serious price drop on Nik software

IMHO, the OnOne product has the best resizing software. I like the Topaz
masking program. It's somewhat a matter of personal choice and which one
the user is more comfortable with. Each has their strengths and weaknesses.

 

Agreed, there is no NIK equivalent to OnOne's Perfect Resize (formerly
Genuine Fractals), and it is worth the price if you need that sort of
thing. Perfect Effects (ex-Phototools) is kind of clunky. I got a deal
on an upgrade to their Plug-in Suite 6 sometime ago, and they have been
trying to get me to upgrade to their latest edition. This time I will
pass.

I gave up on Topaz stuff several years ago.

 

Yup!
I noted that in my added response to that post of mine.

 

And here is a revised version, in which it is no longer a picture of
someone elses art. NOt great, but just an example of playing with
filters and blending modes.
<https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97242118/Untitled-swirled.jpg>

 

Whoosh!

 

Again. Read what you wrote.

 

: In article <>, Robert Coe
:
: > : you are obviously unaware that nik software works with apple software
: > : and can also run standalone. no adobe software required at all.
: >
: > Where did I mention Nik software?
:
: in your initial post:
: > : > : > : i mhave been sleeping, but I recently learned that Google is selling
: > : > : > : the entire Nk suite for $149. this represents a drastic price drop.

Umm... That wasn't me. Shall I tell you who it was, or do you want to look it
up for yourself?

: > I was talking about you acting like an Adobe
: > fanboi. To the best of my recollection, I never heard of Nik software until
: > this thread. When someone first brought it up, I thought he was talking about
: > Nikon's proprietary photo editor.
:
: yet you somehow thought that it's competition for photoshop, without
: knowing anything about it?? um, ok.

I knew, from what was being said about it here, that it was a photo editing
suite. Then I looked up their Web site (and found that, despite its name, it
apparently had nothing to do with Nikon).

: > : > If it were the
: > : > former, I can't believe they'd let you be so obvious about it. So I guess
: > : > it must be the latter.
: > :
: > : you're wrong, again. it's neither.
: > :
: > : google bought nik last fall and reduced its price last march.
: > :
: > : if anything, that would cause people to want to use adobe or apple
: > : software *more* than they would otherwise. that's an odd way to
: > : compete, by driving up usage of the other company's product. it's
: > : ludicrous.
: >
: > Now you're talking as though *you've* forgotten that Nik can run standalone.
:
: your reading comprehension is about as good as tony and peter.
:
: scroll up and you'll see that i explicitly mentioned standalone (copied
: below because you missed it the first time). i did not forget at all.

That was my point, doofus. You just got done saying that Nik worked
standalone, then argued that every additional copy sold would make Adobe more
competitive.

: > : you are obviously unaware that nik software works with apple software
: > : and can also run standalone. no adobe software required at all.
:
: the bizarre part is you think nik is somehow competition to photoshop.

The bizarre part is that you think that notion is bizarre. But I suppose that
to a fanboi like you, the very idea that Photoshop can have competition is
bizarre.

: > : the price cut also happened two months *before* adobe announced the
: > : subscription only plan and the purchase well before that, so what
: > : google did obviously had nothing to do with anything adobe did.
: >
: > Aren't you one of those who told us that EVERYBODY knew a year ago that Adobe
: > was planning this pricing change?
:
: no.

I stand corrected, I guess.

: > Now you're saying that Google didn't know?
: > How likely is that?
:
: extremely likely.
:
: nobody outside of adobe had any idea that adobe was going to switch to
: subscription-only prior to the announcement last month. that includes
: google.
:
: everyone assumed there would be a cs7 in addition to creative cloud.

Well, the suspicion in this newsgroup seems to be that Google probably did
know and that that knowledge contributed to their decision to buy Nik. I
realize you think otherwise, but frankly you're not one of the most credible
characters here. I hope that doesn't surprise you; I wouldn't want to be the
one to ruin your day.

Bob

 

you're right, you didn't say that, however, you replied directly to
that post, wrongly assuming it was done for competitive reasons. it was
not.

i never said it would make adobe more competitive.

nik is normally used *with* adobe software, but it also works with
apple's aperture and can also be used standalone. how is that
competition to adobe?

nobody is going to buy nik instead of photoshop. it's a ridiculous idea
that makes absolutely no sense at all.

more name calling.

of course photoshop can (and does) have competition, but that certainly
isn't nik. the whole idea is crazy.

photoshop is where it is because it's an excellent and very capable
app. it's clear that all you want to do is bash anyone who finds it
useful.

that suspicion is wrong.

google didn't buy nik because of anything adobe was planning, public or
confidential, and they definitely did not know about what transpired
last month either.

google has bought a *lot* of companies, including other photo related
products such as snapseed and picasa. nik was just another on the list.

 

Oh, OK, just curious if there was some benefit to doing it that way
that I couldn't figure out, but it was just what you happened to do.
Thanks for the explanation. I'm not a photoshop expert by any
stretch, either.

Thanks for the tip about the coupon, too. I found one by googling
last night, and made the purchase. I'm very impressed by what I've
played with so far.

 

Very nice.

 

But the noise reduction package of the NIK suite is
rather unimpressive, based on the quick check I did. The
Topaz noise reduction software, while not perfect, is
much better.

 

Depends. Being able to add NIK to Elements could forestall someone
from going over to the full Photoshop subscription version.

 

: On 6/15/2013 9:01 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
: > On Sat, 15 Jun 2013 08:55:34 -0400, peternew <>
: > wrote:
: >
: >> On 6/14/2013 10:09 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
: >>> On Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:47:01 -0400, peternew <>
: >>> wrote:
: >>>
: >>>> i mhave been sleeping, but I recently learned that Google is selling the
: >>>> entire Nk suite for $149. this represents a drastic price drop.
: >>>>
: >>>> <http://www.niksoftware.com/nikcollection/usa/intro.html>
: >>>
: >>> You have been sleeping. It's been advertised for over a month. I
: >>> started to buy it at $149 and then found an online coupon that gave me
: >>> an additional $20 off through the NIK site. So, I bought it at
: >>> $129.00.
: >>>
: >>> So far, I've used the Dfine 2 (noise removal) module on several
: >>> images. (My Nikon, at an ISO of 400, adds noise...badly.) Dfine 2
: >>> works a treat.
: >>>
: >>> I've tried Silver Efex Pro 4 with some success, but I still like doing
: >>> black and white conversions on my own in Photoshop. I've tried Color
: >>> Efex Pro 4, but only saved one image using it. It seems better for
: >>> special effects like high key than it does for just regular color
: >>> processing.
: >>>
: >>> I haven't figured out Viveza 2 yet. I understand the basics, but I'm
: >>> going to have to watch some videos before I get comfortable with it.
: >>>
: >>> I used Color Efex Pro 4's "Detail Extractor" on this image of a
: >>> railroad boxcar. Then, I duplicated the unadjusted Background layer
: >>> and placed it above the NIK treated layer and use a Layer Mask to
: >>> reveal only the door. I wanted the area to the left to be as-shot.
: >>>
: >>> http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Photography/Miscellanea/i-442j3mX/0/XL/2013-06-12-1-XL.jpg
: >>>
: >>> This one was really for practice. I'd like the same shot with some
: >>> better graffiti, so I'm watching boxcars.
: >>>
: >>
: >> I like it, though I would have removed the sign.
: >> Here's my version:
: >> <https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97242118/Untitled-1.jpg>
: >
: > That's an interesting version, but I wanted this to clearly be a shot
: > of a boxcar door. I like the texture in the door. This is not a good
: > example of graffiti. I've seen much better art on other boxcars. I'll
: > be watching for some.
: >
:
: And here is a revised version, in which it is no longer a picture of
: someone elses art. NOt great, but just an example of playing with
: filters and blending modes.
: <https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97242118/Untitled-swirled.jpg>

Remember that guy a few years ago who kept insisting that photography could
never be art? Where is he now when we need him? Probably he'd never believe
that your final result wasn't a painting. :^)

Bob

 

That is not my experience.
I suggest you need to delve a little deeper than a "quick check". NR is
a compromise at the best of times, and I find that NIK Dfine, with its
several different methods of dealing with noise with either global
image profile NR or specific selective NR, to be very effective indeed.
All without too much destruction of detail.
There is also the caveat that NR should be the first step in your
workflow prior to other adjustments.

I found the Topaz NR, while decent, not that good at retaining detail.

 

Especially since NIK has brush capabilities.

 

I think that NR is really something like color blurring. You can
selectively use NR. BTW Try the nR in DXO. You may soon see some of my
examples.

 

thank you.

 

Only with editing software with adjustment layer & layer mask
capabilities ( PS & PSE) have brush capabilities.
With Lightroom, Aperture and NIK stand-alone the brush feature is
disabled. However, you can still do selective adjustment using the NIK
control point system, which does a very good job. As a matter of fact
using the brush together with control points is a good way of masking
different areas from effects you might want to brush in.

 

Well it was made from a photograph of a painting;-)

 

I did not know that brush capabilities were disabled in LR.
I have heard that DXO will have brush capabilities in its next edition,
according to Carlos Hernandez, at a DXO demonstration.