Plug in With Nik Software: A Photographer's Guide to Creating Dynamic Images With Nik Software

This is the Bible for NIK. Excellently written and comprehensive. Buy this book to master one of the most important plug-ins for Photoshop. A+++

This book represents the cheapest printed solution that might work to replace the missing manual not supplied by the software creator. If you are looking for some basic starting points on how to use the NIK tools this book will be of some value but, in truth, to really understand the major plug-ins the book would have to be much longer. In fact, Color Efex Pro 4, HDR Efex Pro 2 and Silver Efex Pro 2 each might require a book of this length (about 200 pages of pictures and text). For more in depth discussion of these tools try Jason Odell's luminescentphoto web site where he offers more examples in his e-books, each about 200 pages and each about the price of this book. And his books are not printed, so if you want to print them in color the total cost will be much, much higher than this book.I assume that most who buy this book already have at least one of the NIK software plug-ins. If you do then you probably already know that last September Google bought NIK software, presumably to get their SnapSeed software, an Instagram like competitor. The author mentions this purchase in his introduction, but doesn't seem to have any additional insight as to how this will effect support for the NIK software packages. Hopefully NIK will continue to support these excellent plug-ins but, as some have pointed out elsewhere, NIK has already stopped selling NIK plug-ins for use with Nikon's Capture NX; not a good sign.I knew that there would be some issues with this book, when the author, on page 2, tells me that my camera's sensor "is made up of thousands of photosensitive pixels". Really. He probably hasn't heard of the mega pixel wars; 8 MP, 12 MP, 16 MP and now even 24 MP or 36 MP are becoming standard on many types of cameras. He is off by a factor of one thousand, which is indeed huge. My cameras are made up of millions of photosensitive pixels. This should have been caught in the editing. But this is a mere quibble; it's the printing that I really object to. It's not that the pictures are too small (maybe they are) but they are printed on a paper that makes it really hard to see the improvements the author has generated. The before and after pictures are not all that different when I believe that they really are that different based on my use of this software. When Scott Kelby's books can show differences I know it's technically possible and when I look in his books I see vivid prints, not like the ones in this book. Oh Well.The author does offer some suggestions on using this software. Try and visualize what you want before randomly trying presets is certainly a good idea. And if you have some of these software packages, or are thinking of buying them, this book will provide some idea of what to do with them. You might also try out the packages free for a while to see if you like them. But I wish he had emphasized shortcuts more in his illustrations. He does list Viveza keyboard shortcuts on page 46-47, including my favorite: In Windows you can duplicate a control point (U-point technology) by alt-dragging an existing point to a different location, a feature I learned before I read the book.So in summary, this book contains a well written quick printed summary of the features of the NIK software and can help someone just starting out with these plug-ins. For more in depth discussion, look elsewhere.

I left professional photojournalism when the Nikon F4 and Tri-X was the hot camera/film combo. After years of being away from photojournalism I started again a year ago in digital with Nikon D800s. It's a steep learning but worth every minute I've invested in it. After Photoshop, I used Silver Efex Pro 2 but then learned about the full palette of Nik plug-ins. John Batdorff's book is a wonderful introduction to Nik. It might not be everything there is to know but it's relative brevity, concise writing and multiple examples have opened up the potentials of this fabulous software. I found particularly useful the discussion of how to best use the sequence of plug-ins: how they relate to each other.I have many old negatives which I have scanned with a Nikon Coolscan V, then brought them via Lightroom to Photoshop where I use the Nik plug-ins. As these are pixels of grain (sometimes extreme push-processed negatives) I had some difficulty in getting the effects I wanted. I took John at his word...contact me if you have a problem...and sent him an email. He replied quickly. I sent him a file. He gave me advice on how to proceed. Can't ask for more than that.

I am dissappointed in this book, It just glosses over the surface of all the programs that make up the Nik Software family. It was looking for some indepth information that I couldn't get from actual use of the programs themseves and this book didn't deliver it. Specific deficinies noted, The images the author uses to illustrate what he is talking about in the text are too small to show the differences that he is trying to show. In the ColorEfxPro 4 chapter he barely touches on all of the filters that the program has to offer. That program alone has 55 filters why not describe what each one does and some practical application of each? (that would have been of real value) In the HDREfxPro 2 chapter again he barely touches on any of the presets that come with the program as to where and when each would be useful. Overall I am sorry I purchased this book because I don't know more about the programs than I did before I purchased it.

I've been using Nikon Capture NX and NX2 (which uses Nik Proprietary u-point technology) since 2008, and I've had the entire suite of Nik software for about three years. I thought I knew whatI was doing in Nik but I was wrong -- I was missing out on so much.I had seen the author of this book present on Niksoftware video on the web, and at that point I knew I had to get his book (kindle edition for my iPad). The author walks you each feature of each of the Nik software suite and explains what each one does step by step.If you own the Nik suite, it behooves you to get this book. You'll learn so much more and you'll learn the logic behind the processes.I would buy again if I had to.

Works really well and intuitive to use but. The problem stems from the fact that it acts as a plug-in not standalone.When I tried adding it to my Adobe Elements 13, it shows a list of possible hosts. Mine kept saying Adobe Elements 64, but I have the 32 bit version. I got it right once, when I went searching in Adobe's folders, but when I had to re-install it, I could never find that folder again, making the cost of $150 a total waste of my money. Again, when it was working the outcome was great but getting there was such a pain.

Although I am finding quite a few typographical errors, these do not detract significantly from the book's value in introduction and clarification about the use of the various plug-ins in conjunction with Photoshop or Aperture or Lightroom. For me, the suite of plug-ins has expanded greatly my ability to express what I want from any given image. Highly recommended!

I have given this a 5 star because it is up there with photoshop and lightroom.This is a plugin software that does what all the Pro,s say it does and will help you to produce fantastic picturesEven if your only a part time hobby photographer like me.The software is easy to use and with the aid of this book you can be up and running very quick it aim,s to make the processes very easy to understand and with the step by step guide to each plug in the author John Bandoff gets you there.I would strongly recommend to any photographer who has NIK.

As per title. A very useful guide for those new to the full suite, now available from Google. The main criticism is the woefully poor reproduction of screen grabs which makes learning a lot more difficult than the author intended. This is a book production issue and not the author's fault. Despite this impediment, I refer to the guide constantly. It speeded me up the learning curve. However, a book is not enough. There are many fine on-line videos by various authors which enrich one's learning experience.

I am a recent convert to the Nik selection. I initially purchased the Nik selection solely for the Silver Efex Pro2 for black and white conversion. This book is by the very accomplished photographer, John Batdorff. He explains in excellent, simple terms and above all from a photographers viewpoint. Since getting this book I have moved into the other aspects of the Nik programme such as Colour Efex Pro, HDR Efex Pro 2, Viveza 2. The Sharpener Pro 3 is incredible. This is very complimentary to Photoshop CS6

I had heard about this software recently at a photographic meeting, so I downloaded the trail version. However you do need some advice and guidance on how the different sections operate. So searching on-line I found this reference book and it certainly transformed, not only what was capable with this software, but WOW it allow me to produce some fabulous prints (well I like them!).

This book is a good starting point for working with Nik software. The inclusion of sample photos to work with is excellent. However, the book is biased towards users who also have Photoshop. Aperture and Lightroom are not included except by name. More detail is needed in each section of the book and an explanation given of the main filters and how they can be combined. There is an example in the chapter dedicated to Photoshop were the author uses filters together from three different sections of the software. For example, using the bleach bypass filter, customising it, then adding a black and white filter and finally adding a darken and lighten centre filter. More examples of how to get the most out of the filters is needed.