The Nik Collection by Google: photography first, for professionals and more
Here on the Google+ Photos team, we’re busy building tools for all kinds of photographers. Today, and for all the professionals out there, we’re bundling the complete set of Nik plug-ins as the Nik Collection by Google. We’re especially excited about three things:
1) It’s more affordable. The entire set of plug-ins for Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperture only costs $149 (versus the previous $499).
2) It’s really powerful. The Nik Collection by Google gives you tools for everything from noise reduction and HDR imaging to creative effects and image sharpening (and lots more).
3) It’s free to try. You can visit niksoftware.com for a 15-day free trial of the Collection.
If you’ve already purchased one or more Nik plug-ins in the past, then don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. In fact: we’re going to upgrade you to the entire Nik Collection by Google for free. Just keep an eye out for emailed instructions in the next few days.
Once you’ve got a Nik Collection shot that you’re excited about, feel free to share it with the Google+ community. Simply tag your public pictures with #nikcollection , and we’ll reshare some favorites from the +Google+ page. We can’t wait to see what you’ll create!
This is SO sweet!
If you have never tried Nik Software, it is REALLY cool stuff, and it sounds like, in a few days, it will be well worth the price!
A series of Long Exposures taken of the Marsh Creek Spillway in Chester County, PA.
My first series of images using my new Triggertrap Mobile – Exposures ranging from 0.4-500 seconds, for HDR post capture processing using Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop and Nik Software – HDR Efex Pro 2.
Today I got an Invite from an old friend of mine to join Google+.
Everything that I had been reading, suggested that Invites were still hard to get and Google was reducing the amount of Invites being sent out.
So I was very happy to get an offer from my friend Steve.
It was easy to sign up my account via my Gmail address, and I spent a few minutes checking out the details that had been imported into my profile.
After making a few corrections, I went up to Facebook, and posted that I had a new Google+ account!
Almost immediately, a few my friends started to request Invites, which I still need to send, but haven’t figured out how to yet…
But then one of my local photography contacts, Mike, suggested that I check out a Washington Post article that talked about Google’s Terms of Service (TOS) and how it related to posting of photographic images.
I posted the two links above, onto several of my Facebook pages, looking to get some input from my connections.
After some dinner and television, it was off to bed for the kids.
As the house began to quiet down, I was able to put on my shows, and begin my nightly surfing of the Internet.
Still very intrigued by the Scott Bourne posting, and decided to do a little bit more research.
Being a creature of habit, I fired up my Firefox, and went to Google to start my search, using the search term “Google+ +Photo +TOS”, and began to read the results.
About three-quarters of the way down the page, I noticed an article that included the term “social media” in the Title, which I thought was rather odd considering my search criteria, so I clicked.
As I started the skim Colby Brown’s blog post, I noticed he was the teacher, and he thought it was important to stay ahead of the game in regards to social media when teaching his students – I very much agree.
Mr. Brown also writes about the older photography business models, and suggested some new marketing opportunities based on common practices used when posting to social networking sites such as Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.
I agree with Mr. Brown full wholeheartedly in the fact that photographers can not give away things for free, but at the same time, in the older business model, it was quite common for photographers to spend money on Mailings of prints or slides of their work.
Those Mailings, have now been replaced by the 72dpi images that he is suggesting, and in the name of the game in the photography business, is to get your work in front of as many eyeballs as possible.
His article just made sense, and I commend him for his observations and thoughts.
Thank you!
Thankfully, I did not delete my jpeg files that I had generated for JPGmag, so now I just need the time to start some more posting!
Yesterday, many users of Facebook were greeted with a new interface from Facebook, and for the most part, no one seems to like it.
My initial thought was that people just needed some time to get use to how “it” works, but I have already experienced several issues:
Generally Slow Facebook performance
– Since last Friday (2/5), I have noticed a general slow performance with Facebook.
– Initially, I thought that this was because of the Blizzard that hit the East Coast, and that everyone was online, and was dragging the system down, but as of today, it has gotten a little better, but…
Status Updates not appearing immediately
– Several times I have posted an update, and then not seeing it. Posted again, only to find after several minutes, the original post would appear, leading to a double post.
– Initially, I thought this was related to my browser’s cache, but even with clearing it out, and rebooting my computer, I still noticed a delay.
Difficult to move from Game to Game
– In the old interface, one had their “Short Cuts” at the bottom of their screen and could just bounce from Game to Game, but now one has to go back to their Home page, into Games, than to the Game they want to play. Too many steps in my option.
– To be fair, I need to look into how to setup new “Short Cuts”, but…
– At the same time, it is interesting to see that others are Playing, but I do not have any more time to devote/waste…
Identity Issues
– I have a Personal page and a Fan page.
– When I post something on my Fan Page, and then later try to comment on the post via my Personal page, my post is seen as my Fan Page identity.
– This maybe due to a “cookie” conflict within my browser, and is really not a big deal, but at the same time, it just takes longer to accomplish the same thing.
– I need to test this with a different browser open to make sure…
NetworkedBlogs Issue(s)
– Just started to notice that the Facebook app, NetworkedBlogs, will not show or allow me to access my settings.
– Neither FireFox (2.6) and Internet Explorer (8) are allowing me to get to my Settings
Twitter Status Updates
– from a reader [PW]: “and now the Twitter/status update feed doesn’t appear to be working. sigh.”
– [Update] > Working but very slow.
Inconsistent Home/Wall Updates
– Readers are reporting that Posts/Updates/Entries are just not appearing, or are just getting lost.
– Click on the “Home” button or using a Browser refresh does not always work.
These are just a few items that I have noticed so far, and I am sure I will find more, and I am hoping that readers will point out things that I have missed.
Basically, it is about the data… What you post… Who you “talk” to… Where you go… etc.
Google does it and so do most Search Engines… as the blog also points out, it keeps Twitter at bay…
Anyhow…
There is one note of caution, the Screen shoot of the FB settings is INVENTED and is posted as a suggestion to management at Facebook. (I too did NOT read carefully… D’oh!)
