Nik Collection 3 By DxO 25th Anniversary: 25 Years of Inspiration, 25 New Presets
To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Nik Collection, the famous photo plugin suite for Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, and DxO PhotoLab and the winner of the 2020-2021 EISA Award for Best Photo-Editing Software, released its latest 3.3 version. This version includes a pack of 25 brand-new Presets for Color Efex Pro and Silver Efex Pro. These twenty-five exclusive Presets are divided into five series, each with five Presets: “Classic Portrait Color,” “Classic Portrait Black & White,” “Light & Bright,” “Wildlife,” and “Street”. This update is also compatible with macOS Big Sur and the 2021 versions of Adobe’s host applications.
Designed for Multiple Genres and Today’s Photography
The new Presets included in the Nik Collection 3 by DxO showcase five photography genres, specifically colour portraiture, black-and-white portraits, landscape photography, wildlife photography, and street photography. These are the five most popular genres among expert and amateur photographers alike. Color Efex Pro, which already includes a number of creative colour Presets and recipes, and Silver Efex Pro, which continues to set the standard for black-and-white conversion, are the two Nik Collection plugins photographers turn to the most.
With its ten “Classic Portrait Color” Presets for Color Efex Pro and “Classic Portrait Black & White” Presets for Silver Efex Pro, the Nik Collection 3 by DxO offers users a modern and holistic approach to the genre. “High Key Bright” brings out the whites and brightness in colour portraits, giving images a joyful and optimistic ambiance. With its lower exposure levels, “Hint of Color” creates a more dramatic look that nonetheless remains soft through the addition of a colour tint.
With respect to black-and-white photography, “Hollywood Glamour” produces images with high contrast yet controls the darker tones in the image to conceal any flaws. For those nostalgic for the analogue film era, “Rugged” offers a perfectly balanced, fine-grain look.
When it comes to landscape photography, the “Light & Bright” series designed for Color Efex Pro opts for a colourful take on the genre through a selection of monochromatic or chromatic-dominant Presets. “Cafe Mocha” adds a dark beige tint, while “Pink Lemonade” uses a pink tint. With their green and blue tones, “Fade Away” and “Heavenly Blue” give landscapes a timeless look. “Sunshine Morning” creates softer and more balanced tints.
The “Wildlife” series for Color Efex Pro includes Presets that showcase a variety of lighting effects and highlight detail. With its blue tint and slight blur, “Cool Evening” simulates a semi-nocturnal ambiance. “Sunny Day” mimics the effect of a bright, noon-day sun without flattening the image. Wish your photo was a bit sharper? “Fur Details” increases micro-contrast and enhances textures, resulting in an incredibly realistic effect.
Finally, the “Street” series for Silver Efex Pro opts for an approach poised between classicism and modernism by playing up contrasts, grain, and tints simultaneously. “High Contrast” recreates that classic street photography look by producing dense blacks and stark whites. “Street Gritty” adds a slight grain over the top, which is reminiscent of Leica. With “Street Dramatic”, the background of the photo is darkened, and the depth of field is shortened.
Twenty-five Years Dedicated to Innovation and Photography
Since Nils Kokemohr founded the company in 1995, Nik Multimedia, which later became Nik Software in 2006, has sought to develop photo-editing software that helps photographers who use Adobe Photoshop realise their vision through the use of simple tools based on exclusive algorithms and designed to improve their workflow. The software developer created Color Efex Pro to improve colour conversion, Sharpener Pro to boost sharpness, Dfine to reduce noise, Viveza to apply local colour adjustments, HDR Efex Pro to edit HDR images, Silver Efex Pro for white-and-black conversions, and Analog Efex to recreate the look of silver halide film. It also released a number of innovations, including the famous local adjustment technology U POINT™. After Google purchased it in 2012, the Nik Collection was gradually side-lined. When DxO bought it in 2017, the suite was re-released, much to the delight of its extensive community of users. Its latest version, released in June 2020, added a
number of new features, including the Selective Tool, which was redesigned to work with Adobe Photoshop, a non-destructive workflow for Adobe Lightroom users, and an eighth plugin, Perspective Efex.
Compatible with macOS Big Sur and the Latest Versions of Adobe software
To ensure the best possible user experience, the Nik Collection 3.3 by DxO was optimised to be fully compatible with macOS Big Sur as well as the latest versions of Adobe Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, and Photoshop Elements.
Price and Availability
The Nik Collection 3.3 by DxO (Windows and macOS) is now available for download on the DxO website for £125 for the full version and for £69 for the upgrade.
Users who purchased Nik Collection 3 by DxO after June 2020 may upgrade their software for free. Photographers who already own Nik Collection 2 By DxO or a previous version can upgrade their software by signing into their customer accounts. A fully-functional, one-month trial version of Nik Collection 3.3 By DxO is available on the DxO website: https://nikcollection.dxo.com/download/.
