The ability to combine effects in this way greatly expands Color Efex's potential. Not only that, you can save these combinations of effects as Recipes - Color Efex Pro comes with a selection of great-looking recipes to give you an idea of what this new feature can achieve. Now, though, you can combine any number of effects without leaving the application. Previously, you could only apply one at a time - it would be applied in Photoshop as a new layer, complete with layer mask, but then you'd have to reopen Color Efex Pro to add another.

The other big change to Color Efex Pro 4 is the ability to combine filter effects. You choose a preset you like, it's applied in the main window and you can then tweak the settings if you need to, or accept the effect as it is. One of Color Efex Pro's strong points has always been its ability to preview effects directly and simply, and version 4 takes this further by adding presets for each filter, which are accessed by clicking a button to the right of the filter's name.

Colour effect pro 4