I did a few more nik edits of a recent show I saw. If you do much concert type of photography nik might be worth looking into (it's free), but if you like macro/nature then maybe not so much. This was the first time I carried my camera to a show, and I really like what nik does to the atmosphere--it's easy to play with and has many possibilities that can keep processing unique.

[GeoJerry]

These are very well done, with some good poses and expressions. Wasn't Nik bought out by someone, Google or Adobe maybe?

[BigMackCam]

These are very well done, with some good poses and expressions. Wasn't Nik bought out by someone, Google or Adobe maybe?

DxO Labs bought it from Google... You can still download the current version free of charge:

Homepage - Nik Collection by DxO

[Knock]

Thanks GeoJerry. BigMackCam is right...it's DxO. Are there many folks out there that use Nik? In my original post I implied that Nik might not be too useful for nature/macro work...I should have worded this better, I didn't intend to throw shade at nik in this regard. Personally I am very impressed with some of the effects that can be achieved using the Analog Efex and Color Efex plugins in terms of creating a vintage kind of feel---this kind of vintage effect probably isn't what most people are looking for in macro/nature work. The Dfine plugin is useful in cleaning up some noise. Silver Efex has some great b/w tools. I haven't used their HDR or Viveza plugins very much. Either way, at $0 I think that nik has been a great investment.

[str8talk83]

Great shots.

I use Nik software for all my shots and I'm mostly nature/landscape oriented. I focus on using Viveza for selective brightening and darkening. It's basically a simpler way to dodge and burn for me. I also use Color Efex Pro and am a big fan of the following filters:

-brilliance and warmth
-pro contrast
-darken lighten center

I utilize other filters on ocassion or if I'm feeling inspired to create a different look to my images. I also really like Silver Efex Pro for black and white images. I'm just hoping that the plugins don't stop working with my photoshop CC. Now that the software is no longer receiving updates there have been a few issues that people are having, but I was able to move the plug-ins folder following some directions on a forum to fix it.

---------- Post added 04-26-2018 at 08:38 AM ----------

DXO is supposed to be integrating the Nik tools into their own software as time goes on. I'm hesitant to learn a new software (or buy one) but that can be a good option in the future if Nik products get phased out. I don't really see the stand alone programs having issues though and they are really good as is, so it's probably going to be more of an ease of use issue if you use the software as plugins.