Now let's take a look at a little more complex set of adjustments. For this dahlia, I want to make similar adjustments to the reds in the petals, but I don't want to change the greens or the stem color. In the previous version, I would have created multiple control points, just like I've done here, but I would need to adjust each independently – more work for me, and potentially lower quality results. With Viveza 2, after creating all of the control points, I select them, and then click Group. Now, any change to one control point will affect all the grouped control points exactly the same.

To protect the greens and stem, I just place control points on these areas and leave them with no adjustment, effectively masking any adjustment from these areas.

Figure 7

To see how well Viveza masks the areas being adjusted, you can click on the show mask button for any or all of the control points – like Photoshop, black areas don't show the adjustment while white areas reveal the adjustment.

Figure 8

Viveza works within Photoshop using layers (you can turn this off if you prefer), and as a Smart Object if wanted. Also supported in Photoshop are brushes. If you choose Brush, the effects are applied to a layer mask that you can paint on or off as desired to get the adjustments exactly where, and as strong, as you want them.

Figure 9

Figure 10

Figure 11

Conclusion

Although there is nothing here that can't be done natively in Photoshop (as is true with most plug-ins), Viveza 2 makes it much easier to achieve the adjustment effects you're after. U Point works better than any other selection method I've seen, and the masking created by Viveza is extremely high quality. Can you do these adjustments without Viveza? Yes. But, be prepared to spend a great deal of time doing it, and if you're not familiar with the process, you'll have a steep learning curve to make it work well. If you're already using Viveza 1.0, you'll appreciate the new controls over structure, shadow, and global adjustments, and grouping is more useful than you might consider at first. If you haven't tried Viveza yet, it's well worth the trail version download. Odds are you'll be adding it to your regular workflow and wondering how you managed before. Perhaps the biggest drawback for many will be the price tag. At $199.95 it isn't an inexpensive option, but for me, the time saved is worth every penny. Upgrades from version 1.0 are $99.95.

Ratings (out of 5)
Features	4.5
Ease-of-use	4.5
Value for money	4.5

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