reported that after taking over Nik, Google was selling the complete suite for 149 USD and you were able to get it for even less. Initially priced at 499 USD, a single plugin like Silver Efex Pro was more expensive than Lightroom at that time. If you liked this tip, make sure to subscribe to my newsletter: there's more where this came from.I guess every photographer using Lightroom or Photoshop did at some point look at the Nik collection, a suite of plugins to cover specific requirements. But make sure to watch the video first so you can make the most out of it.
Being the generous fellow that I am, this action is available as a free download below. You'll also pick up a thing or two on how to use Lightroom and Photoshop together and on the advantages of Smart Objects and Smart Filters. At the end of the video, you'll see me automate the workflow with an action that I created. If I can't get the job done with one of my own Lightroom Black & White presets, Silver Efex is where I turn to.īut, did you know that you can also use Silver Efex Pro to bring more life to your colour images? And that you can use Silver Efex Pro's Control Points to easily Dodge & Burn those same images? I'll show you how in the following video. I already endorsed these plug-ins when they still cost an arm and a leg (well, € 500 to be precise), and now that Google has made them completely free, that hasn't changed.
If you're a regular reader of this blog or my books ( English link, Dutch link), you know that I'm big fan of the Nik Collection by Google in general and the Black & White plug-in Silver Efex Pro 2 in particular.
0 kommentar(er)
