DxO has just announced Nik Collection 4. There are some new features like Meta Presets, whereas some old features have been improved, including interaction with Photoshop and Lightroom. So, let’s see what’s new and what’s pimped up in the latest Nik Collection.
A new, user-friendly design
One of the new things in Nik Collection 4 is the design. Both Nik Viveza (for color local adjustments) and Nik Silver Efex, (for black-and-white conversion), have been completely revamped. They now feature a more modern interface that looks more beautiful, but it’s also more intuitive to use.
Improved U Point technology
U Point technology allows you to apply local adjustments without masks. Nik Collection 4 now makes it possible to incorporate Control Points into personalized presets. In other words, you can apply a similar style to several images while still preserving a specific area.
U Point technology also includes a new Colour Tolerance setting so you can regulate the saturation of a specific tone range. You can both select the color you want to change and adjust the tolerance of similar color hues.
Lastly, Control Points have been made simples to use, with fewer sliders, making the applied effect easier to view; and you can also rename them.
Combine the settings of several plugins with Meta Presets
If you integrate Nick Collection 4 into Adobe Photoshop, you’ll see a new preset category: Meta Presets. There are ten of them, and they are essentially Photoshop actions that combine the filters and settings of several Nik Collection plugins into one. They make it possible to edit photos by applying a series of presets from several plugins in a single click.
Improved workflow with Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom
It looks like Nik Collection 4 is all about making it faster and easier to do your edits. The Last Edit function is now also available in Lightroom Classic. It lets users re-apply the last preset they used in one of the Nik Collection plugins, but until now it was only available in Photoshop.
In addition, the new Smart Copy & Paste feature lets you selectively re-apply the effect of a plugin to one or several images directly in Adobe Lightroom without having to launch the software suite’s interface.
Improved black-and-white photo editing
Nik Silver Efex now includes ClearView technology, which was first offered in DxO PhotoLab. This technology removes haze and enhances local contrast, and it’s very simple and intuitive to use. In just one click, you can eliminate haze, but keep the natural look of objects, edges, details, and transitions.
More presets
Nik Viveza features 10 native presets designed by professional photographers. And for fans of black-and-white film photography, Nik Silver Efex now comes with 39 new grain presets. DxO promises that they’re incredibly realistic and “even better at accurately recreating the look of iconic films than before,” although I’ll always claim no filter can replace actual black and white film.
In total, Nik Collection 4 comes with over 250 presets, so there’s plenty to choose from and adjust them to your liking.
Price and availability
Nik Collection 4 is available for download on the DxO website for both Windows and macOS.
If you already own Nik Collection 3 or a previous version, you can upgrade by signing into your customer account. A fully functional, one-month free trial version of Nik Collection 4 is also available on the DxO website.
Until 30 June 2021, you can get the Nik Collection 4 at a special price of €99.99 instead of €149/$99.99 instead of €149/£88.99 instead of £133. If you’re only getting an upgrade, you’ll pay €59.99 instead of €79/$59.99 instead of $79/£54.99 instead of £69.
Nik Collection has been loved by many photographers, and it’s been through a lot. Thankfully, DxO took over after Google gave up, so the app lives on and keeps on improving.
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