special effects Archives

July 30, 2023

We all take bad photos! Here’s how Shadow Hunting makes them good!

.But bad photos are part of life. Can you fix them? We will see. But when you look for the shadow, you learn to stop holding on and use bad photos in a new way.

It’s easy to get stuck.

Make sure you sign up for my free Shadow Hackers LIVE photo workshop to take this further,

Let yourself see why it failed.

There’s no question that if you know your edits, and have good preset actions and editing workshop you will discover perfection in many photos. But throwing out your ego for Shadow Hunting will reveal why any photo failed you.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve taken photos that were not meeting my expectations and started trying stuff. Scrolling thru presets in Filmist, or Silver, or working in Emulsion actions and I saw the image come out when I thought I had failed.

Even with great presets and edits this photo falls flat.I spend ages trying to fix it as I show in the video.

It’s when you hack the shadows.

This video is a bit of a primer and I hope you watch it before you attend my Shadow Hackers live photo workshop.

Because once you see from a Shadow Hacking perspective and learn what I teach about hunting Shadow your bad photos will become your friends.

When you have everything in place and actually use your tools you will save a lot of photos that you thought you missed as I show in the video. A mechanic can’t fix everything, but if he has his skill and his tools in place the positive outcomes will vastly increase.\

This was not a bad photo. I liked it. It’s a photo with shadow and depth. But I came back years later.

Don’t get stuck in Bad Photo Syndrome

BPS wastes your time and keeps you from creating more. With your best photos, you usually know as soon as you see the shot. You feel it was right and you open it up and it’s there.

It’s not always that way. Get creative and try things. But don’t keep on forever. Even if a photo is important, if I don’t start seeing what I wanted in a few minutes I leave it behind. At least for now.

Make the bad photo your friend and let it help you hack the shadows better.

This light was hard. So while the file was rough, I focused on my plan and used Speed masks and a good edit to make it work. Don’t let a flat RAW file get you down any more than a bad photo.

Just admit it.

Don’t feel bad about giving up on a bad photo. Don’t cling to it. Maybe save it for later. I’ve come back to photos after a decade and found good results. But My best work, I always know.

Every bad photo you take improves you. But only if you admit it and move on. If you pretend to yourself it’s still good when really it isn’t, the lesson didn’t teach you much. It’s hard, but if be honest your frow.

I hope this helps you edit better but also get back out there and keep shooting because that is what will really make you a master. Al the way back to the painters, we learn that shadow is king and when we focus on the plan, great images are born.

Gavin Seim

July 22, 2023

special effects

Make your sky perfect in PS without pasting in fake skies and Alchemist 2.1.

Today’s video comes from research I was doing for the free update to my Alchemist Actions V2.1

Use the sky selection tool in Photoshop to make your sky perfect.

I’ll show you in the video how to do this manually and also had I took it further and faster in the new actions I made for Alchemist 2.1

Get Alchemist 2 here. If you own V2, 2.1 is a free update. Login and get it here. If you have alchemist 1, you can get and upgrade dicount! Just email me, effects@seimstudios.com

The same concept works on portrait backgrounds.

I’ll show you that in the video also. And there’s a new action for that as well in Alchemist 2.1 CC.

You select the background instead of the sky and you can do this gentle balancing and painting down of tone to make your subject pop beautifully.

I think real skies are better than fake Ai skies.

There’s nothing wrong with doing a composite. But we can no longer pretend it’s a real landscape, place, or sunset once we do. It’s digital art. Which is beautiful.

But when I make a landscape, for example, I love when it can be a real place. I’ll refine it with editing. But I don’t like pasting in stuff that was never there.

In the video, you’ll see how I automate the pixel painting process to enhance these skies and even portraits without pasting in and faking in. It’s still a real scene, I’ve just perfected it.

Details count especially on out best images and that’s why I’m always telling you to get into Photoshop for the finish. using techniques and actions as I did in today’s video will make it barely any work at all.

Gavin Seim

My base Lightroom edit looks good, but I want to improve those hot spots in the sky and make the movement feel more magical.

At a glance the final version is similar. But a lot has improved even down to the reflection on the water and it takes less than 60 seconds if you do this with the action approach.

July 15, 2023

capture one, lightroom, photoshop, special effects

This Secret Layer technique makes all 3 levels of editing easier…

Using layers in Lightroom has improved a lot in the past year. In Photoshop it’s a lot the same and in Capture One nothing ever changes. But there are layers and that’s good for you.

There are 3 levels of edits and the secret layer makes them all easier.

They will make you edit faster but if you use them the way layers should be used, they will also help you ensure to don’t edit your photo wrong. That combo gives you the secret layer.

No longer second-guess your edits.

The secret layer consists of two parts really. #1 is perspective for your edit. #2 is quickly adjusting it and applying a more informed perspective to your edit instantly. Al the basic level this works with individual presets like Silver or more complex masks like Elegance creates for you.

Sometimes I shadow painting details manually. Or maybe I’m using fast tools like Lumist, Blackroom Black and White, or Signature Emulsion. Well-built actions like this create your layers stack so the secret layer is instantly ready.

Digital edits are easy to overcook when you start adding layers. But layers are also the secret to getting more dimensional and creative edits. Here I used GoldChrome and simply dialed it back in this level 1 edit.

How far should you edit?

We’ll look at 3 levels of editing in the video and using those as a guide is really useful because you can decide how far to go in each segment of your project. I only go to level 3 on my best images, which can vary.

In the portrait example in today’s video, I took it all the way to an illustrative look, but it would also be a lighter effect or just some simple atmospheric actions like Alchemist.

The secret layer varies in each app.

But the concept is the same. Some apps like Lightroom are more advanced. They reward you directly for supplying things as a preset as I show with masks. So you want to use that method if you create your own presets.

Photoshop is very powerful and uses a more ould school-layer approach.

Capture One doe the same though with a little less power because of the lack of stacking. That said you can still build edits on those layers and then control them to use the secret layer.

I hope you find this as exciting as me and put it to work right away. Leave your questions or tips in the comments.

Gavin Seim

June 30, 2023

lightroom, special effects

Lightroom takes AWAY features if you don’t create Masks this way!

In last week’s video, I showcased the new curve features in Lightroom. You can watch that here. But this time we go a bit deeper te see how to make thsoe tools faster. I also show you the latest 4.6 update of Elegance Lightroom Masks.

I’ll show you how to use those curves in Lightroom Mask Presets

PS: You can get my Elegance presets here OR login here to download your free update.

You don’t edit better by doing everything manually.

That’s pure myth from people trying to sound important.

I’ll show you in today’s video how that works and what’s new in 4.6, Because in 2023 if you don’t use presets for this stuff Lightroom effectively punishes you with fewer features. You ge more and faster by making presets or using advanced presets like Elegance..

Ektar 100-like from Filmist and just did the background mask using the update 1.6 preste from elegance.

So Don’t start from zero. It’s pointless!

The reason for that is that whether we’re talking about advanced development presets like Silver or Street’ist, or masking of skin and details, Lightroom like Photoshop before it is built is fast.

So Adobe is creating features as I show you with the preset adjustment sliders that let you work much faster and get an exact result if you DO NOT manually start from zero with the sliders.

The right process in Lightroom

Sort your best images so you are not distracted by the duds. Start with your base photo. Edit it with your presets for your look be it film or black and white etc. Use ethe amount slide to dial it in. Copy as needed to another photo.

Take your best work that you want to mask and use the same procvess using Speed Lightroom Masks and the amount sliders. Then copy that to other photos as needed.

CineMist mask preset is a new one mask softening for when you don’t want a lot. Portra 400 from Filmist.

Results speak louder than words.

Put this to work and watch tegh qaulity of your edits, the time you save and the constsiantly of each body of work improve overnight. I’ve been teachiong Lightroom since V1 and these features from the past 2 years are really taking it to another level.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Gavin Seim

Easy Sunlight is a simpler version of the Harch Sun tool in elegance, but the amount sliders lets you quickly control how far it shoudl go. I used Portra 160 for the main process.

June 24, 2023

special effects

Use these 3 New Lightroom Curves Features now!

Lightroom Curves are super powerful and often confusing to new users. But this year’s updates have made them better and easier than ever to use in both manual edits and as presets.

How to use the new Lightroom Curves and why they are so great.

Curves in any photo editing app are always powerful. You’ve seen me use them in Lightroom, Capture One, and extensively in my PS action packs like Lumist and Blackroom. But in today’s video, I’ll show you the 3 latest Lightroom curve features and why they will make your edits better.

If you’ve not seen my video about how to make an F-Curve watch it here. Get My Elegance presets here to have your curves pre built into layers with a click.

With curves, you have nuanced control. Now in layers.

It’s simple to use some examples as I show you here or in my presets and you’ll see how that light touch makes a massive difference.

All 3 of the new Lightroom Curves features I show today are useful. But the biggest is how we can use the curves directly in Ai masks and layers. Even the color curves.

Using the latest curve feature I can add a film preset like Agfa RSK from Filmist, then simple control tone and fallout with an F-Curve, the new saturation sliders, and the new preset save features.

This means as a layer level as I show in the video you can instantly refine a background or subject like you never could before. And you can even build that into a preset as I do in my Elegance Speed Masks pack.

You see how I’ll often roll down the highlights a bit ( the right side of the curve) and then mix the shadows until it feels right. You can mix this will all other sliders, and if you use curves in a preset as I showed you in the video you can get a great curve and keep coming back.

Why do I use Lightroom curves more than Levels?

Curves offer more granular control. Sometimes a point curve like I showed here seems more complex. But once you understand that you are just nudging things around from shadows to highlights, you can quickly resolve problems like harch specular highlights or shadows falling too deep.

A little shadow lift or highlight drop can go a long way. Use my F curve examples as a starter and ten just have fun. Soon you’ll be a master of Lightroom Curves

The new ability to add these curves in layers I actually huge, in this case letting us fad the background as I showed you in the video.

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