Nik Software's Viveza Wins 2009 Hot One Award from Professional Photographer Magazine

Nik Software’s Viveza™-U Point® Technology Powered Software-Wins 2009 Hot One Award

Award-winning plug-in provides the most powerful, precise, and easy way for photographers to selectively control and adjust color and light in their digital images

Las Vegas, NV – February 16, 2009 (WPPI 09, Booth #1235) Nik Software, Inc. announces today that its award-winning Viveza photographic plug-in for Adobe® Photoshop®, Photoshop Elements and Apple® Aperture® has received the 2009 Hot One Award from Professional Photographer magazine. Nik Software’s Viveza is a powerful and intuitive software tool designed to enable photographers of all skill levels to precisely select and control the light and color in photographic images while working within Photoshop and Aperture.

“It’s an honor to once again be recognized by the editor’s of Professional Photographer magazine as creators of imaging software designed with today’s digital photographer in mind,” said Michael J. Slater, president and CEO of Nik Software. “Receiving a Hot One Award again in 2009, this time for Viveza, is testament that our goal to help professional photographers address tough image editing challenges is being met,” Slater concluded.

By incorporating Nik Software’s revolutionary U Point technology (www.upoint.com), Viveza provides easy-to-use methods for correcting and enhancing images without the need to create complicated selections or layer masks or have expert-level knowledge of Adobe Photoshop or Aperture. U Point is the core technology that powers Viveza and brings photographers unprecedented efficiency and control for editing digital images. To make adjustments to an image, users simply place U Point powered Color Control Points directly on colors or objects in an image (such as sky, skin, grass, etc.) then adjust easy-to-use sliders for brightness, contrast, color and more. Viveza automatically selects objects and creates masks based on where the user places a Color Control Point, eliminating the need to manually “lasso” objects or create layer masks. By working directly on the image, powerful selective enhancements can be accomplished quickly and efficiently.

With Nik Software’s Viveza plug-in, photographers are able to do more to improve the overall quality of their images and address image editing tasks that are too complex or simply not possible with other tools. For more information about Viveza, including an introductory video, please visit www.niksoftware.com/viveza.

Key Features

• Color Control Points - U Point technology incorporated into Viveza brings a new level of precision and efficiency to photographic image editing. Users easily control an image’s color, light and tonality with Color Control Points. Simple-to-use sliders let users quickly adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, red, green, blue, hue, and warmth, providing ultimate mastery over digital images. Enhancements are automatically and naturally blended throughout the image for spectacular results.
• Smart Filter Support - Viveza is compatible with Adobe Photoshop’s Smart Filter feature which permits users to fine-tune enhancements after they’ve been applied, without adding additional layers.
• Powerful Selective Tool - Viveza’s Selective Tool allows users to brush any light and color changes into their image using Photoshop’s brush tools. Layers and masks are created automatically, enabling users to quickly and easily apply any filter selectively. For added control and fine detail adjustments, Viveza also supports pressure-sensitive features optimized for Wacom® Pen Tablets.
• Multiple Image Support - Viveza takes advantage of Aperture’s multi-image capability, allowing users to streamline their workflow by working on multiple images in one session.

Pricing and Availability

Nik Software’s Viveza is available directly from Nik Software (www.niksoftware.com), and is also available through specialty camera retailers in North America, Apple.com and select Apple Retail stores, and popular academic resellers. A complete list of resellers may be found at www.niksoftware.com/resellers. The suggested retail price of Viveza is $249.95. Viveza installs as a Photoshop, Photoshop Elements or Aperture plug-in and is available for Windows and Macintosh operating systems, including Vista and Leopard.

About Nik Software

Nik Software, Inc. is a privately held company that develops software solutions for the growing digital imaging and photography markets. Established in 1995, Nik Software has become the recognized leader in digital photographic filter development and produces award-winning technology and software products for digital photography and imaging professionals including U Point® technology (www.upoint.com), Dfine®, Viveza™, Color Efex Pro™, Silver Efex Pro™, and Sharpener Pro™ software.

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