Nik Collection Bundle for $126.65

[Niterider]

Lots of stellar recommendations in this thread. So, here's my question to any and everyone.  I have PS and LR and DPP came with my cameras.  I don't consider myself expert with PS (and often spend time with forums on the Internet trying to figure out exactly how to do something) but LR is a lot more intuitive and seems to work for my needs.  My biggest complaint with my post processing is the time commitment I need to get through a bunch of RAW pics.  So, what is different about Nik /what can it do for me / will it decrease my time per shot?  I would like to hear about your experience.

As always, thanks.

I have found that if you are just adjusting the photo globally (not using brush or masking), lightroom is faster. If you do a lot of masking, Nik will definitely speed up the time to edit each photo. What I like about the software suite is that the noise reduction is absolute amazing and it gives you much greater control over the colors in localized areas rather than the image as a whole. For example, in lightroom you can adjust the hue/saturation/luminance of each color, but with Nik you can adjust the blue for the sky then adjust the blue of say a car and so on. That way, you can dial in each part of the photo.

[agierke]

For those who are inquiring about the differences between Nik and PS/LR...

LR and PS are stand alone photo editors while Nik offers plugins. the plugins from Nik work in conjunction with your PS/LR workflow. i typically do my standard edits in LR and then drag certain select photos into PS where i access my Nik filters to do additional retouching. you can access the Nik filters in LR as well.

Nik is not a stand alone product...it works withing PS/LR/Aperture. Nik does offer (throughout their full suite) an infinite number of creative possibilities within a fairly easy to use and intuitive UI.

i can't recommend it enough especially at its current price point.

[gferdinandsen]

I think I read on this sight the other day..that if you have purchased one or more Nik software previous to this offer (which I have), that there will be an opportunity from Nik/Google to acquire the rest of the bundle for free. Does anyone have info on this offer???
Thanks.

Download the trial version, then they will send you the link for the free version.  Also, if you purchased any component after 22 Feb, they will refund your money (too bad I got Color Efex 4 on the 21st of Feb!)

[Rienzphotoz]

I am wondering if someone can walk me through how they use the Nik suite in their workflow of editing landscape images. I really like the results I get in Lightroom 4 and feel comfortable using it. Would I use the Nik software after all of my adjustments in Lightroom 4? Can I do things with the software that I can't in Lightroom (specifically with the color efex and silver efex programs)?

Thanks!

Check this youtube tutorial (also check out videos on workflows of Nik Software's Viveza for landscapes) there are tonnes of other tutorials on how to use all the other Nik Software plugins on the same page:
PW172 - Tutorial 23 Chapter 1 - Nik Color Efex Pro 4

[keithcooper]

Over the last few years I've written reviews of all the Nik plugins along with with aspects of how I use them.

I use different aspects of them in a lot of my print work, and my commercial work too.

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/reviews.html#ps_plug_ins

Hope they're of use for people just exploring what you can do with them - the current price is an absolute bargain, even if I am still wary of Google's motives ;-)

[camlars]

Cool... A while back I followed some online tip for getting one of the Nik plugins for free (think it was an older version of the B/W plugin), and sure enough, in my spam folder was a link to the complete collection!

The whole collection free!   

[grimson]

Cool... A while back I followed some online tip for getting one of the Nik plugins for free (think it was an older version of the B/W plugin), and sure enough, in my spam folder was a link to the complete collection!

The whole collection free!   

Same here! I found some free registration website / coupons to older versions of NIK Software, registered them with NIK online ... and ...  got emailed the whole bundle in the mailbox!
For me the only paid software for NIK was the IOS version of Snapseed  (now free!)

[Rienzphotoz]

Over the last few years I've written reviews of all the Nik plugins along with with aspects of how I use them.

I use different aspects of them in a lot of my print work, and my commercial work too.

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/reviews.html#ps_plug_ins

Hope they're of use for people just exploring what you can do with them - the current price is an absolute bargain, even if I am still wary of Google's motives ;-)

Keith, AWESOME website ... there's lots in there I would like to read and learn.

[gferdinandsen]

Cool... A while back I followed some online tip for getting one of the Nik plugins for free (think it was an older version of the B/W plugin), and sure enough, in my spam folder was a link to the complete collection!

The whole collection free!   

It got caught in my spam folder, and I use gMail.  There is something ironic about gMail calling email from Google spam!

[LetTheRightLensIn]

I think I read on this sight the other day..that if you have purchased one or more Nik software previous to this offer (which I have), that there will be an opportunity from Nik/Google to acquire the rest of the bundle for free. Does anyone have info on this offer???
Thanks.

Yes, if you registered, you should have received an email. They send you a link to update to the latest version of the entire line.

[cayenne]

If you've bought a Nik product before, check your spam filter/box.  I got mine.  Free.  Holy frickin' sheet.  I was gonna pay the $130 for the package--and it still would've been cheaper than what I paid for upgrading from Viveza to Viveza 2.

This is powerful, versatile software folks.  The entire package used to run $500+ (and they didn't give academic discounts on the package, because the separate components totaled over $800).

I like Imagenomic better for noise reduction and even for their Portraiture tweaking, and Topaz makes some good plug-ins, too, but the entire Nik plug-in package for less than $150???  Do it.  Do it now.

What all does this software do? I've not heard of it before...

C

[LetTheRightLensIn]

I am wondering if someone can walk me through how they use the Nik suite in their workflow of editing landscape images. I really like the results I get in Lightroom 4 and feel comfortable using it. Would I use the Nik software after all of my adjustments in Lightroom 4? Can I do things with the software that I can't in Lightroom (specifically with the color efex and silver efex programs)?

Thanks!

SilverFX gives lots of nice presets (with plenty of modification sliders and switches) that make it a breeze to convert to nice B&W images. It would take a long time and be a real pain to do it using LR alone. They give so many different conversion types and it also can provide silver halide-like grain to varying degrees.

ColorFX pre-CS6 was really important. Since CS6 and the much more powerful sliders in ACR, I don't need to use it nearly as much, but there are still times I need to use it for sure so it is still pretty important since you still sometimes need to quickly isolate some fancy manipulations on certain regions and color tones/levels. It would be really a time consuming PITA, MAJORLY, to replicate what you can do with it in a jiffy.

[LetTheRightLensIn]

If you've bought a Nik product before, check your spam filter/box.  I got mine.  Free.  Holy frickin' sheet.  I was gonna pay the $130 for the package--and it still would've been cheaper than what I paid for upgrading from Viveza to Viveza 2.

This is powerful, versatile software folks.  The entire package used to run $500+ (and they didn't give academic discounts on the package, because the separate components totaled over $800).

I like Imagenomic better for noise reduction and even for their Portraiture tweaking, and Topaz makes some good plug-ins, too, but the entire Nik plug-in package for less than $150???  Do it.  Do it now.

Yeah I can't believe the deal I got. My local camera store had a crazy deal on Nik software 1.5-2 years ago and I got Silver and COlor for a total steal, I think like $50 combined (the full pro versions) and now that just got converted into the entire collection!

I have to say that out of all the plug-ins and such that I've looked at I really love the Nik ones the best for sure.

[LetTheRightLensIn]

I am wondering if someone can walk me through how they use the Nik suite in their workflow of editing landscape images. I really like the results I get in Lightroom 4 and feel comfortable using it. Would I use the Nik software after all of my adjustments in Lightroom 4? Can I do things with the software that I can't in Lightroom (specifically with the color efex and silver efex programs)?

Thanks!

An odd thread, isn't it? No response to us except "do it now".  And all the others (except Spokane) have really low numbers

Because it takes a long time to write out a tutorial and Nik themselves (and various other sites) already have comprehensive, including video based, tutorials online. Google them up. Go to the Nik site. Try the demo software.

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Cool... A while back I followed some online tip for getting one of the Nik plugins for free (think it was an older version of the B/W plugin), and sure enough, in my spam folder was a link to the complete collection!

The whole collection free!   

It got caught in my spam folder, and I use gMail.  There is something ironic about gMail calling email from Google spam!

hah I guess they know themselves only too well