December 8, 2010

0

Aperture, Gavin Seim, ProPhotoShow

3rd Annual Seim Effects/PPS Christmas Freebie Pack.

Wow another year almost gone. It was great having so many of you be a part of it. Not a ton of PPS episodes, but from your feedback I gather they were some of the best yet. I’ve been crazy busy and while I can’t say I made every goal for PPS this year, we came along nicely. The last show of the year is posting just after this and I think it’s gonna be a whiz bang.

Anyways on to the goods. Merry Christmas to all of you. This years freebie pack has some good stuff and I hope you’ll enjoy it. For the 3rd year running, Pro Photo Show and Seim Effects have teamed up to bring you the freebie pack. It’s got goodies for Lightroom and Aperture (you read right). And even an album template for InDesign.

To go along with all this, there’s also the PPS 2010 Christmas giveaway where you can pick up some of the $2000+ in prizes.

You can download the freebie pack and get all the details directly from the Seim Effects site where it’s hosted. Download 2010 Christmas Pack.

Enjoy. Have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Here’s to 2011… Gav

 Read More

December 8, 2010

0

Cool Gadgets, Gavin Seim, news, ProPhotoShow

Pro Photo Show 2010 Christmas Giveaway.

Ok folks. The 2nd PPS Christmas giveaway is here and we over two thousand dollars in prizes up from grabs from 5 great sponsors.

No strings here. It’s simple and you can win some great prizes. Go here for all the details and to enter using the simple form…

Enter here – prophotoshow.net/contest

Merry Christmas… Gav

 Read More

December 3, 2010

0

Gavin Seim, ProPhotoShow, Review

Gavin's Thoughts on Photoshop CS5. The Straight Dope

by Gavin Seim: I’ll keep this brief because Photoshop CS5 has been out for months now and reviews have been floating all over. Rather than get redundant with an ultra in depth review, I’ll just talk a little about what I think. I’ll be frank and you can make your own decision from there.

Photoshop CS5. Full = $699 – $999.
My overall rating 6.5/10.

New features worth noting…

  • Content Aware tools are the big news in CS5. It works when lassoing and deleting sections of an image, using the healing brush and more. Neat tool, but not perfect. More on that below.
  • New “Mixer Brushes” blend color like paint, similar to something like Painter (but less powerful).
  • Crop has a rule of thirds overlay now (finally).
  • Remastered HDR tools and Pseudo HDR with HDR toning. Better, but not perfect.
  • Remastered Refine Edge. Will find more detailed edges for better masking and has automatic edge decontamination.
  • Puppet Warp allows you to modify in a new ways. Move limbs, horizon lines and more by defining control points.
  • New process versions and improved camera RAW.
  • Mini bridge right within PS.

Content aware fill. This feels more like a beta feature. It got hyped a lot prior to release. Probably over hyped. Once we got the product in our hands, reality set in. Content Aware was not the magical tool that Adobe made it out to be in demo videos and they took some flack for it. I think the problem was that they showed it as being so perfected. Erasing entire areas of photos, cleaning out power lines with a single stoke. It looked wonderful in theory.

 Read More

October 23, 2010

1

Gavin Seim, HDR Photography, Lighting, Nature, Photography Podcast, PPS Photography Tips, Pro Photo Show Podcast, ProPhotoShow

Pro Photo Podcast #72 – 40 Days & 40 Nights

Click To Listen>> Photography Podcast. PPS #72
Review in iTunes – Vote on Podcast Alley – Direct Podcast Feed

Today’s Host... Gavin Seim. This week Gavin gets in depth about his month and a half photo trip spanning various areas of the USA. He looks at things he saw and learned and ways to improve it all going forward.

Sunsets hidden falls. Gavin's favorite from an evening Yosemite. Did some experimenting with blacks on this. Image links to f164 post. More info in that post soon.

Podcast #72 forum discussion:

Notable Time Indexes:

  • 00:00 Introductions trip info.
  • 07:27 Verizon MiFi Pick
  • 12:03 Yellowstone
  • 17:34 Moving on and seeing things
  • 24:57 Zion area
  • 34:29 More resolution
  • 38:00 Details artifacts and light
  • 56:53 Mediums
  • 59:38 Closing

 Read More

October 1, 2010

0

Gavin Seim, Nature

A Photographer on the Road 30 days. What am I Doing?

by Gavin Seim – I know I’m a bit behind getting out the next Pro Photo Show. Don’t worry  though because I’m still here. We (me, my wife and two kids) have been on the road for about 30 days now, exploring and teaching. I’ve photographed from the hills on Montana to the water of the Mississippi and all over in between. It’s been amazing and I’ve been learning a lot. I plan to make it home in the next week or so and when I do getting out another PPS episode will be high priority.

So where I’ve been. From WA, through Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and into Minnesota for workshops. Back westward again down into South Dakota, Wyoming and yesterday into Utah. We’re pretty much going where we feel like but heading in the general direction of home. I have a Verizon MiFi so I’ve been able to stay amazingly connected.

For this interested in what I’m photographing and studying during all this, I’ve been posting to f164, my new travelogue and deep study journal. I’m posting images I’ve made talking techniques I’m trying and just taking it easy while talking shop.

If interested you can keep up with our daily travels via @gavinseim on Twitter. You’re also welcome to find me on FB. facebook.com/gavinseim (personal page) facebook.com/seimstudios (photography page).

So I just wanted to give everyone a shutout. Hope you’ll join me on f164 as I experiment and learn more about light during these travels. There so many interesting things about our craft and I plan to do these type of travels more in the future. Catch you soon… Gav

 Read More