About this release
The Nik Collection is a set of photo editing plugins that has been a fixture of many photographers' workflows for years, each one a focused tool that runs inside the main editors. The collection covers creative filter effects, black and white conversion with a wide range of film emulations, sharpening, noise reduction, and colour adjustment, so a photograph passes through whichever of them the image needs.
The technology that ties the suite together is its control point system, a way of making a local adjustment without drawing a mask. Drop a control point on a subject, set its size, and the tool works out which pixels belong to that area by colour and tone, so a change applies to the sky or the skin or the foliage and nothing else. It is a fast, intuitive alternative to hand masking that many people prefer.
The individual tools are each strong in their area. The analog effects and film looks for creative work, the black and white converter with its darkroom style controls, the sharpener that separates capture and output sharpening, the noise reduction, and the colour and tonal tools. They run as plugins from the main editors and hand the result back as a rendered layer, fitting into an existing raw and layer workflow.
What it does
- Suite of focused plugins covering effects, black and white, sharpening and noise
- Control point system for local adjustments without hand masking
- Wide range of film emulations and analog effects
- Black and white conversion with darkroom style controls
- Capture and output sharpening as separate stages
- Noise reduction tuned for photographic detail
- Colour and tonal adjustment tools
- Runs as plugins inside the main photo editors
- Preset recipes for each tool as starting points
- Result handed back as a rendered layer into the host
Changes in this version
- Improved control point precision on complex edges
- Faster rendering across the suite
- New film emulation and effect presets
- Better noise reduction detail retention
- Updated host compatibility for recent editor releases
What the package contains
- Nik Collection installer for the supported editors
- All plugins in the collection
- Full preset and recipe libraries
- Documentation for each tool
- Readme with the install order written out step by step
Installation notes
Follow these in order. Most reports of a failed install come from skipping a step rather than from the package itself.
- Close the host photo editors before you begin.
- Disconnect from the network.
- Extract the archive to a short path such as C:\Setup.
- Run the installer and select which editors to install into.
- Apply the included licensing step so the plugins activate.
- Open an editor and find the tools under the filters or plugins menu.
System requirements
| Host applications | Supported photo editors, recent releases |
| Operating system | Windows 10 version 22H2 or Windows 11 |
| Processor | Intel or AMD 64-bit multi core |
| Memory | 8 GB minimum, 16 GB recommended |
| Graphics | GPU with 2 GB VRAM recommended |
| Storage | 5 GB free during install |
Things worth knowing
- Apply the plugins on a duplicate layer so the effect can be masked back or reduced afterwards.
- Control points are the fast path to a local adjustment, learn them before reaching for a manual mask.
- It is a plugin suite, it needs a supported host editor present to do anything.
Questions about this title
What is the control point system?
Which editors does it run in?
Is the black and white converter worth it?
Does it work on a layer?
What people are saying
Control points are still the fastest way to darken a sky without masking. Nothing else feels this quick.
The black and white tool is why I keep the whole suite installed. The film looks are gorgeous.
Always on a duplicate layer so I can dial it back. Works into my raw workflow cleanly.
Listing information
This entry is catalogued under Photo Editing and carries the tags below. Language coverage is Multilingual, 8 interface languages, and the supported platform list is Windows 10, Windows 11. Version 9.1.0 is the current catalogued build, last checked 6 days ago, and the entry has been in the index since it was added 2 years ago.