14 DAY TRIAL // No matter if you're just starting in photography or you are already an acclaimed photographer, chances are you've heard about the Google Nik Collection or simply Nik Collection photo editing app.
Nik Collection was created by Nik Software, a US-based software development company, as digital image processing plugins and tools to be used within popular photography software like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom or Apple's Aperture photo editing and management app on Mac OS X and Windows operating systems.
For many years, Nik Collection was a very expensive software, so it could only be used if you were a professional photographer earning a lot of money from your photos. When Google acquired Nik Software in September 2012, the price was dropped considerably, from $500 USD to $150 USD, so more people could afford it. Four years later, Google made Nik Collection free to anyone.
With Nik Collection, photographers could enhance their stunning photos by adding various effects of classic film cameras or lenses, numerous filters for color correction, retouching, and creative effects, selectively adjust the color and tonality, create astonishing HDR images or master the art of black and white photography.
Nik Collection will still be available for download, but no longer updated
As of recently, if you're accessing the Nik Collection website, you'll notice a warning that Google quietly posted to inform the photography community that they no longer intend to offer future updates, though the program will continue to remain freely available for download for macOS and Microsoft Windows.
"The Nik Collection is free and compatible with Mac OS X 10.7 through 10.10; Windows Vista, 7, 8; and Adobe Photoshop through CC 2015. We have no plans to update the Collection or add new features over time. Learn more about Nik," wrote Google in a warning placed on top of the app's website.
All we can do right now is keep our fingers crossed that Google will still offer Nik Collection for download for many years to follow, so that new generations of photographers can discover it and enhance their images. In any case, make sure you grab a copy and keep it safe because you never know what tomorrow will bring.