Color Efex Pro 3.0 is the latest update to Nik's collection of digital photographic filters and effects for Adobe Photoshop. Version 3 has been updated for speed, a new interface, and something called U Point technology.

Color Efex Pro 3.0 contains four different types of enhancements; traditional filters, color correction, retouching and creative enhancements. It contains 52 filters that contain over 250 unique effects, and with the fact that you can combine them, it makes the possibilities limitless.

System requirements are Windows 2000 or better, Mac OS 10.4 or better, 256 MB RAM (512 MB Recommended), and Photoshop CS2, CS3, Photoshop Elements 4.0, or any image editing software program that accepts Adobe Photoshop Plug-ins.

Basically, the Color Efex Pro 3.0 workflow goes like this. Launch Photoshop, open an image, and open Color Efex Pro from the filter menu which will open the interface. By default, the filter list will appear on the left hand side of the interface. This is an alphabetical list of the available filters. They are categorized by topics such as portrait, landscapes, etc. Since there are three versions of Color Efex Pro the number of filters may vary. The standard edition contains 15 Filters, the Select Edition contains 35 filters, and the Complete Edition contains 52 filters. You can check out which filters are available from the Nik Website

Once you select your filter, you are given options to make adjustments to the filter. Then you can use the U Point Control Points to selectively control where each filter is applied to the images. This allows you to control the effect without having to use selections and/or masking. By placing Control Points on an image, you can control color, tone, and light on your image. These might be sky, skin, clothing etc.

Essentially you take this Control Point and drop it on the image. You can then adjust the area and the opacity of the image. You have a 0% control point that begins at no opacity and has not filter effect, and you have full opacity which fully enables the filter. You can then see what the effects of the Control Points from the modes pull down menu.
After setting your values and Control Points, you can then preview the image either side by side or in a split view mode. Once you are happy with the effects, you can then press the OK button and the effects will be applied to your image.