NIK Collection

A while back I recommended Shape Collage calling it the best $40 I ever spent on software. I’m back today to make a pitch for the NIK Collection plugin for Photoshop by Google (yep… that Google). NIK software has been around for a long time as a collection of photo editing tools based on a “filter” model (think high-tech Instagram). Google acquired NIK about a year ago and has not only improved the system but also dropped the price dramatically (from $500 down to $125). I believe that the NIK Collection is a great value.

It is fair to say that NIK has completely transformed the way I use Photoshop. I have embraced the NIK system and their tools are now an integral part of my photo enhancing workflow. In the space below I will show how to use the NIK tools as a plugin inside of Adobe Photoshop Elements 11. The fact that the NIK system works in all versions of Photoshop is the best part of the whole deal. I can now achieve results using the $60 version of Photoshop Elements 11 that I would have struggled to produce in the $700 version of Photoshop CS6. More importantly I can get much better consistency image to image using the “filter” approach inside of NIK.

First a before and after shot of a photo taken at the Tall Ship Festival in Duluth. The top photo is a cropped JPEG right out of the camera. The enhanced image is just below.

The process starts by calling up the NIK Collection from the filter list inside Photoshop Elements 11. The NIK Collection includes six tools to enhance digital images. In this example I am going to use the Color Efex Pro 4 tool at the top of the list.

Color Efex Pro 4 is a comprehensive set of filters for color correction, retouching, and creative effects. The tool consists of 55 filters in a list running down the left hand side of the dialog box. The filters included are not just a random set of photographic filters. Each of the filters is designed for a specific task and can work together with all the others to provide nearly infinite creative possibilities. As a long time Photoshop CS user I will say that the NIK Collection provides me with not only better results but also a far wider range of possibilities. Furthermore I feel that I get more consistent results using the NIK’s filter approach to enhancing images.

In this example I am going to select the Pro Contrast filter.

This filter opens with a set of four visual presets in the left hand pane that can be used as starting points for the enhancing. The sliders in the right hand pane allow for adjustment of the individual elements of the filter controls. The presets on the left are just different positions of the sliders on the right. Selecting the "Auto Enhance” preset instantly provides a preview of the filter effect. Moving the sliders around allows “tweaking” of the results. In many cases a single click on one of the visual presets will get me a pleasing result.

Selecting the OK button saves the result as a new layer in Photoshop. This allows you to further "tweak” the effect of the filter using the opacity slider for the new layer before flattening. A particularly effective strategy for enhancing images is to go a little “too far” with the NIK filter and then “dial” it back using the opacity slider. 

To Flatten the image click on the tiny arrow next to the options menu and select Flatten Image from the list.

Viveza 2 is a second tool in the NIK Collection that produces stunning results with very little effort. It is also found in the Filter menu inside Photoshop. Viveza 2 enables photographers to quickly enhance images using precise selective enhancements called Control Points.

Selecting the ‘Add Control Point’ button allows the user to precisely place a point on the image around which selective enhancements will be applied.

Moving the Control Point slider with the mouse enlarges and contracts the effected area. Multiple Control Points may be used in a single image and can be grouped together allowing for amazing control to different areas of an image.

Moving an individual slider back and forth applies the effect to the selected area. In this example I have increased the Brightness for the control point to a value of +75%. Individual sliders control Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, and Structure as well as Shadows, Warmth, and Colors.

Once again exiting the NIK Software results in the creation new layer in Photoshop that can be adjusted using the opacity slider.

The New Smugmug

After a couple of years of waiting and a lot of hand wringing Smugmug recently launched their new online photo sharing system. I have a “power” account with Smugmug and have already created a new look for my site. The new Smugmug system provides users with design templates (24 so far…) that can be used “right out of the box”. The system also allows a user to radically customize the look and feel of a site using one of the design templates as a starting point. My new site is a customized version of their ZOE template.

The best feature of the new Smugmug system is their new organizer. Smugmug now allows users to have six levels of folders (up from only two) greatly enhancing the possibilities for organizing the photos. I have just started to take advantage of this new feature and think users will find the site much easier to navigate.

I’m especially happy that my friend Millie agreed to help me welcome guests to the new JWPictures…

I Hate Apple

A poem by Jim Arneson

Shape Collage

The Header Image at the top of this blog was created using a program called Shape Collage. It is the best $40 I have ever spent on software!

They also have…

• An iPhone/iPad app (http://www.getloupe.com/)
• A Facebook app (http://www.getloupe.com/create)

I’ve used it to create all sorts of fun things like this Nordic Team placemat and computer wallpaper (backgrounds).

Photography Tips

I offer here a few tips (in no particular order) for taking better photographs…

The Sun is not your friend!

Photos taken in bright sunlight rarely turn out well. Posing these dancers in the shade would have eliminated the annoying harsh shadows falling across their faces. Fill Flash on this camera was no match for the Big Bad Sun!

Turn off your flash!

This pair of photos taken in the basement family room of The “L” Shaped House nicely illustrate the limits of a small on camera flash. It is especially important to realize that these kinds of flash units only “reach out” about 10’ in front of the photographer.

Stand in front of more Interesting Stuff!

National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson supposedly said “If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of more interesting stuff.” My friend Dan Pratt took this photo of the Brown Bears at the Minnesota Zoo using a small point and shoot camera. I’m pretty sure that although these two bears have been photographed thousands of times (with far better cameras) you will agree this is a particularly nice picture of them. Dan’s secret…he waited until they were doing “something interesting”.

Rule of Thirds

This photo of Sarah skiing in the Minnesota State Nordic Ski meet is a great example of everything coming together in an photo captured in the heat of battle. The position of the skiers in the frame allowed me achieve near perfection in satisfying the “Rule of Thirds” while composing the image. That positioning one of the cross hairs right between her eyes also results in a nearly perfect division of the scene into both vertical and horizontal “Thirds” helps make this image especially pleasing.

I wish I could tell you that I planned for this as I stood out in the cold waiting for the skiers to speed past. The problem with that story is that I would have to explain why not all that many of the other 1100 photos taken at the state meet are this easily divisible by 3.

I like to look at a reversed image after cropping and composing. I think that when both images are pleasing it is likely that you have the composition “right” (i.e. reversing tends to magnify inconsistencies).

Photographing Nordic Skiing

Here is a brief summary of how I capture and process Nordic skiing photos.

• Set the camera to “Automatic Program” (P).
• Set the camera to continuous focus (AI servo in Canon) on the center point.
• Set the metering mode to “Partial”.
• Watching the luminance histogram on the camera back use the Exposure Compensation setting to “dial back” the bright snow (usually about –2/3).

These settings produced the image shown below. As you can see the skier is a little under exposed but all of the detail in the snow is retained.

Selectively applying Shadow and Highlight adjustments as well as exposure compensation quickly transforms the original image into this…

Cropping and applying a mat and frame in Photoshop gives us a really nice preview of how this will look hanging on the wall in Dad’s office

Oh…One last thing…Stand in a spot where something interesting is about to happen!