special effects Archives

December 27, 2022

Film Presets for Lightroom, lightroom, special effects

The Secret Magic of Presence sliders… Clarity, Texture, and De-Haze!

We’re going to talk about the 3 Lightroom and Capture One presence sliders today, but I’m not going to teach them the way Adobe does! We’re going to reverse things!

Presence – Clarity VS Texture VS and De-Haze are important!

These all affect the atmosphere. I make use of them in nearly every edit. You’ll also see them used in subtly different ways when I make Lightroom Presets and Capture One Styles pack like Filmist, and Versus when I make tools like Natural HDR.

You’ll also see me use all 3 of these deeply in Lightrooms Ai presets that I include in Silver 5 and Elegance Speed Masks.

Watch the video below or HERE on my Channel.

I simplify Clarity, Texture and De-Haze in the video. But here’s an overview of what the presence sliders do.

You know about the presence sliders in Lightroom or their equivalents in Capture One. But do you know that these sliders are often used really badly? I’ve taught Lightroom since version 1, but I’ve rarely seen these sliders taught well. Today I’ll show to use them for near-magical results!

The clarity in Lightroom and Capture One allows you to adjust the midtone contrast of an image. By increasing clarity, you can add depth and mid edge definition to your photos, making them appear more detailed in a gritty vs softness sense. Clarity can soften the appearance of an image and give it a more ethereal or dreamy look.

Mixing them up for more presense. Here Elegance Ai masks are used to bit globally we lowered Clarity while increasing Texture. This combination can give a perfect mix of detail and softness.

The texture is a newer but more important feature in both Lightroom and Capture One. It allows you to adjust the amount of detail and texture in an image, which can be particularly useful for enhancing the appearance of skin, fabrics, and other fine details in a photo without the ultra-fine lines and artifacts that come from heavy sharpening.

By increasing the texture, you can make these elements of your image appear more detailed and realistic. Conversely, decreasing the texture can smooth out rough or bumpy surfaces, giving your images a softer look. This can be magic in portrait edits.

All the presence sliders are up a bit here because it brings our richness and texture. But don’t assume that just because it’s food or streets you always want to turn them up. Go down also and watch good things happen.

The De-haze is a useful feature in both Lightroom and Capture One also. It allows you to remove hazey feeling from images. By using the de-haze feature, you can remove this haze and restore the detail of your images in a broader contract sense that’s almost like combining Blacks and Whites. BUT… Don’t always turn this up…

Reversing De-Haze is really taught and VERY powerful. I’ll show that!

I turn Dep-Haze down as much as I turn it up. Maybe more. Because when creating authentic films, organic feeling portraits, and gentle tones, photography ten to use these contrast and presence sliders altogether too much.

IN this POrtrait I used the FIlmist Portra 160 preset and then pulled down Clarity, Texture, and De-Haze a bit to give a natural organic lens feel that reminds me of how we used portrait filter on the lens all the time in the film days.

Clarity, texture, and de-haze are powerful tools in Lightroom and Capture One that allow you to fine-tune the surface of your photos.

I hope you enjoy and share this because if you know what these sliders can do for your photos, you will improve your ability to edit with them. If you use my presets, pay attention to how I apply these 3 sliders. A little can go a long way and really perfected looks can be created using these settings.

Gavin Seim

People often confuse clarity for HDR. But as I show in Natural HDR presets, they are not related. This is too much clarity for this portrait. There are times for a gritty high-pass style portrait. Or maybe you are creating a theme that;’s intense. But unless it’s for a solar reason, avoid too much.

December 26, 2022

special effects

Editing better Black and white in 2023 with my Silver5 Free Black and White presets pack.

I have 20 years as a photographer, and I’ll still say it. Good black and white presets are key to consistent great B&W edits. I’ll make it easy and free to skip the junk today.

Because they allow you to quickly and easily convert your photos to black and white, enhancing contrast and atmosphere. The capture one styles feature in Lightroom can also be used to apply unique styles, such as film simulations or vintage looks, to give your photos a polished look.

These free presets will improve the quality of your edits and save you time. Even if you’re an expert.

Download the free preset pack on the Silver page and you can watch the video I made about using the free black and white presets here on my channel.

Don’t shy away from a little LoFi. In use Darkroom crush presets all the time and included it in the free presets pack because you will see how when a photo is feeling a bit list this kind of black and white mixing can bring it back.

Silver 5 Black and White presets are my most popular pack.

My Silver 5 Black and White presets are super popular because I’ve been perfecting them for over a decade. They’re great for pro photographers and beginners alike, with a range of styles to choose from. Whether you’re editing portraits or landscapes, these presets will make your black and white photos stand out.

Drive then shadows. I don’t need to pretend its’ day here. I drove the blacks with the Razors preset that I also included in the freestyles pack. Then I used the copper mist tone (also free). If I want advanced tones I’ll use Emulsion platinum actions. But the preset works well for a fast mix.

In the Silver 5 FREE black and white mini presets and styles pack, I picked presets that will nail it every time.

You’re about to download the best free black and white presets you’ve had for free or for money. Yes, iff you like them grab my complete pack because it’s another world of Lightroom and Capture One black and white edits. But what I want you to see in the mini pack is how good formulas will complete the vision you had in your head when you pressed the shutter.

You’ve probably downloaded presets and thought. These are useless, I would be better off making them myself. That’s fine, but ensure you make and refine your presets one way or another. Don’t hold off and just manually edit because you will only get fewer edits in the same amount of time.

I edited the photos on this page only with the free black-and-white presets from Silver 5. There’s nothing like them and obviously, the complete pack makes it even easier. But start here and see how different styles of photos will give you the result you had in your mind’s eye with variants of the channels, curves, and channels that a good preset will give you.

Amazing black and white is more about shadow than light. No one wants to talk about the secret of shadow.

Great black and white photos are all about the shadows, not just the light. People often forget how important shadows are, how they add depth and contrast to your work and take control of the entire photo.

To get the best results, try playing around with lighting and angles to see how the shadows fall. Get it good in camera. Then use Lightroom presets and Capture one Style to mix the shadows with the light in ways you would not usually try manually during post-processing. Don’t underestimate the power of shadow or presets to balance that shadow.

The Portrait black and white presets from the free pack is a perfect start. There’s more in Silver 5 complete. I added the Lightroom AI People presets from Silver 5 and it installs has skin tone and shadow balance and that’s what you want from a great black and white portrait edit.

It’s NOT about more, it’s about knowing what works.

I laugh when I see people telling packs of 1000 presets. If a maker has that little confidence in their formulas, they have no idea how to edit and are wasting your time. I would rather you had only the free presets from my black and white mini pack for Lightroom or Capture One than a pack of 500 useless repeats sold by an internet marketer.

I want to see us improve our black and white in 2023, so grab Silver 5 complete or just the free pack to start and see how much good formulas and good shadow technique quill transform your black and white this year.

Stay tuned to my newsletter and I’ll be sending you more tips and videos in the coming weeks.

Gavin Seim

You may be photographing streets on your Fuji X100V , POrtraits with a Canon or Weddings on Your Sony. It doe not matter. Play with these free black and white started presets I made you and you’ll see how having your presets and styles refined and ready will give you the right edit.

December 14, 2022

capture one, lightroom vs capture one, special effects

Create better Black and White in Capture One with Styles and THIS!

Last month I launched the Silver 5 Black and White Styles for Capture One, and in today’s video, I’m going to show you how to use Silver 5. But, along the way, I’ll reveal the secrets of what makes a great black-and-white in Lightroom, so you can use them no matter how you edit.

Today I’ll show you how I use Styles for Capture One and the advantages C1 has for black-and-white conversions.

This video will be all about creating better black and white in Capture One and some tips for you regardless of what Styles you use for Black and White. The little details inside how Capture One will help you convert RAW photos to black and white better.

You can get Silver 5 Styles here. Note: If Lightroom for black and white see the Lightroom version of this video here.

I could type for hours, but instead I’ll show you in the video how easy it is to get great black and white and refine it in Capture One.

Do you really need Styles for Black and White?

I often see presets and styles getting dumped on. This makes no sense since any serious photography should always have them available. Well organized and the best they can get. If that means you invest the time to make your own that is fine. But avoid huge packs of crappy Capture One styles that only make you work harder.

I’ll explain in the video why it’s so important to use styles to get your black and white really dialed in, even if you don’t use my styles. Without using Styles in capture on to do your initial conversions you will not only use a lot more time, but you will also get lesser results. Yes, I mean that!

Should you use Capture One or Lightroom for Black and white?

The results of Lightroom VS Capture One on black and white, in general, are equal. Both have advantages. While Lightroom has more power in layers because of its Ai masking tools, Capture One does have some extra options in how we can use color channels and nuances that I’ll show in this video.

In the end, it’s more of a personal choice. With Capture One costing more than Lightroom and Photoshop combined for most Lightroom make more sense. In the end, you also need a pixel editor like Affinity Photo. or Photoshop where you can also use my BlackRoom black and white actions.

The point is that even if 98% of your black-and-white edits are in a RAW editor like LR or C1, your very best images will still be improved in the pixel editor and you want to have both. Just keep that in mind when planning what to use.

If you already use Capture One and are happy, rest assured that with the methods I showed you in the video you will get world-class black-and-white conversion and you’ll be a happy camper.

Let me know what you think in the comments because I’m here to help.

Gavin Seim

December 14, 2022

lightroom, lightroom vs capture one, special effects

Get more Amazing Black and White in Lightroom with Silver 5 and Fast Mods

Lightroom is a powerful black-and-white conversion tool. But RAW processors tend to focus on color tools and give us a few simple sliders for black-and-white conversions. The secret to black and white is how to mix all the little things to make the shadow magic.

Last month I launched the Silver 5 presets, and in today’s video, I’m going to show you how to use Silver 5. But, along the way, I’ll reveal the secrets of what makes a great black-and-white in Lightroom, so you can use them no matter how you edit.

I’m going to use Silver 5 in today’s video and show you how it works But whether you use it or create your own method, these tips will still work.

If you use Capture One, I made a video dedicated to black and white with Capture One using the new Silver 5 styles. Watch it here.

Silver 5 brings over a decade of pushing to make black and white in Lightroom easier and faster. It takes the concepts I’m going to show you in today’s class and makes them easy by letting you #1 add a black and white base mix and #2 quickly modding it to get the right look for your visualization.

If you’re serious, Yes you do! Even if you don’t use Silver 5. Don’t let photo snobs tell you presets are for amateurs. The amateurs are the ones to get low-quality conversions because they are too lazy to get a good Lightroom preset in place that lets you start with a really good tone mix.

Do you really need presets for black and white?

You can do what I’m showing you if you make your own presets. But don’t ignore presets. I am featuring Silver 5 presets in this video, but this process of converting black and white using presets as a base rather than wasting time with a slow manual start will transform your black and white and your edits will absolutely improve. Don’t let any purist amateurs tell you different.

I’ll show you what I mean in the video as we explore how to use Lightroom presets to get black and white in Lightroom that is better than you have ever created before.

Lightroom has a tad fewer sliders than Capture One, but Lightroom has the advantage of Ai masking layers which despite not having as many sliders are generally more powerful than Capture one layers. You’ll see these integrated, especially inside the new Mod Kit presets that come with Silver 5.

The real secret to black and white in Lightroom is mixing the tone vs the channels of color with details in various ways. This can be done manually but in reality, you won’t try enough. It would take too long.

Silver 5 or perhaps your own carefully crafted presets are hundreds of hours of refining those sliders and let you test it on a photo in seconds to find the look that we were creating in your mind when you pressed the shutter.

Let me know what you think below – Gavin Seim

December 2, 2022

special effects

How to use Film like presets and create organic craft looks for digital

As a tool creator, my most popular products have lots of organic darkroom looks. and for good reason. Filmist Film presets for Lightroom and Capture one. Emulsion Platinum actions, Silver black and white presets. They all have something special in common… Darkroom science!

Presets and edits that mimic the look of film in a darkroom give your photos an authentic look.

But you need more than that. You have probably used some of my most popular or my free film like presets such as my Classic Negative style, and Portra film presets. These work so well because digital makes it really easy to over-edit in ways that were non a problem in the darkroom and we need to balance that.

We’ve all gone back over our images and seen icky, overly saturated adjustments. So it’s easy to panic and begin underediting after that. Due to underediting, I actually designed Muse presets to create more cinematic edits.

Balance is what my new Darkroom Hackers editing class is about.

You can sign up for the class here.

This is not a “how to use the best film presets class.” I will show you how to use Filmist, Silver, and other tools; even Photoshop, for amazing color and black-and-white darkroom-like edits.

But this class is more than that. It’s a power-packed LIEV hour of how to understand what RAw editors are doing. Whether you’re using STyles for Capture One, Lightroom Film Prestes, Photoshop layers, or your own manual edits.

I’m going to show you how to achieve that organic look that feels like it came from the darkroom while still being able to create great color mixes and bold shadow blends. You’ll learn how to use film-like presets and make your own looks that pop off the page.

I’m excited about Darkroom Hackers because how we edit matters, and the photographer that knows these things get ahead of the competition in so many ways.

I’ll see you there | Sign Up

Gavin Seim

Silver presets for LIghtroom and Capture One film looks

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