Nik Collection Upgrade & onOne Special Offer

My partnership and special offers with Nik Software have ended. Here’s where you can learn more about the Nik Products that I have reviewed and learn how you can get a great deal on onOne Software just by being a Nik Collection owner.

Click here to learn more and see the articles below to see my thoughts on each of these products:

• Nik Software Color Efex 4 Video Tutorial (Review)
  • TUTORIAL: Nik Software Color Efex Reflector Effect Video–NOW WITH Audio
  • TUTORIAL: Using Nik Software Color Efex Pro 4 & Special Offer
• Nik Software Dfine 2.0
• Nik Software HDR Efex Pro 2.0
• Nik Software Sharpener Pro 3.0
• Nik Software Silver Efex Pro 2.0
• Nik Software Viveza 2.0
• Nik Software Viveza for Lightroom

 

Save 50% Off ALL onOne Software products if you own the Nik Collection by Google

Save 50% on the Perfect Photo Suite 7 (with a FREE upgrade to 7.5) if you own the Nik Collection by Google

Frequently Asked Questions

The following is my understanding based on my conversation with my Nik Software marketing contact and what I’ve read on the Google website. I’m not responsible for any errors or change in policy that is beyond my control. Buyer beware.

What happened to your discount?

It’s gone. My partnership with the Nik Team (now acquired by Google) has ended. I’d like to thank Kevin, Josh & Laurie for their support and wish them the best in the future.

I already owned the collection, but I didn't get the free upgrade email. What do I do now?

Start by checking your junk mail folder. If you can't find it there, check your deleted items. If that doesn't work, then try to think if you had a different email account that you used to register or purchase your Nik software. If none of that works, then send an email to supportus@niksoftware.com to request a new email.

I clicked on the link but it wasn't a exe. What do I do with this file?

Odds are you are using Internet Explorer. Instead of clicking, choose right click Save As... and save it as a exe on your desktop. If that doesn't work, download the file and RENAME it to have a .exe extension, then run it. Alternatively you can use Chrome as shown in my videos and this won't happen as it lacks this security feature to prevent you from downloading malicious exe's off the web.

I just bought the complete collection - how do I get a refund?

It is my understanding that those who purchased within the last 30 days will get a email (check your junk mail folder) within the next couple days that will get an automatic refund of the purchase price different (i.e., you get it for $149 - max). The exact cutoff date is 30 days prior to today's announcement. They can't go back forever, so if you go back 31 days then you are out of luck.

What happen to my product ID's?

They've been eliminated - your email address that you used to register your product is your new product id. Your email from Google (check your junk mail) has details on how to install the new Nik Collection by Google upgrade.

What's new in the upgrade?

Branding, Windows 8 support, Single Installer and a new licensing model that doesn't require PID's. I'm not aware of any fundamental changes to any of the Nik products.

If I only own one Nik Software product what happens?

You are very lucky because you get a FREE upgrade to the entire collection. Count your lucky stars! ;-)

What about upgrades?

All Nik customers who get the email will be upgraded to the latest version at no charge. I've also been told that in the future upgrades will be free, so it sounds like it's pay one price to play.

Is Google using this as a trick to force us to all pay for an upgrade to a new or replacement product here in 6 months?

Not from what I understand. It sounds like they plan to carry the product forward and just wanted to simplify the distribution, licensing and upgrade process.

Wait Ron, I asked for your advice and you told me X and now this happens. You suck!

Hey, I'm very sorry as I just found out at 8:36 AM this morning like the rest of the world. I had no clue this was happening and it's financial impact on me is going to be significant, so I feel your pain.

Does this mean Nik is now in maintenance mode and we won't see any real upgrades?

It's my understanding that the product group still exists and is working on new products, so I don't think that is the case. I have no facts though so this is pure speculation based on rumors.

Now that you don’t make a commission off Nik products, which program would you get? This or a competing product?

Click here to read my advice on which plug-ins to buy. Nik still makes the best products in the business, so my advice doesn't change based on this. This will impact the business model of this blog, so I will lose money over the long haul. If you find this blog useful, donations will become more important over the long haul to sustain this blog now that one of my top partners has changed the game.

I didn't get the email, what do I do?

Start by checking your junk mail folder. If you can't find it there, check your deleted items. If that doesn't work, then try to think if you had a different email account that you used to register or purchase your Nik software. If none of that works, then send an email to supportus@niksoftware.com to request a new email.

Upgrade Video

Here’s a little video I did on my Windows system that shows how you can upgrade quickly and easily for both Photoshop and Lightroom:

Mac Users Video

Here’s a little video I did on my Mac OS X 10.8.2 system that shows how you can upgrade quickly and easily for both Photoshop and Lightroom:

 

Other articles you may enjoy

• Nik Software Owners: Get onOne Perfect Photo Suite 7 for 50% off
• Discount Coupon Code Page
• B&W Comparison - Nik vs onOne vs Topaz
• HDR Software Comparison
• Things You Need AFTER You Buy Your New Camera - Must Have Photography Accessories
• Kelby Training Review & Discount
• National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP Discount)
• The Perfect Picture School of Photography (PPSOP) by Bryan Peterson
• Photoshop Elements User - (Discount) Tutorials and more
• Zenfolio - The Ultimate place to host your photos on the web

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. All information is provided to the best of my ability based on reliable sources, but my sources and I do not make future policy so changes are possible without notice.

Nothing But Nik: Gyeongbokgung Palace

I posted the edited version of the shot below on 500px and sent it to a few friends. Shortly thereafter I got several requests asking me how I processed this shot. Since I didn’t use smart objects and because this was a quick edit I can only offer a quick summary of what I did.

Throne Hall of Gyeongbokgung Palace
Click here to view on 500px

The obvious problem with this shot right off the bat was that I was too far away (because I wasn’t allowed to get closer) and nasty lens distortion. While Lightroom 5 (currently in beta) should make fixing distortions like this as easy as clicking a button, I found it pretty easy to do manually as well. Here’s all I did to effectively tilt-shift my image in post-processing:

After some basic tweaks in Lightroom (like pre-sharpening), it was all nothing but Nik Collection after that. Here’s what I did:

For this shot I did a very mild noise reduction using measured points in Dfine (a rarely used feature, but I mention it in my review). Normally I’d use Noiseware, but for this one I chose Dfine simply because I wanted an all Nik workflow for this image.

I wasn’t planning on doing much with this shot so I went out of my typical order and started with Tonal Contrast using the defaults. Afterwards I used the Foliage #3 preset with lots of control points so I could isolates the greens to give them more pop.

I like a warm tone for many of my images, so my go to filter is Skylight filter. I used U-Point controls to exclude the green from being impacted by the yellow.

At this point you might be asking “what is CEP” (that’s Color Efex) and why didn’t I just create a recipe with all three filters applied at once. The short answer is that I could, but personally I like to see the layers in Photoshop each in their own layer. I could have used Smart Filters too, but I think they are too slow.

When I was done with Color Efex I decided that I needed to take care of some of the hot spots and shadow areas in my image. For that the choice was easy – Viveza – which basically creates complex hidden layer masks in seconds to apply whatever you need exactly where you need it. For this shot I needed to tone down the highlights on the polls and steps, so after a few clicks with Viveza to do some minor exposure adjustments I was done.

After I was done I did a quick sharpen with Sharpener Pro.

After I scaled the image down to upload it to the web, I did a stupid thing and did some quick healing on the polls because they were bothering me. I’m now paying the price as I’d like to print a larger version of this image and I don’t have any of that cloning work in my PSD file. Learn from me – that’s stupid, never do that – ALWAYS work on your full size PSD and keep the layers!

I’m sorry there’s no video, but I just ran out of time tonight and wasn’t able to do one. I do hope to do some video tutorials in the future, but in the meantime maybe some of the things I’m showing you here will give you reason to experiment.

Here’s another Before & After that followed a similar worfklow of “Nothing but Nik*”:

Gyeongbokgung Building

This photo was a little easier because I didn’t have any distortion to correct. I did have a lot more noise, but I used U-Point controls to only apply it in the sky and leave the “noise texture” everywhere else. Had I created a recipe for the earlier shot, it would have been a one click visit in Color Efex Pro  - doh!

Conclusion

Outside of some really basic Lightroom work and one final touchup on my web version of the file, this is all basically a “nothing but nik” software edit. It’s a testimony as to how very good the Nik Collection and Lightroom can be together – even if you don’t own Photoshop! These photos are part of my personal site, http://asia.ronmartblog.com where I process personal snapshots really quickly. 

I once wanted to do a blog where I talked about all of the Nik products because they are so important to my digital workflow. I haven’t had time to do that yet, but hopefully this inspires you on giving that shot that you didn’t like another try. Personally I was going to delete the Throne Hall shot because I thought it would be too hard to make it look any good, but boy was I wrong! I’m glad I gave the Nik Collection by Google a shot as it really made a huge difference. Even if you hate my edits, you can see for yourself that the sky is the limit with the Nik Collection.

Where to order

Click here to learn more about the Nik Collection to see how you can get a trial version or purchase it with a generous discount.

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

• Nik Collection by Google (Discount)
• Nik Software Color Efex 4 Video Tutorial (Review)
• Nik Software Viveza 2.0
• Ask Ron: What do you think of Lightroom 5?
• Photo Editing Tips
• Asia Adventures Blog
• What plug-ins should I buy? (for Photoshop & Lightroom)

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.