August 12, 2024

The blue channel in photos is powerful and most photographers are using it wrong.

The video I did on drop color was a game changer for a lot of photographers because it transforms how you edit. But the color blue and the blue channel when editing your photos are nearly as powerful.

You can get the free versions of Natural HDR and Filmist 2 to make this blue control easier. You can also check out PowerFlow presets here.

In the original drop color we looked at orange and green. So you would think that blues work the same. But they actually affect the image in a very different way.

You want to base your blue channel edits on the types of images and mix it with how you use white balance and other tools. But if you really want to know what blue is doping, use the fully down slider method I show and then move up from there.

You may be seeing a pattern, Any one channel is pretty simple. But as you add another you start to get complex mixes that apply to any image. I showed this in my follow-up on the black and white color drop methods.

Yes, today’s blue color tips also apply to B&W photography as well. These are not about looking like film or any particular style. These are about controlling your color and knowing what color is important in each image.

That said if you use my presets you’ll see these implemented in their correct form for each presets or style. Filmist looks may be more toned down, the Natural HDR looks may be stronger. But the methods are still being used.

You can download my free packs but even if you use nothing of mine when you get the right mix start saving your settings as presets for Lightroom or styles for Capture One and you’ll see they work across nearly any photo.

Gavin Seim

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July 28, 2024

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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July 1, 2024

Right now this might not be exciting. But later this post will save your bacon. SD cards are temporary devices. This means at some point your SD card will start to fail.

At some point! The problem is that when it happens you panic, and companies waiting to get your money. Here are 5 tips that will save your bacon and a few more in the point below.

Almost every post you find about this will be spam. Save this one.

I made this. In the video for my viewers because I have decades of experience. I mention ReclaimMe and Rstudio as two of the top memory recovery tools.

They are not free. Most that claim to be free and free are spammy products wasting your time. They may or may not work. but skip them and invest in a good product.

Neither of these have any affiliation with me nor do I get anything from them. I bought ReclaimMe with my own money and these are not affiliate links. I learned about these being the best form many years of searching.

I’ve never had a card fail without any warning. But it can happen. Like I said in the video however the files are usually there.

After a certain number of writes, cards wear out. So if you start to notice a file here that is corrupted mark that card and stop using it for any critical work. If I suspect a card I will trash it or mark it with a sharpie that it is suspect.

Back up and use double card slots.

This I’m preparing from the video tips. It is not 2008 where this was rare. Most higher-level cameras have dual card slots and if I’m doing a wedding or session that paid I’ll always grab my camera that does.

Yes, you can often recover your files. But the truth is I never have. Yes, I have recovered files I deleted accidentally. However, this does not happen on a critical shoot because I never delete in the field and as soon as I return O copy and backup the shoot. No waiting.

I have used SD recovery tools many times and tried many tools you want to avoid. But usually, it’s the old deleted file, helping a friend etc. What I’m saying is be prepared to recover, but avoid situations where you MUST recover.

I hope when your day arrives. You find this helpful.

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