NIK vs my old Photoshop processing

[rpcrowe]

When I was touring the Li River in China, the day was dull and dreary. This is what I ended up with after doing some corrections in Photoshop...



I reprocessed the image using NIK Software and this is what I ended up with...



Do you think that it is an improvement? On my monitor, it looks improved!

I used, Dfine, Raw Presharpener, Color Efex Pro Polarizer, Viveza (increasing structure and contrast of boat and passengers), and finally, Output Sharpener

[tbob]

Much more vibrant and saturates colour, Sharper too

Makes consider getting Nik

[Stagecoach]

Richard,

I would consider that viewing on my monitor No 2 is too saturated and appears sharper but there is a significant loss of clarity/contrast in the background to the left.

Which one do I prefer? No 1

Grahame

[Colin Southern]

To my eye the 2nd image has too much saturation and vibrance among the people, and they're too bright.

Also, the foreground water is lacking more contrast.

#1 for me too.

[Ken MT]

Back to the old Photoshop for me too

[Black Pearl]

I too prefer the first shot as the colour looks more natural whereas the second looks a little 'over cooked'

That said I use Nik software all the time and do most of my processing using it and not LR/CS6 so I would still recommend it.

[John 2]

No. 1 for me as well I'm afraid for all the reasons given. Having said that, the first image would stand a bit more punch but I'm thinking contrast rather than saturation.

[jcuknz]

Surely it is less the editor but how you use it ... I prefer the clarity and dark foliage of the second and the lightness of the boat in the first. I find it difficult to match photos using different editors short of having them as separate layers in the single editor and blink them to see differences.

PSP gave me some NIK tools but not really needed to use them except for what works like a GradND filter which is easier than the PSP one which I have never got the hang of. NIK makes it easy

[Brev00]

In some of the Nik presets, there is a saturation slider. Sometimes, the slider is set high by default. I can forget to reset the slider to my taste and wind up with more saturation than I may want. There are times I do like the extra saturation, though. So, it comes down to your taste and developing greater expertise with the software. To me, it looks like the first has that natural low contrast feel of a cloudy day. In the second, the colors are more for a sunny day, but it is still cloudy. That can leave an odd feeling. Nik and other tools allow for unlimited adjustments that can get us outside of the original dimensions of the shot if we are not careful. If I had the image on my computer, I would try Tonal Contrast first. That is my go to filter on Color Efex. I would suggest moving all the sliders to 0 first and use the Fine level of effect then adjust the sliders as needed. Tonal Contrast is on my Color Efex screen set to a very low level when I open a file. When you use Dfine, you may want to mask the subject before opening it or use the control points to keep the effect from blurring important detail. I prefer Topaz Denoise and, in fact, the entire Topaz suite is sensational. It is worth a free trial. I would definitely stick with Nik but it does take time to get it to work for you. Pro Contrast is another good filter. Polarization has a default strength. Like Tonal Contrast, if I use that filter, I set it lower and then move up.