Analog Efex Pro is a brand new addition to the Google Nik Collection, the set of plug-ins for Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom and Aperture that Google took over when it bought out Nik Software. It’s now been taken over by DxO. I rate this as the best set of plug-ins ever made, and practically a must-have […]
DxO Nik Collection
With the launch of the DxO Nik Collection 3, the Collection now consists of eight different plug-ins, including four of the best creative tools for photographers you can buy today. Silver Efex Pro is still unrivalled for its black and white photography effects, Color Efex Pro has a dazzling array of photographic effects, Analog Efex Pro is superb at evoking classic analog film and darkroom effects and HDR Efex Pro makes HDR merging and editing easy enough for anyone to get great results straight out of the box. The new plug in, Perspective Efex, corrects perspective distortion and more.
Google Analog Efex Pro first look!
Google added a brand new Analog Efex Pro module to the Nik Collection pretty much without telling anyone! The Nik Collection is now owned and distributed by DxO. Analog Efex Pro is, as the name suggests, designed to replicated the ‘analog’ look of old films, cameras and darkroom processes. So I’m going to start with […]
How to ‘re-light’ your shots with the Color Efex Pro Darken/Lighten Center filter
Sometimes your shots don’t quite have the lighting you wanted, even when you had the time to set up the lighting carefully, such as when you’re shooting a still life, for example. The scene looked OK when you assembled it and pressed the shutter button, but later on you look at it more carefully on […]
Create spectacular landscapes with the Color Efex Pro Infrared Film effect
Infra-red photography can produce the most amazing and surreal pictures, and if shooting with infra-red film is no longer practical, it is possible to achieve the same infra-red effect with software. The Color Efex Pro Infrared Film effect aims to reproduce the look of infrared films faithfully from regular digital images. Technically, this is not […]
Create your own films with Silver Efex Pro Sensitivity settings!
You can use Silver Efex Pro perfectly effectively by choosing a preset and then modifying the settings as necessary using the tools panel. What you may not realise is that Silver Efex Pro simulates specific film types very closely. In fact, you can choose your film manually in the Film Types panel. And if that’s […]
Give your landscapes a mystic glow with the Color Efex Pro Glamour Glow effect
The Color Efex Pro Glamour Glow effect would normally be used on portraits, but I think it works rather well on other subjects too. It adds an ethereal glow to everyday subjects, gives colours a pure, rich depth and lets you shift the colour balance too. I’m going to use it on this autumn shot […]
How to use Viveza control points to transform your pictures
Viveza 2 is part of the DxO Nik Collection, but it’s often overlooked because it meets a fairly narrow need. It’s designed as a kind of colour ‘dodging and burning’ tool, where you use Nik Software’s clever control points to both mask and adjust specific areas of the photograph at the same time. These control […]
Have you ever tried HDR Efex Pro portraits?
HDR techniques are usually associated with surreal landscapes and architectural photography, but you can create HDR Efex Pro portraits for some unique and powerful effects. This works best with male subjects because it creates a dark, brooding look where every pore and wrinkle is emphasised. I’m starting with this informal photograph taken in the family […]
Exploring the Silver Efex Pro Film Noir effect
Silver Efex Pro comes with a large range of varied and powerful black and white presets, and one of my favourites is the Silver Efex Pro Film Noir effect. This does every bad thing we’re told to avoid with our high-quality digital images! It reduces the sharpness of the picture, adds a hefty dose of […]
How to use the HDR Efex Pro merge tools
Like other HDR tools, HDR Efex Pro 2 is designed to work with a sequence of bracketed exposures which cover a wider dynamic range than a single image could record. This means you need to pay special attention to the HDR Efex Pro merge tools. You’ll see these whenever you open a series of images, […]