Galveston Texture

The photo above was taken several weeks ago in Galveston, along one of the alleys behind the Strand. It gave me a chance to try out some new tools in the Nik Collection by Google -- here I used HDR Efex and Silver Efex, both new versions from what I've been using. Google announced new pricing and free upgrades to existing customers. My kind of deal. So now I have the full suite of Nik programs. There's been a lot of speculation about what will happen to Nik since it was bought by Google. So far, so good in my book, but you wonder what the long-term plan is at Google for the professional photographer market. As cameras become less expensive and with so many people using smartphones as their primary camera, Google must feel this is a chance to flood the market with their product. You wonder one day if all these enhancements we make on photos won't even be done locally on a PC -- maybe through the web. The marriage of Nik and Google opens many doors.