Using The Nik Collection Plug-ins In Lightroom And Photoshop Dan Lenardon
What Are We Going To Cover Today? A Brief Overview Of The Nik Collection By Google How To Use Nik From Within Lightroom How To Use Nik From Within Photoshop Live Demo s Of The Tools In Nik Some In-depth Examples Of Techniques For Getting The Most Out Of Nik Answering Your Questions About Nik (If I Can!) Some Links To More Information And Tutorials
What Should You Expect To Learn If Nik Software Is New To You What s Included In Nik Software What About Nik Is Different From Some Other Plug-in Suites A Feel For How It Works If You Already Have Nik Software A Review Of Some Things You ve Forgotten (Me Too!) Hopefully Some New Insights Or Techniques To Help You Use It More Effectively
What Modules Are In The Nik Collection? There Are Seven Modules In The Nik Collection Analog Efex Pro Color Efex Pro Silver Efex Pro Viveza HDR Efex Pro Sharpener Pro Dfine
Nik Modules Overview Analog Efex Pro Add Effects Similar To Those Created With Film And Classic Analog Cameras, Such As Zoom & Rotate, Motion Blur, Double Exposure, Lens Vignette, Film Types Including Black & White Add A Frame Around Your Image Color Efex Pro A Comprehensive Set Of Filters For Color Correction, Retouching, And Creative Effects 55 Different Filters Each One With Adjustable Settings Adjustable And Often Control Points Examples Include: Color And Graduated Filters, Contrast Adjustments, Vignettes, Detail Extractor, Polarizer, Foliage, More
Nik Modules Overview, 2 Silver Efex Pro One Of The Most Popular Tools To Convert Color Images To Black & White Many Advanced Controls To Customize The Conversion Emulate Nearly 20 Popular Film Types Add Finishing Adjustments Like Toners And Borders Viveza Easy-to-use Sliders For Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Shadows, Red, Green, Blue, Hue, And Warmth Unique Structure Control Lets You Accentuate Textures And Details Without Creating Unwanted Artifacts Or Halos Control Points Make It Easy To Apply Different Effect To Different Parts Of The Image (E.G. Warm A Sunset Sky While Cooling The Water Below)
Nik Modules Overview, 3 HDR Efex Pro Create An HDR Image From A Set Of Bracketed Images Many Presets With Quite Different Effects Controls Seem Easier To Understand Than Photomatix Sharpener Pro (2 Modules) RAW Presharpener Output Sharpener - Helps Determine Amount Of Sharpening Based On Printer, Paper Type, And Print Size Can Sharpen Selectively Using Control Points Dfine Noise Reduction Based On Analysis Of The Image Selective Reduction (E.G. Sky But Not Rocks)
General Features Of Nik Modules Presets Allow You To Quickly Pick Starting Point Lots Of Excellent Tutorials The Stand-alone Versions (From Within Lightroom) Are Easily Selected With Edit In Menu, Or Export With Preset For HDR Efex Can Accept TIFF Or JPG Formats (But Not PSD) Creates A New Image File With Changes The Photoshop Plug-in Versions Easily Selected From The Nik Selection Panel Or Under Filters Create A New Layer Or Smart Layer Within Any Open Photoshop File, Or Can Be Applied To The Current Layer Can Use A Brush (Layer Mask) After New Layer Is Created (Not For Smart Layers)
What s Unique About Nik Software U-point Technology Control Points Automatically Creates Complex Masks Based On Color, Tone, And Texture Allows You To Choose Which Parts Of The Image To Make Changes You Can Use The Sliders For Each Control Point To Apply Different Corrections To Each Area, Or You Can Group Control Points And Control Them Together You Can Also Use Control Points To Take Away The Effects Or Filters From Specific Areas Of The Image
Demo Of Nik Directly From Lightroom Example Using Color Efex Pro, Details Extractor, 1 Control Point In Lightroom, Select Edit In Color Efex Pro 4 Recommended Settings Are: TIFF Format (JPG Is Also Supported, But Not PSD) ProphotoRGB (To Preserve The Widest Color Gamut) 16-bits/Component Compression None (Required) A New TIFF File Is Created With The Filtered Result A Disadvantage Is That A New File Is Created For Each Nik Module Applied
---- Lightroom Demo ----- Let s Look At Some Of The Features That Are Common To All Of The Nik Modules On The Left Side, We Have A List Of All Of The Filters In Color Efex Pro, But Also A Number Of Recipes Other Modules Have Their Starting Preset Choices On The Left In The Middle At The Top, We Have Controls For Different Preview Modes (Demo); And The Zoom Control On The Right Side, We Have The Sliders To Control The Individual Effects, As Well As Control Points, A Loupe, And A Histogram --2 nd Demo: Noise Reduction in Night Sky, But Not In Rocks
Demo Of Nik From Photoshop Recommended Approach: Edit In Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 Duplicate Background Layer And Apply Any Pixel Edits, Such As Spot Healing, Content-aware-fill, Etc. Duplicate Edited Layer And Convert To Smart Object Apply All Nik Modules Needed As Smart Layer Objects Recommended Workflow Order Noise Reduction Dfine Color, Light, And Detail Adjustments Viveza Special Effects Color Efex Output Sharpening For A Specific Print
---- Photoshop Demo ---- Explain The Visual Intent Of Sun Highlighting A Part Of The Photo With Dramatic Clouds Using Viveza, Show Effects Mask For One Control Point, Then One In Each Half And How To Turn On And Off The Masks For Each Control Point Show The Effects Of Multiple Control Points And Grouping Add Color Efex Pro Contrast And Vignette Filter Add Sharpener Pro Output For Printing Open Q & A
Links to Further Resources on Nik https://www.google.com/nikcollection/ https://www.google.com/nikcollection/learn/ https://www.youtube.com/user/niksoftwarelessons A 1 Hr Overview of the whole collection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gikvjbnptrq http://www.googleniktips.com/