Silver Shadows 2 is finally here and it won’t disappoint. It represents years of refinement since v1 was released. It’s been expanded and revamped from the ground up and I think it will blow you away when you see the efficient high quality silver conversions you can do without leaving LR.
As always, I’ve made up a free sampler pack. This one include 6 great effects from SS2, including the one above that give a small sampling of just how powerful it is. You can download below, no strings attached. When you realize how much you like it, check the full collection. It has over a hundred effects, refined and organized into the ultimate black and white toolkit. Either way head over to the product page for the video of these presets in action.
I’ve been refining a new effect for a gentle warm sunset feel. This result is something that may well find it’s way into my Color Fantasies and Lightflow collections in the future, but I thought it would make a great freebie for you readers today.
It was interesting making the same effect side by side in both LR and Aperture.I don’t plan to do that with everything, as both my Lightroom and Aperture preset collection have their own effects that suit the tools available in each. But it was a good challenge to use the varying tools of both applications for the same effect. While their not identical, the preset should run very close on a RAW file in Lightroom or in Aperture. Cross platform. Oh yea.
This effect is gentle. Well suited for pictorial or portrait work, where a warm gentle process is needed. It’s meant to be used like a summer breeze. Not sharp, but not dull. Not too hot, but enough to make you smile. I really like it and I hope you will too. Below is a quick example of what the preset does. You can download it via the link. Enjoy… Gavin Seim
Lightflow for Aperture is an ultra refined presets toolkit for photographers that’s based on many years of digital editing experience. I like to give away freebies and samples from every full collection I release and LightFlow this is no exception. Below you can download the sampler pack that includes 6 great effects from LightFlow, including one of the new Super Series auto correction presets.
I’ve put loads of refinement into LightFlow and I think you’ll love them. I hope you’ll also check out the full version because with over 55 presets, it takes Aperture workflow and creativity to new levels. And like other Seim Effects tools, LightFlow is guaranteed to please.
The freebie pack includes the following presets. You can find a full description of each in the presets list on the main product page.
Super Hero.
Super Simple.
Color Dance.
Faded Glory.
Simply Silver.
Dusted Warm, Tone.
Download via the link below. No strings. Also if you’d like to keep up with my future releases and freebies, you can sign up for my newsletter right over there >> in the sidebar. Enjoy… Gav
Wow another year has gone by. Crazy stuff. It’s been a busy year here and I’m thankful. Seim Effects keeps growing by leaps and the new products have done great thanks to all of you. There’s more good stuff in the works. In the growth of Seim Effects I hope that the focus of what I do here has stayed strong. Good products and the great service to along with them.
Anyways on to the goodies. Merry Christmas to all of you. This years freebie pack has something for just about everyone and I hope you’ll enjoy it. Lets take a peek.
Lightroom Presets:
Color Years: I made this to look back on the refinements and experiments I did with color this year. It’s a subtle but delicious color twist that will work on a variety of images.
Silver Grains: 2010 Was a big year for editing. LR3 and Aperture, CS5, better RAW processing. For me a growing passion for black and white. I have lots of new Silver tones in the pipes, but here’s a rich silver effect with smooth blacks and bold tones.
Aperture Presets:
Color Years: 2010 was the year presets finally came to aperture. I’m working with it and have a full collection in the works, but I made the Color Years effect for you today. It works very similar to the LR version.
Silver Grains: I decided to keep it simple, so this is also similar to the LR version. Of course the programs process a little different, but the concept was the same.
Adobe In Design Album Template: You’ll need Adobe InDesign for this. But it’s a big one, so even if you have to download a demo from Adobe, give it a shot. InDesign is how I make albums and it’s blazing fast. Makes Photoshop for album design look like a slug on the Interstate. UPDATE: The main album file is CS5 only. I updated the download to 1.1 and included a .idml file for CS4 users. More info in the download.
More details on all this stuff in the What’s Inside” document included in the download, which I’ll give you right now. Enjoy… Gav
By Gavin Seim: Last year I posted a collection of LR2 print layouts for making page designs in Lightroom. With LR3, things have changed a bit and we now use the Custom Package option to make layouts. It’s more powerful and has more features. For that reason however the old layouts no longer work correctly. If your using an older LR, you’ll want the old layouts. If you have LR3 download these new ones for more variety and cool new stuff like controlling background color and drag and drop simplicity.
While there’s some album design style features I would like to see added, LR3 is defiantly coming along in allowing you to make layouts. Once you have these installed (see here for LR preset install video) you select the layout you want in the print module. Then simply drag and drop images from the filmstrip into the cells. When you done you can print or print to file to save as a JPEG.
Now in my opinion these do not replace a tool like In Design for doing full on album design (weddings for example). It has far less features and there’s really no ability to save a project with its layouts. That said, these can be great for quick layouts, folios or album pages. This download has 9 different 10×10 layouts, with both black and white background. If you like them and want more I may consider a complete set in the future. Enjoy… Gav
Once installed (see link above), go to the print module and select the layout you want. You can mouse over presets to get a layout preview (top left). Once you have the desired layout, simply Drag in images from the filmstrip into the open spaces.
Images will fill the cell irrelevant of aspect ratio. If the cell crop of the image is not the way you want, hold the CMD key (CNTRL on PC) and drag the image inside the cell to the crop that works. Also don’t hesitate to play with the settings and make your own layouts (changing border styles etc).
Exporting & Printing:
Once you have the desired look you can print it out directly. More often however you’ll probably want to export them to send to a lab or make a book. While export does not actually work from the print module, you can quickly achieve the same result by printing to JPEG.
To export the layout just use “Print To JPEG” from the “Print Job” menu in the right side (see image below). Click the “Print To File” button and the file will save out as high res JPEG file ready to be used. Repeat for each layout and Presto you have your ready to upload or save for later.
