New Nik Collection 6 gives your edits more control and creativity

DxO has announced Nik Collection 6, the latest upgrade to the suite of plugins that enhance the photo editing power of Lightroom Classic and Photoshop. Other than improvements to the existing tools, the plugin has been revamped to get a new interface and more functionalities that give you more control over your edits. So, let’s dive in and see what’s new in the Nik Collection 6.

As always, Nik Collection 6’s eight individual apps can be used alone or as plugins within Adobe Lightroom Classic and Photoshop. For years now, it’s been photographers’ favorite, so much that we signed a petition to bring it back when Google decided to abandon it. But DxO stepped in and saved the day, so the collection lives on. Here’s what’s new in the Ni8k Collection 6:

More creativity and more control

U Point technology, a user-friendly tool for making local adjustments in photo editing, was originally developed in the Nik Collection. This technology is now available in the entire suite and has been enhanced with new features for even more intuitive selective editing:

• Control Lines add flexibility when making broad adjustments, bringing the power of Control Points to linear gradients
• Control Point diffusion features mean you can regulate the strength and style of adjustments more easily
• Control Points and Control Lines can now be inverted, giving you huge flexibility when editing
• Color Selectivity sliders allow Control Point and Control Line editing to be tied to specific colors and tones in an image
• Renamable Local Adjustments let you stay on top of complex edits, so you’ll never lose sight of your work
• Local Adjustments can now be saved as Presets, giving you quick access to your most frequently used edits.

A cleaner interface look and ease of use

With the latest Nik Collection 6 update, you have more control over the location of the sliders for local adjustments on your screen. You can keep them in a sidebar, or have them overlaid on the image. The choice is entirely yours to make, depending on your editing preferences.

Despite all of its new and improved features, DxO says that Nik Collection 6 is easier to use than ever before. It plugs straight into DxO PhotoLab, Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom Classic, and Affinity Photo, providing new creative tools without messing up your usual way of doing things.

New workflow features

• Turn your edits into a Smart Object at any stage from within the plugin, giving you fully nondestructive editing in Photoshop
• Call on any of your last 15 Nik Collection edits and apply them with a single click
• Presets can now be searched for by name so you can instantly find your favorite edits
• HiDPI & Multiscreen support lets you work with all screen configurations
• Affinity Photo is now automatically detected as part of installation

Individual app upgrades

Five of the eight plugins that make up Nik Collection 6 see significant individual upgrades bringing new features and smoother functionality:

• Nik Color Efex gains a brand-new Hue/Saturation/Luminance tool, for deeper and more accurate control of color and tone
• Nik Dfine receives a complete visual overhaul bringing it into line with the other plugins, creating a more refined experience as well as improved options for saving denoising recipes and returning to them in just a few clicks
• Nik Perspective adds the powerful new ReShape Tool which allows photographers to warp and shape local areas for complete precision
• Nik Sharpener will also be receiving a rebuild and interface overhaul, destined for Nik 6.2, and available as a free update
• Nik HDR Efex, the premier tool for exposure blending, also gets a fresh new interface as part of version 6.3 (arriving in August), providing a clearer, faster workflow.

What’s in Nik Collection 6?

The Nik Collection 6 includes eight powerful plugins that can be used as standalone apps. These tools help you enhance your images creatively and technically.

• Nik Color Efex: Countless striking filters for color, tone, contrast, and more
• Nik Silver Efex: Darkroom-inspired controls for the ultimate in black-and-white photo editing
• Nik Analog Efex: Dive into history and discover endless analog effects to give photos a vintage feel
• Nik Viveza: Shape color, manipulate tones, be bold, and inject passion
• Nik Dfine: Remove digital noise exactly where required, without destroying detail
• Nik Perspective: Fix perspective and distortion for geometric perfection or creative effects
• Nik HDR Efex: Harmonize highlights and shadows for photos with a gorgeous dynamic range
• Nik Sharpener: Enhance images with perfect sharpness, exactly where you need it.

Nik Collection 6: Price and availability

Nik Collection 6 is available now for Windows and macOS, exclusively from the DxO website, at the following prices:

• Nik Collection 6 for new users: $149
• Nik Collection 6 upgrade price for existing users: $79

To upgrade, you should log into your customer account here. Nik Collection 6 doesn’t require a subscription and can be installed on up to three computers.