Joe Farace

"But some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality..."--H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

Instead of "starting up" my Windows computer recently greeted me by sitting there and just beeping, something I know spells trouble. Having suffered far too many slings and arrows of...

I’m very excited to kick off the new year with websites from four photographers whose photographs could not be more different from one another, yet each shows the power of photography as the universal language. Anyone who is interested in pursuing fine art photography as either a career or avocation will find that these websites represent a virtual master class and I hope that the photographs will inspire you, as they do me, to make 2015 a year in which we all focus our energies in creating more and better images.

Color Efex Pro 4 is Nik Software’s (www.niksoftware.com) latest version of its digital photographic filter plug-ins for retouching and creative enhancements. It is Mac OS and Windows compatible and installs as a 32-bit and 64-bit plug-in for Adobe Photoshop CS4 or later, Lightroom 2.6 or later, Photoshop Elements 8 or later, or Apple Aperture 2.1.4 or later. The installer searches for all of the hosts that are on your computer and if you already have Photoshop, Lightroom, and Aperture installed, as I do, it will install Color Efex Pro 4 for all of the host applications.

 

What’s New
One of the biggest improvements in Color Efex Pro 4 is the ability to use Filter Combinations that let you stack multiple filters, adjust each one’s opacity, and make selective adjustments to get the desired look. Each filter contains single-click starting points, making it possible to explore different options. Shades of Emeril Lagasse, there are Filter Recipes that let you customize and share filter combinations with others. Bam! Reminiscent of HDR Efex Pro, the 10 recipes that are part of the package are a quick way to get started using Color Efex Pro 4 and more are available for download on Nik Software’s website.

In the strictest technical terms, Color Efex Pro 3.0 may be a compatible plug-in but in reality it's an imaging environment that clings remora-like to Adobe's Photoshop, extending its capabilities and allowing you to produce incredible effects in little time. In that respect, Color Efex Pro 3.0 becomes a major productivity tool as well.

Interface...