"Spring" in the Smokies

Meigs Falls - Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

I USED quotes around "Spring" because I am not sure how best to describe or define that term as it applies to our recent trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) in late April. Certainly by most peoples' definition, April is springtime in much of the continental United States. I have made 2 trips to GSMNP over a period of about 18 months: one in fall and one in spring.

Sunset - Foothills Parkway - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2023 - All Rights Reserved

THE FALL trip was a great time to photograph the park. However, it was not a great time to photograph in the park. In October, navigating the park is much like going to one of the popular amusement parks in high season. Thousands of people and their cars from west to east in the park. As much fun as it was, I vowed I would never again visit the park in the fall. Unfortunately, there are many places in the world that are like that these days.

Fall Foliage on Sparks Lane - Cades Cove - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2023 - All Rights Reserved

SPRING WAS another story. Still plenty of people. But not nearly so many. Much more manageable. The challenge with a "spring" visit to the park is twofold: the weather; and how quickly things change. The first hint of spring - and color - come from the Eastern Redbud, with its purple blooms and the Dogwood with its white, starflower blooms. When I have seen them, it seems like the Dogwood dominates, often littering the forest view with its white flowers. We did not see a single blooming redbud, and we were at least a week (and maybe more) late for the prime Dogwood bloom. I am told by several local sources that not only did they bloom early this year, but it seems to be a pattern as of the past few years.

Lone Dogwood Branch Blooming on Rich Mountain Road
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

OUR ARRIVAL in the park was dictated by some non-weather related timing. My buddy, Rich from Vermont is a CPA. That makes it very hard for him to travel anywhere until after April 15. My other buddy (also Rich) from Michigan had some pressing family commitments. If I go back, I would probably target my trip in the first half (instead of our chosen, second half) of April to catch the bloom. There are also other wildflowers that bloom earlier than we were there.

Tree in the Meadow - Cades Cove
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

NOW ABOUT that weather thing. 😏 It is kind of a bittersweet phenomena. The time of year we were there is their rainy season. We got it, although fortunately never a full, steady downpour. But enough to get (and be) wet a few times. Anticipating in advance, I did carry raingear. For 4 of the 5 days we were there we saw very little of the sun. On Saturday - especially later in the afternoon - our last day, it did get quite nice and we were actually able to make some nice sunset images overlooking the Smokies from the Foothills Parkway, north of Townsend.

Tree in the Meadow - Cades Cove
Copyright Andy Richards 2023 - All Rights Reserved

THE APHORISM is that rainy, cloudy conditions are great for photography of flowers, foliage, and the like. There is little doubt that such conditions often create even lighting with no hotspots or deep shadows. As such, for photography they often create great conditions to make bright colors "pop," and render detail. Water on the subject is an added plus, whether it is droplets or just a slick which creates depth and shine. And these conditions are perhaps as good as it gets for photographing waterfalls and moving water. Deep water, being an extremely reflective subject, is difficult, if not impossible to photograph well under sunny conditions.

Roaring Fork - Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2023 - All Rights Reserved

BUT (and you knew this was coming 😁) I  am not a 100% believer. I have some issues with rainy overcast. I do like the soft, even overall light. But its a fine line between soft, overcast ideal for certain photographic subjects and a dull gray which is often what is produced by rainy and cloudy conditions. To my eye, that gray look altogether too often casts a pallor on a scene which is very difficult to overcome - even with modern post-processing tools. Too much rain can also cause image problems. While I carry a dry cloth with me and try to be mindful, I have several instances I can point out where water drops on the lens (that I didn't notice at the time) ruined an otherwise nice photo. And any time you want to zoom back out for a more "landscape" and context-oriented image, a litte drama from sunlight (perhaps poking through the clouds, or light parts of the image) becomes - for me - a necessary element of a good image. The "Tree in the Meadow" image perhaps comes close for me - though I have trouble getting by the denuded branches of early spring.

Middle Prong - Little River - Townsend, Tenessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights reserved

WE DIDN'T get as much of the drama of changing weather and filtered sunlight as I would have liked. Some refer to the concept as "edge" photography (just as weather conditions change). We did get some, however, and when we did, we tried our best to take advantage. Don't get me wrong. While I would not chalk this trip up to one of my best ever, photographically, we did have some nice things happen on this trip. I blogged a few weeks ago about perhaps the "shining moment" of the trip for me: the reappearance of the Cades Cove Methodist Church shot from up on Rich Mountain Road. I'll let you read the account there if you haven't already. When we did find the elusive Dogwood branch in bloom we took advantage of it. We spent very little time down in the streams (I thought I got that pretty well covered during the fall trip - and you can see how the fall leaves add to the images).

Spruce Flats Falls - Tremont, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2023 - All Rights Reserved

OUR FALL trip didn't yield much in the way of dramatic waterfalls. The one exception was Spruce Flats Falls. I actually created some of my own drama there, taking a fall requiring three staples to a gash dangerously close to my eye. Fortunately, that was after shooting the waterfall, which is quite beautiful, but involves an extremely difficult hike up and then back down into the gorge. We had better luck on the spring trip, photographing several waterfalls. Some of the waterfalls in the park just don't lend themselves to good photographs. They are often down in a gorge which would involve difficult and at times dangerous bushwacking to get an unobstructed view. But there are some that are pretty easily accessed and provide a relatively clear view. Perhaps my favorite and very possibly my best image from the trip (the Meigs Falls opening image) was accessed rather easily right by the roadside. Because it was back over the much wider, main river (The Little River), and was part of a tributary entering the river at our viewpoint, it was set well back. I carry a 70-300 zoom lens for such shots, and was able to use that for this one. Because of the rather uniform nature and color of the surrounding foliage, I actually backed off a bit and shot the image at around 220mm.

Mingo Falls - Cherokee, North Carolina

WE DROVE a bit to find Mingo Falls, another waterfall that was rather easily accessed from the parking area. This waterfall was at the far side of the park from where were stayed in Townsend - near Cherokee, North Carolina. It did involve climbing a grade on rustic stairs, but once at the top, there was a nice little observation bridge/platform from which you could get a very decent view of the falls.

Middle Prong - Little River - Tremont, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2025

AS I have worked and reworked my archives and my website, I have always had a hard time deciding what to call a "waterfall" and what to call something else (e.g., "drops," "shelves," "rapids," etc.). We certainly shot a few other spots that could be characterized as "waterfalls." I think this park may have the highest concentration of these white water spots in the U.S. The shot just above, from the "horse bridge" at the end of the road in Tremont is not anything I would remotely call a "waterfall." But there certainly is whitewater (perhaps rapids), and it is one of the iconic "looks" the park yields in the spring.

Elusive Dogwoods - Cades Cove - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2025

OUR PRIMARY quest, as I noted above, for this spring trip, was what locals and photographers call "the bloom." We were particularly hopeful to find the woods littered with blooming Dogwood branches with perhaps some Eastern Redbuds interspersed. We saw nary a Redbud and the Dogwoods were few and far between. So when we did see an opportunity, we "worked" is a best we could. One such shot was a cluster just in front of the Carter Shields Cabin in Cades Cove (above). We also found a single hanger-on-above the Little River, which we stopped to shoot as a framing tool for the moving water.

Little River - Tremont, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2025

ONE THING rainy, wet conditions can do is cause fog. Fog can be a very dramatic element to landscape images, and can be particularly prevalent in mountainous environments. With the numerous high overlooks in the park, we found some pretty great foggy conditions. My only negative here is related to my "weather" comments above. The grey conditions can produce strong color casts in the fog. Actually, that can be viewed as much a positive as a negative, if you like the colors. To me, dark grey and magenta don't look good for fog. I spent a fair amount of time during post processing, trying to bring the fog to a more neutral and natural look. The Dan Lawson Place in fog below was actually kind of purple looking. Even after some substantial desaturation and brightening, I still see too much magenta for my taste.

Dan Lawson Place - Cades Cove
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Righrts Reserved

THE SUNRISE shot from the Foothills Parkway, on the other hand, benefitted from a much brighter - though stil mostly overcast - sky, and the fog (I still desaturated it a small amount) looks much more natural to my eye.

Foggy Morning Sunrise - Foothills Parkway - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

OVERALL, THE trip, though not rousingly so, was a success. On the last day, my two compadres were off on a "Wild Bear chase" (as opposed to "goose," as it was my understanding that they didn't have any success). Consequently, I was on my own. The only thing I have to show for that morning, which resulted from a largely aborted attempt at yet another tough hike in (an and underestimation on my part of how long the hike would be), was the White Trillum shown here. They were nice, and in places littered the forest floor and hillsides. I hate to be elitist here, but they are pretty tiny compared to the trillium I have seen and photographed in my former home: Northern Michigan. Nonetheless pretty and impressive.

(Mostly Mature) White Trillium - White Oak Sink Trail - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

ADD TO all of the above: great company! I have always enjoyed spending time with my long-time buddy, Rich from Michigan. In more recent years, I have equally enjoyed the quality time I have spent with Rich from Vermont. And it is an added plus that the two of them get on great together. In addition to shooting side by side and often offering inspiration and pointing out things to "see," we enjoy each other socially. And, we spent a long and eventful day with noted local photographic guru and writer, Nye Simmons. We not only gleaned a great deal of "insider knowledge" of the area from Nye, but thoroughly enjoyed his company. There is no doubt that if and when another trip happens, I will reach out to Nye. My closing image here (made on my Samsung S24 "smart" phone) was 100% inspired by Rich Pomeroy.

Aspens in Spring - Cades Cove - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards - All Rights Reserved

Now You See It; Now You Don't

Historic Methodist Church - Cade's Cove - Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

AS PHOTOGRAPHERS, many of us have seen an image that calls us to the place it was taken, to have our own try at it; especially if it is one of those iconic photos of a famous place. Perhaps our efforts would be better spent trying to find something unique about the venue, but even when it has already been done by others, I often still have a compelling desire to do it myself. When I do find the scene, about 10% of the time, I am able to make a unique composition. The rest of the time, I make an image pretty similar to others that have been done. But it is mine.

My buddy, Rich and I made three trips up the one-way road, trying to find it with no success (Rich is very patient and I am - apparently - a slow learner) 😕

SINCE MY first dedicated photography trip to Vermont back in 2005, I have frequently observed another truth about many of those iconic scenes, though. They change. Sometimes that just makes the image slightly different. Other times, it makes making your own image a challenge. And sometimes, it just renders the image no longer viable as a photograph. I was (sadly) reminded of the latter circumstance when I visited The Great Smoky Mountains National Park just 18 or so months ago. There is (was?) an iconic shot of the historic Methodist Church in Cade's Cove, taken from up on the Rich Mountain Road, high above the cove. I first saw it in a book by my friend, Nye Simmons (The Smoky Mountains photographer's guide). But the image had been made many years before. In the ensuing years, the open view from which he made the image filled in with new growth, both down in front of the scene and up on the mountainside. Planning my trip, I didn't realize that and nobody had written about it that I know of. It was one of my planned shots. My buddy, Rich and I made three trips up the one-way road, trying to find it with no success (Rich is very patient and I am - apparently - a slow learner). Finally, after many inquiries, We were able to confirm that the shot was simply no longer there. That was late October, 2023.

Historic Methodist Church - Cade's Cove - Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

IN APRIL of 2025, Rich and I planned another trip to the park, in hopes of finding the early bloom, particularly the dogwoods that litter the forest views when in full bloom. That's another story, and I'll blog about the trip in coming weeks. Another friend (and another Rich) joined us on this trip and one afternoon, we decided to drive up Rich Mountain Road to look for Dogwoods, flowers, wildlife, views and anything else we could photograph. Rich was driving and he decided to stop at the overlook we had thought might be "the one" back in 2023 and show Rich the spot the photograph would have been made from. I got out and walked toward the clearing in the trees and there was the church, in (mostly) plain sight! I had an OMG moment. In spite of the less than flattering light that day, I shot the scene, not knowing if, or when I would ever have another chance. The scene is not a open as it was back when Nye made his image. But it is (at least for a time), a viable shot now.

Did he - or I - have even the tiniest bit of influence on the clearing of the view to the Cade's Cove Methodist Church? I will never know (and I doubt it), but I am going to keep on saying I did. It was me!! 😜

THE REST OF THE STORY: I know that I am but one of 100's of photographers and local residents who have wished for the Forest Service to clear the view again. My level of influence may be like a grain of sand on an ocean beach. But it is an entertaining story. Again back in 2023, we were up on one of the overlooks on the Foothills Parkway above Townsend, in the park, scoping out a possible sunset shot for later in the evening. There were a couple white, official looking trucks and a crew with a tripod and tablet and some other tools working along the bank of trees growing on the mountainside. We struck up a conversation with one of them and it turns out they were surveying trees to determing which ones needed to be culled. She said that part of their mission was maintaining and/restoring views. I told her about my ultimately unsuccessful quest for the view of the church and she pointed out a guy on the crew who was part of the group responsible for the clearing and management. I went down and spoke with him for a few minutes. He was very polite and even made a note to look into it. Did he - or I - have even the tiniest bit of influence on the clearing of the view to the Cade's Cove Methodist Church? I will never know (and I seriously doubt it), but I am going to keep on saying I did. It was me!! 😜

Historic Methodist Church - Cade's Cove - Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

SERIOUSLY, WHOEVER (collectively or individually) was responsible made my day (indeed my week), and if you were one of those who wanted to make that photo, the "window" is open - for however brief a time.

Nik Collection 7 from DxO Software

Suggested

I HAVE been a Nik user since 2016. Originally developed in 1995 by Nik Multimedia, Inc., I knew a couple early-adopters who praised its virtues. At one time, the Nikon Corporation had a substantial ownership investment in the company. In 2012, the company was acquired by Google Software. Being "old school," I eschewed it (and really any software other than my go-to Photoshop); preferring to use what I considered "tried and true" methods using masks, layers and other adjustment techniques directly within Photoshop. On top of that I was pretty successfully using a technique espoused by Dan Margulis, incorporating the LAB color space and curves, for my color adjustments. I was confident that I neither wanted, nor needed an additional layer of third-party software - even as a plugin to Photoshop. Until I tried it. Part of my decision had no doubt been based on its cost (originally $599 for the collection, and then reduced to a more reasonable $150 after Google acquired it). I didn't see the cost vs. benefit. Then for reasons unknown to me, Google began offering it free of charge in 2016. I don't even remember why, but for whatever reason, shortly after it became freely available, I downloaded a copy and almost immediately became a convert. I have had it installed in every version of Photoshop since, including my current Photoshop CC 2025 software. It has basically continued to work well. The window of "free" distribution was very short, but I had "fallen" through it. In 2017, Google sold Nik Software to DxO (I am pretty sure the primary interest by DxO was the acquisition of and rights to the "U-point" technology, which they have incorporated into their full post processing software), and by 2018, they had released DxO's "Nik Collection 2.0. Again, being perfectly satisfied with my Google version, I saw no reason to "upgrade."

Until I tried it

UNTIL RECENTLY. For the past couple updates of my Photoshop CC, I have had difficulty getting the noise reduction module (Dfine) to allow me to make manual noise adjustments any more. I had visited the DxO site a couple times to look at their updated Nik collection, and had concluded that although the changes looked interesting, I didn't want to pay the price for an "upgrade" when I felt that the old version was working for me. With the issues I was having though, and the knowledge that as each new upgrade to modern host software is released, there is more and more chance that it will stop working altogether for me, I decided to download the trial version of the newest iteration (Nik Collection 7). Unlike my legacy version, the DxO version is not free. Far from it. Nonetheless, I have now found myself handing over the cash to DxO for the licensed version. Although my experience has been relatively limited so far, I think I am going to like it as a permanent addition to my post-processing.

IN ITS original offering, Nik software involved two separate programs: Nik Sharpener, and Nik ColorEfex (which was essentially a set of configurable filters). In 2015, the company introduced the first Nik Collection, which included some additional modules that had been developed originally as additional stand-alone offers, including Dfine (noise reduction), Silver Efex (B&W conversion) and Viveza, among others. Of greater consequence, however, was the rollout of their U-point technology, a targeted and feathered selection algorithym based on sampling at a point placed in the image, that was cutting edge at the time. Today technology has largely been overtaken by AI selection, masking, and retouching techniques in most competing software plugin programs. To date (with Nik Collection 7 being launched in 2024), DxO has continued to use the analog, non-AI based U-point technology, albeit a much more nuanced and advanced process today. In prior iterations (including my old "Google" copy), there was little you could do to fine-tune the selection process other than changing size of the selected area. In the latest version: Nik Collection 7, DxO has changed that.

Nik Collection 7 is a more or less complete re-work by DxO of the original software

OVER THE succeeding 7 years, DxO made incremental additions to the software, but left its basic workings mostly intact, introducing updates annually (2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, and oddly enough: 6.3). Nik Collection 7.0, however, is a more or less complete re-work by DxO of the original. With version 7.0, DxO has made major changes to the software, making it much more convenient and flexible than it already was. I didn't realize it at the time, by my timing was immaculate. 😀 Below, I cover some of the important changes to the collection as a whole and to the individual modules that I use the most. Most of the major changes are only in version 7.0.

General Changes

THE PRIMARY new feature is the substantial revamping of the "U-point" technology "control point," covered in detail below. There are some other really convenient and nice global changes in the program also. The interface between each module is now uniform, and DxO has included the facility now to switch back and forth between the Nik applications without exiting an individual module. Instead of saving changes made, for example in ColorFx, exiting and then opening Viveza, you can now just switch back and forth between them (or any other module) without exiting. That will be a time saver and workflow benefit. But the "sea change" in the program is the new iteration of the "U-point technology-based "control points" (and their new siblings). In addition to the traditional "control point," 7.0 now includes 3 new selection tools: "control line," "polygon control point," and "luminousity masks." The control point in Nik Collection 7 is - for the first time - virtually identical and consistent across the entire collection of applications.

THE PROGRAM as a whole has some really nice new features:

• GUI - DxO's version of the collection sports a "modern" GUI (graphical user interface) with customizable background colors. I have always favored either a neutral gray or black background for my photo-processing software. I was easily able to attain that with the newer software.
• Control Points - The control points (with their "U-point" technology that has always been the central feature of Nik's processing algorithm) are now able to not only be made larger and smaller, but can also be shaped as various eliptipical shapes (think various ovals) and can be rotated as well. This adds a lot of flexibility to defining areas to be affected by the adjustments.
• Control Line - In additon to the circular/oval control points, Nik now offers a new control line that works and looks much like the gradient filters in Photoshop and Adobe Camera Raw, with all the familiar "control point adjustments." 
• Polygon Control Point - There is also a new  polygon control point that allows much more precise shaping of the "control point," again with all the familiar adjustments. Setting the point is very easy. I used it recently to outline the white hull of a ship that was picking up an undesirable color cast. It made it easy to desaturate just the hull without effecting other parts of the image.
• Selection Adjustments - All of these control points, which have always been essentially a "smart" feathered mask, now feature the ability to adjust the feathering, with controls for luminance (light), chrominance (color) and diffusion (amount of feathering). I am not sure how much I will make use of all these adjustments, but there is certainly a lot more flexibility and customization available.
• Control point sliders - are now a bit more detailed. In addition to the traditional  brightness, contrast, saturation, structure, hue, RGB, and shadows, new, separate controls for luminance, chrominance and diffusion have been added.
• In 7, an "active" control point dot on the image is yellow. The old legacy ability to link multiple sliders remains, along with another new feature: the ability to "hide" the sliders on the image around the control point (you will still have the right panel control point). In use, I have found the sliders attached to the control point a bit touchy, and I have opted to turn them off. Not only are the right panel sliders easier to see and to manipulate, I like the lack of "clutter" on the image.
• One item I have already really grown to like is the default size of the standard control points (I never could figure out how to change the default size of a newly placed control point in my legacy version and it was invariably bigger than I wanted). The sliders also work just a bit differently in terms of response, but feel like they are "damped" which I think is going to facilitate fine-tuning them. I would still like to see the ability to incrementally move them with the arrow keys (ala, ACR sliders). To the best of my knowledge, no version has had that feature.
• Screen Zoom - Unlike my old version, which would allow one zoom step and back, DxO's current version allows what appears to be infinitely adjustable zoom, working with my mouse's scroll wheel, virtually identically to the way it works in my Photoshop interface.
• DxO Nik collection can be loaded to use either as a stand-alone program or a plugin. While even the legacy program allowed for that, the integration with PS as a plugin is much smoother and more user-friendly. I have never used either program stand-alone, as I have always found it more convenient to simply launch it in PS, do my work, and exit, while my file remains in PS. With the new program, we are given the choice to leave the adjusted image in PS or to send it to another file. While I don't see much advantage at this point to the latter, I like the customizability. Better still, the legacy Nik required you to open a particular application (I mostly used Viveza, Dfine - denoise - and occasionally Color Efex and the black and whie module: Silver Efex), make your adjustments and exit back out. If you wanted to move back and forth, you had to exit/open/exit, etc. The DxO version allows you to easily and freely switch back and forth between all models.

Viveza

• Added left panel with searchable and customizable presets and the ability to save favorites. Beginning with earlier versions, DxO has also added a "Last Edits" panel to the left side (showing up to 15 prior edits). I am generally a one-at-a-time post-processor, so I am not sure whether that is a feature I will take much advantage of, but I can certainly appreciate the utility of being able to make repetitive edits (or even having a "starting point" if there are routine edits you make each time you open the program).
• There is a histogram on the right panel with settings to read overall, red, blue and green, as well as luminance. This should be an invaluable tool for seeing whether a particular move will result in clipping, and/or to back off a particular clipped area.
• The Control Points also have an additional selectivity mode, using a color-picker eyedropper, with its own set of adjustment sliders.
• There is a white balance dropper on the right panel also. I suspect the way that works is to find an area in the image that should be neutral and click on it, obtaining a global adjustment for white balance. The tool also has a radius slider, which I suspect increases or decreased the number of pixels sampled by the dropper.
• Along with all these adjustments, the legacy global application of sliders and levels and curves remains.

Color Efex

• All but two of the applications in the collection except work with the same "control points" interface and sliders, creating a selection upon which to make localized edits and adjustments. Color Efex and Analog Efex are the exceptions.
• Color Efex has not changed substantially (expect for the addition of the always helpful histogram on the right panel). Like the legacy version, filters ("presets") are listed in a left panel. When you choose one, the right panel is populated with adjustments associated with the filter (including in most cases, the familiar control point, control line and polygon). Color Efex is essentially a collection of pre-set filters. When you choose one of them, the filter is applied to the entire image (rather then creating a local-adjustment selection). These control points create a mask. Changing the opacity of the mask will hide or reveal the adjustments made in Color Efex. The ability to adjust the size and feathering of the mask remains. Over the years I have owned the Nik program, I have only made ocassional use of this application. Nothing in the new program suggests to me that I will change that.

Dfine

• Whew. Thankfully, the ability to define areas to apply denoise manually has returned to my screen. It appears that the interface has not fundamentally changed. You can let Dfine automatically select the areas to sample to apply noise reduction or you can click on manual. When using the latter, the same old approach of drawing a rectangle over the area has been maintained. Most of the time, I have found the automatic application to work very well. YOu can adjust the effect of the application the traditional contrast (luminance) noise and color noise.
• There is a choice between noise reduction methods (local adjustments or color range). This is a new feature, to the best of my knowledge.
• The Control Points behave and are adjusted essentially the same as the other aplications.
• New is the ability to preserve edges.
• Also new is a tool that removes banding ("Debanding" with options for vertical or horizontal banding. This is activated with a checkbox.

Silver Efex

• Works essentially as expected, with little change to the basic approach, but all the new, nuanced slider adjustments. I haven't' used this application a lot over the years, but it has been my "go to" for converting to B&W images when I have.

THE REMAINING modules, Pre-sharpener, Sharpener Output, Analog 
Efex, and HDR Efex are all applications I have almost never used. I have preferred my legacy PKSharpener kit originally developed by the Pixel Genius folks for sharpening. Even though it is a basically no-longer avialiable legacy software, my own subjective comparison of it against my Google Nik Sharpener convinced me I liked it better. I have done very little with HDR in recent years. The latitude of modern sensors and capabilityt of modern post processing software has pretty much made HDR photography irrelevant to my type of, and approach to, images. When I did compile multiple images into an HDR render, I used either the third party Photomatix or the very capable HDR render application built into Photoshop. They are modules I will need to re-look at with the new software and if and as I do, I will in all probability blog about them separately.

My Takeaways

I REALLY like all the new adjustability of the control points which DxO has added to the software collection over its few years of ownership. I have been able to make immediate use of the size and shape variablility of the eliptical control points. I have made some limited used of the "control line" feature, but can see it being a valuable tool for the right images moving forward. I have used the polygon control point once so far and found it intuitive and easy to use. I can see a number of situations where I am likely to use it. The eyedropper and white balance tools are something I haven't used, but I suspect I will soon find reason to do so. The fine-tuning tools for the control point masks are appealing, if not a bit daunting. I fully plan to explore them, but will dip my toes in the water more daintily there. The sliders themselves, in addition to adding more options, seem more smooth and reactive, but "damped" and the effect slightly more subtle (maybe as a result of the more sophisticated control point selection algorithym). I do find trying to use them where they are attached to the control point on my reasonably high resolution monitors a bit kludgy. I have availed myself of the ability to turn them off and just use the sliders on the right side panel. I think I am going to like the new software, and will ultimately feel that its improvements over my legacy Google/Nik copy justify the cost and learning curve. Time will tell.

ONE OF my pet peeves over the last 20 years or so of marketing and delivery of computer software has been the lack of written documentation supplied. I get it. Save paper, printing costs and additional shipping costs. We are a digital world. That's o.k. Many providers at least supply a link to software (generally PDF) documentation. I can work with that. What I really find disconcerting is the modern trend to provide essentially no documentation at all. And DxO is guilty of that for the most part. There are "help" files in the software, but they are - for the most part - rudimentary. I found myself - even after 10 years of pretty regular use of the legacy software, floundering with the controls and especially where there were differences. Some people learn best by jumping in and "playing" with the software. No me. I learn best (perhaps because I grew up doing it that way) with in-depth written explanations. I like to be able to read with a highlighter in one hand and post-it flags in the other, so to speak. I like to (as I often say here) "get under the hood" and see how and why the applications work as they do. I almost always find myself buying at least one third-party instruction book, but alas, even those have become mostly a thing of yesteryear. After a pretty thorough search of the internet, I found only a single volume available, "Mastering The Nik Collection Selection Tools," by Robin Whalley. Robin wrote a book some years ago on the legacy Nik Collection from Google and I have the eBook version somewhere (at that time I acquired it I already had to hard-copy books on the software). If, like me, you enjoy a hard copy instruction manual or third-party "how to" book, I recommend you pick it up. To me it is well worth its modest cost. I review it here.

there is really nothing in the Nik Collection plugin that cannot be done without it

SOMETHING THAT undoubtedly occurs to those "seasoned" in post-processing, regardless of which program or combination they use is that there is really nothing in the Nik Collection plugin that cannot be done without it. Indeed it is possible to make needed and wanted adjustments just using Photoshop and its layering capability. It should be relatively apparent, however from the above, that I like this software and personally deem it worth the cost of admission. What makes it useful to me is that it can often accomplish those things with much greater ease, finesse, and convenience. These days, with the degree of "tuning" available in raw converters, post-processing software, and plugins makes it pretty much possible to get where you want to go in numerous different ways. For those reasons, I only give a "suggested" rating. I don't think it is a "must have" program and I think it would be possible to happily get along without it.  However, if you do - as I did - decide to buy the software, I think the book linked above will make your life much, much easier).

Suggested