DxO launches Nik Collection 3

DxO has updated its popular set of Nik Collection plug-ins, bringing in major changes to improve workflow and bringing in a new plug-in, too.

DxO has announced a major upgrade to its popular Nik Collection by DxO, a set of creative plug-ins for non-destructive editing in Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom Classic and DxO PhotoLab.

The change is evident, so as you open the plug-in in Photoshop with a new-look Nik Selective Tool. This tool is icon-led, making it easy to identify each plug-in and it can quickly collapse to save screen space in Photoshop with one click. A big workflow change is the new ‘last edit’ feature. This lets you apply the last-used presets with a single click, making it convenient to process a batch of images in the same style. There’s a quick-edit option in Photoshop, which allows the last-used settings to be applied via the new Nik Selective Tool without even having to open the plug-in interface. Silver Efex Pro and HDR Efex Pro also allow direct access to favourite presets.

In Lightroom Classic, the new plug-in enables non-destructive workflow with the TIFF Multipage file format, which combines the input image, the saved Nik editing parameters in separate layers and the output image all in the same output file that you can revisit later. It means you can enjoy lots of experimenting and keep all the files to decide which you want to keep later.

The suite’s new plug-is Perspective Efex. This plug-in automatically corrects horizons and uprights as well as the distortion of subjects at the edges of wide-angle pictures. It can be used creatively, too, and there’s the miniature effect to simulate a shallow depth-of-field effect with the option of two blur gradients and the placement and intensity of these can be varied, and there’s the option of change the number or shape of aperture diaphragm blades to vary the bokeh effect.

The Nik Collection 3 by DxO (Mac and Windows) is available until 30 June 2020 at a special launch price of £86.99 instead of £125, and £49.99 instead of £69 for the upgrade. A fully functional one month trial version is available from the DxO website.