July 28, 2024

0

capture one, Fine Art, lightroom, lightroom vs capture one, special effects

This makes your black and white better Instantly.

Most of us make black and white by converting color RAW files. That’s the best way. But even if you shoot monochrome digital or film, you must use these colors as filters.

Drop Color for black and white is just as magical as in color.

You’ve probably seen my video about Drop Color how 2 simple colors eliminate the ugly digital look and transform your process. It’s super easy but a game-changer. But what I didn’t tell you in that video is that this works amazingly in black and white with a slight twist. I’ll show you…

You can get the free mini version of Silver 5 presets here and see this in action. To take my tone down further I also use Blackroom and Emulsion 4 in Photoshop.

All the channels matter… But these 2 are magic.

Like the drop color method of a color photo, the color channels on black and white conversion work the same on luminance values and help you create better black and white really fast.

This is the same concept as using the color filter on black-and-white film to limit the light of certain colors and create more contrast and tone. Only in digital do we have more control.

Don’t get locked into one slider direction.

So generally a drop color is pulling done the saturation, or in this case the brightness (luma) of a color channel in HSL. But you can always push a color like I show at the end of the video.

Remember that these methods give you control. But don’t get locked in. And if you pull one color, push another, and see what happens. Usually, blues are pulled for better skies, but sometimes you push them.

It’s the same with green and orange. I’ll show you a great example at the end of the video.

Use this to key your background!

Pay close attention to where I mention exposure. How all these sliders are essentially small bits of exposure but for example on a single color.

So look at the example I show you. By pushing up the skin tone like I did the image gets a little too bright for what I’m trying to do in the portrait. This is actually a good thing.

Because pushing the luminance values in my black and white makes the subject too bright I compensate with an overall minus exposure until the skin is in the Zone I want.

The magic is that it maintained the subject brightness while darkening or keying the background and creating a natural dramatic contrast.

Put the tips I showed you to work with drop color on your black and white photos and watch your edits transform overnight.

Gavin Seim

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July 13, 2024

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capture one, lightroom, special effects

Two colors digital gets wrong! The Drop Color Method fixes it instantly!

Two colors change everything in your photography and that is way overdone in digital. Today I’ll show you how to fix them easily in any app. Take 7 minutes and watch the whole video.

Two main colors that Digital gets wrong.

This is because on digital nearly all colors are equal in value, causing them to be over-driven in post. In today’s video, I show a little-known fix ever for colors in digital photos.

You can do this in any app and you will also see it applied in most of my presets and can try it in its perfect form in the FIlmist Free or Complete presets pack.

The first time you do this it might seem extreme. Until you drop!

This is especially true if you have been editing wrong for a long time.

I know, wrong is relative to your style. But remember the goal is always to bring focus to our main subject. Overcooked colors distract from that. Once you understand this, your process will be simple and you will control color separation so much easier.

It’s easy yes, but took me years until the days I started developing Filmist to truly understand.

Never overdrive both of these. Drop color!

At times you might want to push one of these two colors. But it’s rare, even on a sunset. It’s even more rare that I push both. They nearly always compete with each other. Skin, foliage, etc.

Dial both of these to start. Or use a film or other high-level preset like I create for you guys. You’ll see that soon your baseline edit corrects itself and you no longer are looking for this overcome color.

Even on landscapes you fill this method creates more balanced tones and beautiful roll-offs.

Obviously, if you have ever tried my FIlmist 2 pack you have seen this in action. But it may sup[ise you that even in tools like Natural HDR 4 I am using it. HDR needs balance eve more and even in a rich scene I still apply drop color to create the balance that that pack is so famous for.

Yes, you can use this method on other colors.

Take this further by adjusting the hue settings and try the same on blues, purples etc. The two colors here may be the most important to balanced edits, but the method O show can be used on both.

Digital drives colors too hard because no chemicals are getting in the way of making colors bold. So once you start pushing they all push too far too fast.

While the two primary colors should always be reviewed, you can see in this photo that moving colors like blue and red in a similar fashion as I edit this night scene with Street’ist styles.

HSL is a tool you should always use. Having a favorite preset or creating your own baseline with this will improve every session and give you a starting point that truly helps you be consistent and better understand how to make each photo balanced and amazing.

Gavin Seim

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July 7, 2024

1

lightroom, lightroom vs capture one, special effects

DXO Photo Lab vs Lightroom tested. Can you switch from Lightroom?

People are sick of subscriptions and hate Adobe right now (they really deserve it). Subscriptions were never for us. So today I compare Lightroom vs DXO Photo Lab.

LR vs DXO Photo – An alternative to Lightroom and C1?

Maybe, but it’s complicated. Quality tools like Capture One (that I reviewed here) are also turning against their users by going virtually subscription only. So I am going to start testing. Today we look at DXO Photo Lab vs Lightroom.

I mentioned Filmist which includes LUTS you can use right now in DXO! For my LR and C1 users, I used Silver 5, Natural HDR, and my Speed Masks.

Last year I compared Lightroom to Lumiar Neo.

It was not there at a pro level. Luminar Neo got a D in terms of pro-level ability in my review. Lets hope in improves but in the last year much has changed.

It’s a fun tool. But not a serious choice for a pro. We need better integrations and better process quality. But with Lightroom vs DXO Photo Lab 7, there’s a smaller gap.

Lightroom vs DXO Photo Lab – Speed

DXO also has some unique tools and it’s snappy. Something you can’t say for LIghtroom and barely for Capture One. Both are resource-intensive apps.

It’s DXO Photo Lab is not without faults.

The 20 minutes of the video is worth it because I’ll cover the important things that make a pro-level app usable for actual pros. Not just cool features that look good in a sponsored review.

Zero sponsors. This is my honest DXO Photo Lab Review

None of these apps sponsor me and I have no affiliate links here at this time. This is just an honest comparison from 20 years of professional experience doing real sessions. No shilling.

Rather than write the results of DXO nouse reduction vs Lightroom and extra tests like how it handles processing against Neo, Capture One, etc. It’s all in the video.

If you want more hard tests of these apps let me know and I will not hold back. DXO Photo Lab Vs Lightroom seems to be a real option. But with limitations that I hope they can improve.

Gavin Seim

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June 12, 2024

2

capture one, lightroom, photoshop, special effects

Everyone is pissed at Adobe. Here’s what happened this week and alternatives to Adobe!

Adobe Cloud was a trap from day one, even if it is a great deal compared to the alternatives. But there are issues with having one big dog and this week they got worse. Today we talk about how that affects us as photographers.

I’ve got you covered from my end…

You decide. If you use my presets and decide to switch, all current packs include LR6 and Capture One files. Have Street’ist or Power Workflow for example. Just go access your downloads here and get the latest files.

Preset packs like Filmist and Natural HDR also include LUTS and those can be used in many apps like Affinity, DaVinci Resolve etc. In fact I edit nearly all my videos with FIlmist LUTS.

Also, all my Action packs, even the new Pictorialist work in CC and CS6 as well. So if you want to go subscription you can still get the iconic looks you’ve been getting for years.

Yes, a lot of people are fed up with Adobe.

Lots of people are dancing Adobe. But it’s not like the other options are all roses. Phase One scrwed over long-term perpetual license holders last year and Capture One cost more than LR and PS combined. Luminar is woefully lacking in processing quality and Affinity is not the best workflow system.

You don’t have to switch or cancel just because people are mad. Negativity is now always a good response. But it’s good Adobe is feeling the heat. This makes more room for competition and improvement and they should no that their actions are not OK!

Consumer rights time is all the time.

As I talk about in the video this goes way beyond Adobe. There’s a trend of large companies who have us locked in switching up the rules and taking us to the cleaners. Netflix, Amazon, Adobe, the list is long.

My theory on this is depending on where you are, one service or another may be worth canceling. When companies abuse customers like Adobe is trying to do, then gaslight them, acting like nothing is wrong and they are crazy for being upset it’s right for people to respond.

But it’s not worth stressing about either. Don’t throw your summer wedding season into chaos just because everyone says we need to cancel. You decide!

There are alternatives to Adobe

I go more into the video. Adobe is indeed the most complete suite of tools for creatives.

But as I mentioned above, I work hard to make sure you have options and we are not totally locked in and I’m sure other developers are doing the same.

An established workshop is hard to charge. While Adobe is king, I am always trying to make sure we are not stuck. So for example I could switch to C1 as my main editor and all my tools still work. Even my Elegance Speed masks now work in Capture One.

I long ago switched to Resolve for video editing. There are Capture One, DXO, and others that may be possibilities for you. And for many older versions of Adobe tools works just fine.

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February 26, 2024

0

capture one, lightroom, special effects

Why you should Stop using White Balance Grey Cards. Here’s what they don’t tell you.

White balance in photography is not what it is marketed as to sell white balance gadgets for photography.

But White Balance is not the same on RAW and JPEG

Play around and you will see how simple photography white balance can be. You can also get my FREE film presets and Elegance masks here.

You are the real White Balance.

Today’s session was great for this because the light changed fast and was very mixed. But in the real world, this is usually the kind of photos you have.

I’ve talked about white balance before here but I felt like we need another visit. Photos end up lesser when we focus too much on what a card tells us is the correct white balance.

Due to varied lighting conditions in any one frame, these cards are often not even accurate. In today’s video, I’m going to show you how White Balance should be a flexible tool to balance your color and you should not let it lock you in.

So should you buy a white balance tool?

FIlm pretty much has two white balance settings. Dayl;ight and tunsgten. You had to create around that or use filters in the post. Digital lets us have total flexibility.

There’s certainly a place for color charts. But even as someone who does a lot of color research and testing to make Filmist and other presets perfect I find them often unpredictable in real-world edits.

What’s certain is you don’t need an expensive White Balance tool for photos. If you are working in mixed light it’s mostly just a distraction. In a studio where light stays the same it could be useful but any grey card will work fine in my experience.

But in general. Don’t distract yourself. Focus on the shadow and the way you use line and tone.

Stop using the WB Card.

Yes, I mean that in most cases. Leaving it behind will let you focus on getting your photos right in camera and in post you can focus on the vision you had and make the edit perfect for you rather than what a card or guide tells you.

Just like I taught you in my Shadow Hackers LIVE workshop to not trust a camera meter to make your exposure, you should not trust a grey card to decide the warmth or coolness of your color.

Of course, there can be exceptions. But I will say that in almost no project or session do I use a white balance tool anymore. It simply does not improve my work.

Gavin Seim

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