Nik collection - anyone get this recently?

[mattb]

I got some money from recent photo work and decided to take the plunge and get the Nik plugin collection. I've been playing with it a bit and I feel like I'm getting the hang of some of the plugins but there seems to be a lot to learn.
Has anyone else recently picked up this suite with the new Google-acquisition pricing? $150 seems like a great deal for all this.
I'm curious how your workflow goes if any of you are long time Nik users or even just a little more experienced than me.
The quality of the software seems high. I like the images I have been producing although I'm probably over-doing it in some cases just to figure out the tools.
Here are a couple of HDRs I made from some brackets I took inthe Black Canyon recently. I used the Deep preset as a base.
K-5 & Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 (5 exp, +/-2)

IMGP9676_HDR by MattB.net, on Flickr


IMGP9681_HDR by MattB.net, on Flickr

I have also been messing around with Color Efx Pro a bit. Here's one from last weekend from when I was out riding with my son.

IMGP9902-Edit by MattB.net, on Flickr

So are any of you Nik fans? Any thoughts on good workflow or links to tutorials I should see? Thanks in advance!

[armando_m]

I bought the complete collection over 2 yrs ago , at about the same price on a promotion from adorama

I have purchased the update to hdr efex 2.0 and I think it is the less used component of the suite, at least for me

I use the following:

color efex pro
dynamic skin softener - after correcting obvious blemishes with a clone brush I'll use this filter with the presets usually to 50% of the default value
contrast only, pro contrast a combination of both and playing with control point to apply where it makes it look better and reduce it where it makes it look worst, need to play with the settings depending on the image

detail extractor, tonal contrast: it can make a image llok like it ws hdr processed, used sparingly with control points can make an image look great

silver efex pro
second most used , it can make really great b&w images

define 2.0
reduce noise, I usually set the color noise reduction to 0, only use the contrast noise reduction, and I use control points again , so noise is reduced only where it is obvious

I rarely use sharpener pro and rely more on the sharpening tools of lightroom or capture nx2 , depending what I used to convert the raw

reagarding tutorials the ones on te nik software site are pretty good, also the live seminars they offer are pretty decent, that's how I started, then it is a matter of experimenting by yourself

I use it only with lightroom, I do not have PS but it sure seems more powerful when combined with layers

[mattb]

That gives me some things to try. Thanks for all the info!
I have PS CS5 so once I feel more comfortable I'll probably try it with some layers too.