Nik Releases Viveza 2 Plugin for Photoshop, Lightroom, and Aperture

Nik Software, the maker of high-end, high performance plugins for photo editing tools has released the latest version of their Viveza product, version 2.0. Viveza 2 allows photographers to selectively adjust lighting and color with precise selection controls without the need for layer masks or in-host selections.

Viveza 2 is available now and retails for $199.95. Upgrades are available for $99.95 and free if you purchased the previous version after September 22, 2009.

Nik Software Ships Viveza® 2 for
Adobe® Photoshop®, Lightroom® & Apple® Aperture™

Fast and efficient selective photo editing improves workflow

San Diego, CA – January 4, 2010- (Virtual Press Office) – Nik Software announces that it is shipping its award-winning Viveza 2, the latest upgrade to its award-winning and revolutionary photo editing software for selective color and light control. Viveza 2 now offers users robust global adjustments and precise selective controls that utilize Nik Software’s award-winning U Point® technology. Viveza 2 eliminates the need to create complicated selections or layer masks and provides a powerful solution for users looking to save time and effort when editing images.

"The first release of Viveza was truly revolutionary and introduced the most effective way to selectively edit photos," said Michael J. Slater, president and CEO of Nik Software. "With Viveza 2, we listened to a wide range of photographers and added even more control and a new level of precision to make Viveza 2 not only more powerful, but also an essential tool for anyone who regularly edits photos."

Recently awarded a 2010 Hot One Award from Professional Photographer magazine, Viveza 2 – powered by Nik Software’s patented U Point technology – is the most powerful and precise tool available to globally and selectively control light and color in photographs. With U Point technology, users can quickly select areas of an image to adjust by pointing and clicking and then using simple to use mouse-controlled sliders to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, structure, shadows, red, green, blue, hue, and warmth in a fraction of the time needed by other tools.

"It’s simply faster, easier, and more powerful than anything I've got in my own bag of tricks, which is why Viveza 2 is my new tool for making fast, accurate selections," said Scott Kelby, editor of Photoshop User magazine and author of The Digital Photography Book, Volumes 1-3. "This is a plug-in that every serious photographer has to consider, because now the rules have changed. After all these years, making accurate selections is still one area that gives even the pros fits, but Viveza 2 changes all that without the complexity and steep learning curve."

Key features of Viveza 2 include:

• Powerful Color Control Points, enabling precise selective control of color and light
  
• New global image adjustments
  
• New and powerful levels and curves adjustments
  
• New shadow recovery—global or selective
  
• New fine detail structure enhancements
  
• Improved color rendering and increased precision of selections
  
• Improved timesaving user interface, including improved slider controls, slider favorites, multiple zoom states, keyboard nudging, grouped Color Control Points, and multiple undo levels
  
• Smart Filter support (Photoshop only)
  
• Selective Brush tool (Photoshop only)
  
• Multi-image support (Lightroom and Aperture only)
  
• New 64-bit support on Microsoft Windows

Pricing and Availability

Nik Software’s Viveza 2, offering support for Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and Apple Aperture, is available via electronic and boxed delivery directly from Nik Software (http://www.niksoftware.com) or through specialty camera retailers. A complete list of resellers may be found at http://www.niksoftware.com/resellers.

Viveza 2 retails for $199.95. Registered customers that already own Viveza can upgrade for $99.95 at http://www.niksoftware.com/viveza. Customers who purchased Viveza after September 22, 2009 are eligible for a free upgrade to Viveza 2, which can be requested by sending an email to supportus@niksoftware.com or calling Customer Service toll-free at 888-284-4085.

To watch a video introduction of Viveza 2, learn more, and download a free trial version, please visit http://www.niksoftware.com/viveza.