DxO releases Nik Collectoin 2018

I have been using Nik Collection plugins (especially Color Efex) for years now. And when they sold the company to Google, it was quite the disappointment. Google does not make software for professionals, and as I feared, they never once updated the collection at all (since 2012).

So it was quite a positive surprise when DxO bought the Nik Collection from Google. And they also promised to start updating it again. And that day came yesterday.

So DxO just release the Nik Collection 2018. And of course I tried the demo right away to see whats new. And to tell how it is, nothing. This is only a support update, so the collection now officially supports the latest versions of Adobe software. That’s it.

So should you get it? Depends. Do you want to show support that they know they should update? Get it. Do you want to buy a version for cheaper introductory price before they update? Get it. Do you already have Nik Collection installed? Wait until they show something new.

That’s what I’m doing. The old version still works for me, and the moment DxO shows something new and better in their version, I’m buying it immediately.

Btw. be warned. If you have the old Google Nik Collection installed, and try the demo of the new DxO versions, it will overwrite the one you already have. Like this you will loose your license, and will get a trial window each time you open a plugin. Happened to me yesterday, but luckily I kept the old installation files on hand, and I could return to what I had before.

It’s really great to see that DxO is keeping to their word and started updating the Nik Collection plugins, I just think they would have done bit better if they waited a bit, and release and update only when there was something new to show. Still, there is hope it will happen, so let’s see where they going with this.

The tallest building in the world

It’s just crazy how the Burj Khalifa is tall compared to everything else. Of course it’s the tallest building in the worlds, but still. And if you think about it, that even the buildings around it are skyscrapers, it’s even taller. I’m quite curious about the new one they are building, that should be even taller. Dubai looks like a city from a sci-fi movie more and more every day :)

For this photo I used the tilt shift lens, where I shifted it up vertically. Like this I got no perspective distortion here, and I got the whole tower in the shot. This is a single exposure, edited in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Keukenhof

If you read my Top photography spots in Amsterdam list, I mention Keukenhof there. It is a park next to Amsterdam, that is just full of tulips. It’s just so beautiful. And since it’s also quite big, even with many people there, you can still get nice photos.

But there is one catch. The park is only opened during the tulip season, and that is already over. The park wont be opened again for around 10 months. So if you want to visit, go to Amsterdam between 21 March ndd 19 May 2019 and check keukenhof.nl for updates.

Few more tulips from Keukenhof

But for those who missed it this year, here are few photos I took over my multiple visits there :).

I quite like to share photos like these, as there are quite different from the normal photos I upload. You catch just so many color in one spot there.

All these shots are single exposures, edited mostly in Lightroom.

Top photography spots – Wachau Valley

I have added a new Top photography spots page to the blog today. This time it’s not for a town or a city, but for an area. To be exact, it’s for the Wachau Valley in Austria. This is a beautiful area with castle ruins, vineyards and small towns country around the Danube. And you can get here by can in about 1 hour from Vienna.

As always, I not only mention the spots, but you also get example photo from the locations together with the GPS coordinates and links directly to google maps.

You can check out the new list here: Top photography spots – Wachau Valley.

Sparkling lights on the Eiffel tower

For today I chosen one a bit older photo for you. This one I took around three years ago (in 2015), while in Paris. And I actually did a lot of photos that evening, that did not work out at all. The Eiffel tower as it is already creates a lot of glow around it. And when the sparkling lights are on, it even worse. And that day, there was so much moisture in the air, that my lens kept on fogging over.

You can check out the image I added to the side here, to see as most of my photos form that evening looked like :)

This is a blend of two exposures, edited in Lightroom, blended in Photoshop.

Clever Instagram spam

While spam everywhere is crazy annoying, in a certain way one has to admire how clever it sometime is. Someone had to code a nice text generator, that not only creates the usernames, but also the messages so they don’t look like spam.

But on the other side, that person was stupid enough, to not make very simple mistakes. Like not sending the same message from multiple accounts to the same target. How can someone be so smart and stupid at a same time is a mystery.

Btw. when did social media got to be only about getting followers? Each day I get followed by many accounts, that just un-follow the next day. I don’t know how it is for others, but I rather be followed by 500 people that like my photos, than 5000 that don’t care.

This stile of trying to get followers just by following someone, hoping they follow back and then un-following again is just annoying. If you really so desperate for worthless followers, just pay for them. Will take less time and has the same effect in the end.

Down by the river

I have not posted a photo from Bratislava in a while so here is one. This is an early spring panorama, taken in the middle of the city, right next to the Danube. I got down completely next to the water and got it.

This is a two shot panorama, combined in Lightroom, finished in Photoshop.

And here are few details:

Reading list

I posted last week about what books I’m currently reading/listening to. And I was thinking, of maybe doing that a regular part of the Friday update. But probably only when I had time to get through something new. So what did I read this week?

While returning from Germany last Sunday, I finally got through The Martian by Andy Weir. I started it once long time ago, even before the movie came out, but I only got halfway through. Now I finally goth through the whole book in one go. And yes, it is a great read. I also read his other book Artemis not long ago, but that one is not as great.

Additional I returned to The Fold by Peter Clines. This and some of his other book dealing with alternative realities are just perfect if you like scifi stuff.

In non-fiction I got through Minimalism by Ryan Nicodemus, Joshua Fields Millburn which was very disappointing. The book was not about minimalism, but more of a biography about the authors. At least it was so short.

And that’s all I got through this week.

GDPR

To comply with the new GDPR law in the EU, I had to change the way the newsletter subscription works and also you may have noticed a small cookie banner in the bottom of the website. Not that I track anything outside the standard site analytics, but almost everything you need to use for a website tracks something. There is no way to get around it. So I hope this is not too distraction or annoying for you.

I would prefer to not have to do it, but I don’t have a choice.

More Dandelions

Today’s daily photo is another one from Dubai. And it’s from one of my recommended spots there. This was taken right under the Burj Khalifa, with the 12mm Laowa lens. I was standing maybe less than 50cm from the left dandelion, and you still see so much of it. The 12mm really is a wide lens :)

These dandelions are a part of a permanent art installation around Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Mall, and change the color of the lights every few seconds. They really work nicely as a foreground object for the huge Burj Khalifa in the background.

This is a single exposure, edited in Lightroom and Photoshop.