NIK software

[creakingbones]

I'm thinking of buying Nik's Creative Efex Collection to use with CS5 and Aperture. Any suggestions please. Am I wasting my money?

[ricktas]

Download the 30 day trials and give them a run before you buy. Like everything, what suits one person may not suit another. For me they are quite a good set of filters and plugins.

[kiwi]

its good software, since we havent seen any of your photos its hard to know

[GrahamS]

Hey mate.
I use Nik software all the time, I find if B+W is your bag, Silver Efex Pro 2 is simply magic. As stated previously the plug-ins are excellent. i highly recommend this product, they have great product support its easy to use and seemlessly integrates with Lightroom (that is what i'm using).
As stated before mate, download the trial and see if it suits your needs.
Good luck.

[JM Tran]

I absolutely love the Nik Software suite, the black and white stuff like Arzuhl said with Silver Efex Pro is bloody great for true B/W conversions or in other tones.

I also love and hate Nik Color Efex too, it has some amazing plugins, but I hate it as way toooo many wedding photographers are abusing its vintage and cross-processing colour plugins for the last 2 years to give it a washed out or technicolour look, a problem which has been identified by some pros as one tends to lose their own style and identity in their work, if it looks like hundreds of other photographers work etc.

But overall, I recommend you purchasing it, a great investment for long term use.

[ricktas]

Color Efex has just been released as version 4. I haven't had a look at it yet, but have heard good things about it.

[creakingbones]

Thanks to all who have offered opinions. I'm going to go ahead, make the purchase and see what I like about the software.

[Boo53]

Thanks to all who have offered opinions. I'm going to go ahead, make the purchase and see what I like about the software.

Why not follow Rick's suggestion and try it free for 30 days.

I have it and really like it, but there are other add on out there (that also offer 30 days free) like onone to mention just one

[kmcgreg]

I have the Nik suite - the Silver Effects pro is great for BW, Colour Effects is good but I don't use anywhere near as often as Silver Efex PRo- each to their own style.
Give it a go - I think you will like their unique way of working - it is simple and doesnt do my head like alot of photoshop stuff does!

[wolffman]

I have silver effex pro which is great andhe structure sliders are simply magic. My only gripe is I find their local controls cause some monster halos if pushed too far. I tend to do exposure correction and local burn and dodge in lightroom and then export to sep and while it takes longer, does give a better effect

[ricktas]

Thanks to all who have offered opinions. I'm going to go ahead, make the purchase and see what I like about the software.

So now you have it, can we start seeing some of your photos? After all this is a photography forum!

[darkc]

I bought this a while back and its outstanding. Its easy to use, the B&W conversions in Silver FX Pro are excellent just buy it

[terry.langham]

How does the Noise Reduction of the Nik Software compare to Lightroom 3? Will have to upgrade from LR2 soon, as the NR is not up to scratch. However I have been quite impressed with silver efex and the HDR software would be nice, as this is an area I would like to explore (haven't really done much HDR as I haven't had adequate software)