April 15, 2010

OK it’s Time for some fun. Since Seim Effects started we’ve been saving so much time editing that I say we need to kick back for a few minutes, relax, get some free Lightroom presets, perhaps win a prize, get some tips, laughs and best of all have a good time. You’ll find all this inside our Seim Effects Disorganized Photographer FolderMaze so lets do it.

Many of you are probably asking, what the heck is a FolderMaze. Well as photographer I think we’ve all experienced the hunt for files we placed somewhere on our computer like a needle in a haystack. FolderMaze is a reminder of why it’s good to stay organized and lots of fun as well. It’s an idea I came up with recently (though I’m sure I’m not the first) where you take a bunch of folder and search for the Golden Trophy in the folders. As a side note, I even registered the domain name foldermaze.com in case I find an idea that takes off.

But why are you still reading? Download the maze below, unzip and follow the instructions inside. Then go for the Gold. If you get there soon you can win a FREE Seim Effects editing pack of your choice. Good luck… Gav

Download The FolderMaze ZIP

Some Windows users experience file problems due to the large structure of folders. If you are having issues unzipping you can try one of these alternate packages.

You may need to download 7Zip (win) Or ZIPEG (Win/Mac) to unpack the alternate packages. These are free Zip utilities.

UPDATE (Windows Users): NOTE: This information if only regadirng this Game. All our effects packs are still wornking fine on Win and Mac – The maze seems to work great on Mac, but it seems Win does not allow folder paths longer than 255 character total length. I’ve tried to find a solution, but the Win OS cannot handle the depth of the folder structures in the maze and it causes problems. Using one of the alt packages, some Win users are able to get the maze to unpack and use it, but they may experience issues where windows does not allow them to delete the files when finished (again due to the path limitation in Win). To delete, users may need to go into the maze and delete blocks of folders from the inside to shrink the path length until the main folder can be deleted.

I know it sounds crazy that this would be a problem and I’m as frustrated as you, but it’s a limitation of the Win operating system. Win users are still welcome to try the maze, and while it should do no damage to your computer, you may have a few hassles getting it to unpack, delete ect. In the future I’ll see if it’s possible to build mazes that have shorter overall paths, but it may make them too basic to be a real challenge. Other than that we can only hope that Microsoft fixes that issue. Sorry to exclude some of you, but I had no idea Win would have a problem with this as the entire folder maze concept is very simple. I’ll see what I can do as I learn more.

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January 24, 2010

by Gavin Seim: I decided it was time for some fun. And I really did have fun with this skit. I say ENOUGH of those ho hum screen casts explaining things we need to know. It’s time to do something revolutionary with photos. Lets get UGLY.

Really though. Lets remember HDR is NOT a style. It’s about light and managing it well. And once your done with this, you can find my real HDR videos right here. Or check out the EXposed Workshop and really take charge of the light.

Amaze your friends. Download the free Flickr HDR presets 😉

– Download these ultra ugly presets –

– Look at Gavin’s real products –

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January 21, 2010

Update 10/2011. I made a new, much better quality video about managing presets. You can watch it here.

by Gavin Seim: If you searched around, you’ll might have stumbled across the article I wrote some time back on PPS about installing Lightroom Presets. We photographers tend to be such visual people however and I felt a video would make it easier. We’ll cover installing organizing and backing up pretty much any kind of Lightroom preset. Brush presets, develop presets, you name it. Here it is.

Or, direct download MP4 HD video. 146MB, Right click and “Save As”

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December 23, 2009

by Gavin Seim: I find myself fascinated with film of late. I don’t use it anymore, but I realize that some are pretty passionate about it. I posted on Pro Photo Show recently with a few thoughts and a poll on the topic. Quite a few still use film it seems. Why? Is it the texture,  grain, color, or is it just the reminiscence of really old photographers? Kidding, not that old. I used film when I started out. By the time I started getting good however I had moved to digital, so those romantic feelings some have towards film are not strong in me.

I’ve been taking notice though. Thinking about how film looks and how we edit these days. Don’t get me wrong I love a well processed photo, but I’ve started experimenting a little. Making effects that use classic tones and film inspiration. Here’s an article I found where Travis Easton compared a MK2 digital file to a Velvia image. What’s remarkable to me, is how even without editing it the film image looks great. Here’s another look at film vs digital over on Luminous landscape.

Now I don’t intend to start shooting film, I just don’t think it makes sense. But understanding what makes a great image is my livelihood. I want to know what it is about film and use that knowledge to make my photography and my effects better. We should always learn from the past, even if it’s grainy.

As a test I decided to try for the Velvia look, so I spent awhile very subtly tweaking a LR preset. If you mouse over you’ll see the before/after of what I’ve come up with so far. You’re also likely to see more in future updates of my effects. Bottom line though. I think what we’ll see over time are the good things from both mediums converging and becoming a better digital than ever. Neither film or digital will be the same as the other, but I think the future of digital will look and feel great. What say you?

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October 18, 2009

by Gavin Seim. Most of you who use my tools know that Lightroom is a big part of my system. I’ve put together a new workshop which I presented for the first time in October at the PPW conference. It’s a relaxed fun workshop where newbies learn the Lighrtoom ropes and veterans learn lots of new new tricks.

Learning is a huge part of what we do, so I also set up a new tab on the sites for my upcoming learning tools and workshops. Sometime a these will be multi day events in specific locations, but some like Lightroom Power will be a single day presentation that any group, organization or conference can bring me out to present at their event anywhere in the world.

At some point I may take this workshop on a tour as well. I’m also considering the possibility of doing a live online workshop. I have to look into the possibilities. You can follow the Seim Effects FB page for updates or join the newsletter. Visit the page for more workshop details.

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