September 17, 2008

by Gavin Seim: With the introduction of Lightroom2, we got localized corrections with brushes for neat things like exposure, brightness, clarity etc. I made some pre-designed brushes for Burn, Dodge, Skin Soft and the like. Nothing fancy, just simple functional brushes.

Download Gavin’s FREE LR4 brush presets here –

– Watch an install video in the Elegance Brushes Demo

  • How to install LR Brushes…
    Adobe has not made a really simple way to import the brushes, but it’s not that hard. Just follow these directions. This is a bit of a workaround. I’ll update it when Adobe makes an easier way. I’m on a Mac, but it will be basically the same for you Win users. Shortcuts are in parenthesis, and remember you can click any image for a big view.

Step 1:
Go to your “Develop”  module (D) and open your presets panel on the left. Right click on one of your develop presets. This will bring up the contextual menu and from there click “Show In Finder” or on a Windows machine it should say something like “Show In My Computer”.

install-lr-brush-presets2.jpg

Alternatively, you can get to the presets storage folder by simply going to Lightroom Preferences (Settings) then to the preset tab. Click the button that says “Show Lightroom Presets Folder” (see image below).

Step 2:
Now you’ve brought up the folder that contains your develop presets. Now that we need to back out of that folder to it’s parent folder. In the parent folder you should find the “Local Adjustment Presets” folder. Simply drag, or paste your brush presets into the “Local Adjustment Presets” folder, then restart Lightroom.

install-lr-brush-presets3.jpg

install-lr-brush-presets4.jpg

Step 3:
When your back in Lightroom you can simply go to the “Develop”  module (D) and select the “Adjustment Brush” (K) Click the the “Effect:” menu/drop-down. You’ll get the brushes drop-down and inside you’ll see a few defaults, as well as the new brushes you just added.

install-lr-brush-presets5.jpg

install-lr-brush-presets6.jpg

It’s that simple, using this method you can download and install brush presets to your hearts content. You can also save your own brush presets from the same menu.

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September 10, 2008

I‘ve talked about OnOne products in the past before being a fan of their stuff. We’ve been working out some deals lately, and this one is a great buy. Buying their plugin’s separately can be pretty spendy, but the Plugin Suite has a bunch of the plugins all in one package; including my favorites, Mask Pro, Genuine Fractals, and Photo Frame 4 Pro (included if you use this special). It also includes Photo Tools, Photo Tune, and Focal Point.

We have a special 100.00 coupon for you that is good from Sept 10th – 20th 2008. Just use promo code BTSPRO at checkout to get the discount. Check it out here. This is a pretty sweet deal.

OnOne Plugin Suite

Gavin Seim

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July 21, 2008

Check Em Out

Yep even we do a little shameless self promotion occasionally. Gotta keep the goods coming! Our sister site Seim Effects has just launched a brand new set of Photoshop actions. This is a collection if effects geared towards the everyday needs of nearly any photographer. S.E already has lots of amazing photographers already using their effects and workflow. You won’t be disappointed*

There’s a detailed video showing them in “Action” over on Seim Effects. There’s also a launch sale over there. PPS readers can save 15% off this set, and any of actions or Lightroom Presets on S.E for a very limited time. Just use promo code “PPSS”

Fine Print… Yep we even have that :–)
* This detailed statistic is based on the fact that people love Seim Effects, and say so rather than the contrary. Though we cannot absolutely positively promise that you will never ever be disappointed, we’re really really thinking you won’t. If you have any trouble contact Gavin. He’ll be happy to take care of you.
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March 25, 2008

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
Original File.
open/save/close/100x
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.

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December 23, 2007

Merry Christmas PPS World!

We here at PPS would like to give a big shout out to all our listeners and readers all over the world. You’ve all been so great since we started about a year and a half ago, and this continually growing community means a lot. If enjoy PPS you can always let us know if the comments, or shor your appreciation by linking to us, voting on podcast alley, or rating us on itunes.

You are appreciated, and we just wanted to say thanks. To do this I thought PPS should give you a small gift, so Gavin made a special Photoshop Action just for the occasion called Christmas Glow. It’s a nice effect that will make that Christmas tree photo look great, along with anything else that you want a nice smooth effect on. It’s great for portraits, even for a landscape effect, or just about anything else.

It’s not a big gift, but I know most of our PPS’ers have Photoshop, and it’s something we could give to you all. It should work on CS2, and CS3. For earlier versions just try it and see, it’s free after all!

Next… We have a special discount for those of you who want more Photoshop Actions, or Lightroom Presets You can get 20% off anything over at Seim Effects by using promo code pps2007 at checkout. It’s the biggest discount we’ve offered over there, and it’s an exclusive for PPS readers. You can save you quite a bit off the normal price. It’ll be good thru Dec 31st, so if you’ve been on the fence about getting some great effects now is the time.

christmas-glow-sample.jpg

Here’s to another great year of photography, ideas, collaberation and fun… Gav and the whole PPS team

Update… I updated the action to V1.1. I added a comp layer into it that will help keep things balanced when adjusting the glow effect, and made some other minor changes to make it a tad better for you. Feel free to download the updated version.. Gav

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