I wanted to post a free video from my up and coming Seim Effect video series.
Burn and dodge is one of those overlooked gems that can give you control over where viewer attention is drawn to in an image. Some people avoid vignettes, burns and dodges because they don’t realize how effective they can be.
I see images nearly every day that could be twice as good with a little B&D Love. This is just as important with HDR images ass well ad they tend to be a bit flat in their natural state. Here’s a Seim Effects video on the topic. It’s slightly cheesy, but a good look at how I leverage B&D. Click the link to get the free High Res version.
JPEG, TIFF, PSD, Successive Save, Save As, and more.
by Gavin Seim. Updated 11/11. There’s often confusion about what makes a JPEG and other files degrade, so I thought I would so a few a real world test. First let me say that simply copying, or viewing a file does NOT cause any degradation as people sometimes believe. If you copy and paste a file it’s simply a bit for bit cop. There’s no loss because nothing has been altered.
When you open, and then re-save a file is when things usually change. Even if you save at the highest quality JPEG settings you have still re-compressed that file when you save again. Unless or course your using an uncompressed file format to start with (TIFF for example). But even then there can be some quality loss version after version.
So how bad is a file damaged each time you successively save it. Well lets just say you should keep your originals. I’m not saying we can’t make revision copies (or file generations as I refer to them). But we should be aware. Below we’re going to look at the same image submitted to various torturous conditions and you can then judge for yourself.
These image are 700px. Click any image to see it at that resolution, or download all the images to compare them. Images that were opened and saved with “Save As” rather than “Save” commands are noted as such. If you want to join the discussion beyond comments here is the forum topic on this.
Original File.JPEG / Open / Save / Close / 100x -- Here I simply opened the file and saved it again 100 times. No pixel edits were done to the image, I just made a type layer and then deleted it so that PS would allow me to save. Apparently PS could tell that no pixels were edited and did not overwrite the unchanged pixels. Minimal or no degradation here.
There’s a new version of Hollywood Effects out today. Along with a few minor updates, there’s a brand new action I’m really excited about called Dragon Eye. It’s a great general use Dragonizer effect that I think you’ll really like.
We also launched a new Hollywood Effects sneak peak video showing you what inside, and what you can do with the latest Hollywood Effects Actions.
If you already own the action check your inbox for the update, If not head over to the Hollywood Effects Page and pick them up.
Well the actions update has been pushed. Those of you who already own Hollywood Effects action should have received an update email with a download code. Those of you who purchase Hollywood Effects in the future will automatically get the latest.
1.5 adds some new effects that I think will be very useful including Hollywood Fashion and Sext Soft. I’m excited to see the product filling out even more, making it an all in one special effects action set.
Also I plan on making a brand new video soon that reflects the latest additions so you can see them in action and get some tips.
There’s quite a few of you using Hollywood Effects Photogshop actions. Though a growing number of people these days are using my Power Workflow Lightroom presets, but sometimes I feel it’s easy to get lazy on the Photoshop effects we use because Lightroom is so easy, and can do so much.
While I’m not downplaying Lightroom I think we need to remember that the effects we can do in Photoshop like glows, and advanced special effects simply cannot be done in Lightroom and we don’t want to forget about PS.
In using Hollywood Effects lately I felt that it was time for a few more tools so soon I’ll be launching a free update for Hollywood Effects owners, as well as doing a brand new demo video. Their will be at least two brand new effects that I think you’ll really get some use out of so stay tuned.
