DxO has just launched Nik Collection 9, and this has to be one of the biggest and best updates yet

I’ve been using the Nik Collection for a long time and I thought DxO had already taken this wonderful plug-in suite as far as it could go… but I was wrong! Nik Collection 9 has some spectacular new filters and masking tools that I will give a full and detailed review. In the meantime, here are the highlights.

New in Nik Collection 9: AI masking and depth masks

This is only one of two key updates in Nik Collection 9, but this one is massive, even on its own. In addition to the existing Nik Control Point, Control Line and other masking options, the Nik Collection plug-ins now offer subject-detecting AI masks like those in DxO PhotoLab 9.

This really opens up the Nik Collection to new users, since they can now apply state of the art AI masks just as they can in other programs. Existing users still get to use DxO’s U-point masking technologies, of course, so it’s like the best of both worlds.

Depth masks are another exciting tool that you may have seen in other software. They use AI to estimate depth and distance in a scene and the idea is that you can then apply adjustments selectively to foregrounds and backgrounds in landscapes, for example, or any other image containing three-dimensional depth.

How do these new tools work and what can they do? I’ll be reviewing them individually in upcoming articles and to be honest I can hardly wait. The Nik Collection is already my go-to tool for creative effects, and the new AI masking options seem to offer even more potential.

New filters in Nik Collection 9

The new masking tools in Nik Collection 9 are a major step forward technically, but it’s the wide range of creative filters at the heart of this suite that’s the real star. And in Nik Collection 9, you don’t just get a few tweaks and changes, but no fewer than four brand new filters. Here they are:

Color Grading (Color Efex): Color grading tools are used widely in video editing software and some photo editing applications to apply creative color shifts selectively to shadow, midtone and highlight areas of images. It’s a way to add a cinematic mood to images and a consistent color grade to a whole set of photos, and all done with a single color wheel adjuster.

Chromatic Shift (Analog Efex): This new filter creates a displaced color effect using red and cyan toned versions of the same image to simulate misaligned printing plates or inks or a stylised pop-art look. You can also choose magenta/green or yellow/blue color pairings and you can adjust the scale and strength of the effect too.

Glass Effect (Analog Efex): This filter simulates shooting through a layer of textured or rippled glass, with the ability to control scale, distortion and smoothness for subtle texture effects or “dramatic refractions”. It’s great to see DxO adding filters to Analog Efex, which is one of the best plug-ins in the suite, in my opinion. It follows on from the new Paper Textures filter added in version 8.1.

Halation (Color Efex): Recreating the look of analog film digitally is a challenge because there are so many nuances to analog film. One of the most important, and often one of the most overlooked, is halation, or the subtle spreading of light from highlight areas. This is characteristic of film entirely missing from digital capture and indeed most film simulation tools. The new Halation filter offers control over brightness, radius, intensity, hue, saturation, and overall opacity – and, of course, you can use it with masking tools.

Nik Collection 9 now supports blend modes too (Analog Efex, Color Efex)

Anyone who’s done layer-based adustments and image composites in Photoshop will know the importance of blend modes and how they alter the way layers interact. Well this important control now arrives in Analog Efex and Color Efex. You can adjust the blend mode for each filter used to create your images and radically alter the way they combine. Previously, you could of course adjust the overall opacity and apply local adjustments, but blend modes open the door to whole new graphic effects.

Nik Collection 9 pricing and availability

Nik Collection 9 is available now from the DxO website. It costs $179.99 / 169.99 € / £149.99 for a new licence, while existing Nik Collection 7/8 owners can upgrade for $99.99 / 89.99 € / £79.99. Normally I’d suggest any existing users to check the details of the latest version to see if they should skip a version and upgrade the next time around, but the changes in Nik Collection 9 are so substantial, even compared to version 8, that it’s got to be an extremely tempting option.

Don’t forget that you can download a fully-functional 30-day trial version if you want a little time to make your mind up. This will be especially useful for any new users who want to get a better idea of what this software can do.

And if you are new customer, don’t forget to apply my exclusive LAP15 discount code at the checkout to get 15% off.

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