by Gavin Seim: Sometime back I made a little pack of brush presets for Lightroom and it got download over 25,000 times. With the release of Lightroom 4 and it’s new develop tools, I decided it was time to revisit brushes. I started over and made a brand new pack of free brush presets for LR4. There powerful new tools in LR4 brushes, including white balance, better softening, better tone control and more. If you still use LR2-3 check out the old brushes.
This FREE Essentials pack has six brush presets that cover, well the essentials. For some of you that may be enough. But for the rest..
..This time I went further. I made the The Elegance Brush Collection. A complete pack of more than 20 LR4 brushes that cover everything essentials to creative tools like the warming brush, a highlight brush, the HDR brush and lots more. A simple elegant, reasonably priced brush toolkit for those of us that want more and to support my work. You can see a complete list of all brushes and the first 6 that are in this free pack on the product page.
You can download the FREE essentials set below. As you do please share this post with others.
by Gavin Seim: There’s info and videos on each product page, but I wanted do a quick overview of how you can use tools in great photo workflow and how Seim Effects collections fit into that. Having your workflow nailed down makes all the difference in creative efficiency. Whether you’re using Seim Effects or other tools, these concepts will be similar. I should also note that every collection I make is unique. Tools are not duplicates across more than one set. Each is a unique focused collection.
So lets start with our original file. A creative efficient editing plan needs a foundation. That generally starts with presets. They seem simple, but great presets are fast, powerful, essential tools that give you control. For a step by step look at my workflow check out this article, The Super Workflow. For now lets look at the SE preset lineup, an elegant collection of powerful tools.
These days most good processing starts with a RAW editor such as LR or Aperture. PW3 is my flagship collection of presets for LR and it’s generally where I start. For Apple Aperture you’ll want Lightflow. Both of these are a core. They have a bit of everything from workflow and automation presets to color blending tools, black and white conversions and detail enhancement tools.
Both refined collections stem from years of editing experience and user raves speak for them. Whatever your skill level, if you buy one editing toolkit ever, these are your ticket. These collections will help you be more creative, allowing you to mix, match and tweak to your hearts content, while saving you countless hours. (At the moment Lightflow is our only presets collection available for Aperture).
Color Fantasies (LR 1-4) – Any photography type, wedding and portrait.
CF is an extension of color. Going beyond basics and into deeper color twists, blends and hues. There’s some of this on PW3, but if you love creative color you’ll want CF. It’s all right here, a complete color effects collection.
Color Fantasies is classy, with a vast array of color tools. From vintage processes, baby tools, cross process effects and more. Complicated color mixes that will take your color to new levels.
Silver Shadows 2 (LR 1-4) – Any photography type, black and white.
Silver Shadows 2 marks a new generation for black and white conversions. Precluding the need for plugins and external tools, SS2 puts powerful silver conversions a click away and allows you to mix, match and blend tones to get stunning black and white’s, while retaining the delicate quality of your original RAW file.
If you love black and white, you need Silver Shadows. PW3 has a selection of basic silver conversion tools. But Silver Shadows 2 is a system for stunning black and white right inside Lightroom.
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So that’s presets. A workflow foundation. Now we come to refining local edits in Photoshop is similar editors. And they should not be forgotten. Often people stop at the RAW edit, but the refined edit is often what separates the men from the boys, making an image really sing. It’s that finishing touch that the best images always get.
Naked Elements is a complete texture collection in one pack. You buy one set and you get them all. Textures allow you to subtly overlay a texture image over your main piece, letting your base image be enhanced by the texture from the overlay (it’s better seen that described, so visit the product page). NE includes high res texture files that can be quickly applied in Photoshop using the included actions, or in just about any other photo editor that allows layers. You can even apply them from LR using a plugin like Perfect Layers. NE is
Naked Elements is a single collection that includes images of everything from fire, to water, to stone, to my favorite, real images of documents that are centuries old. The NE parchments textures are like nothing else and something that makes NE stand out like no other.
One of my first effects collections and one that’ been revised and refined over the years. Creative Essentials is a collection of Photoshop effects that digs into areas you can’t do with a RAW editor.
There’s some essential corrections in CE, along with sharpening tools, powerful fantasy, tonal and glow effects and more. Actions are the perfect way to take a great image and make it something more. In Creative Essentials it’s a little about workflow and a little about finishing touches.
Deep second generation finishing. HE2 is a collection of creative Photoshop actions that once again bring simplicity to complexity. It’s filled with tools for image effects, glows and in particular skin corrections.
Automated skin smoothing that would normally require a plugin can be done with quality and speed in HE2. Glows and fantasy effects that are not possible in a raw editor.
HE2 is a customizable effects mix that any wedding or portrait photographer won’t want to be without.
I’ve worked hard to make Power Workflow the set of presets that sets the gold standard for LR presets. PW3 has been out for almost nine months now and has been a home run so far. Well 3.2 just went out, free for you PW3 owners. This update includes some new presets, including a few cool ones dealing specifically with dynamic range. There’s also lots of little tweaks to make the collection more powerful than ever. You can find a list of the changes in the Tips & Info page of the download.
If you own PW3 you should already have an email with your new download. You can simply delete the old ones and install the new. If you didn’t receive them, shoot me an note (effects@seimstudios.com) and I’ll hook you up. And if you don’t own PW3, you’re missing out. Give them a try and if you don’t like them, I’ll give your money back. I can tell you that’s something that happens very rarely.
Aperture 3 has been for just over a year now. I’ve mentioned various times that I was working on a complete preset collection for Aperture and in the interim I’ve even released a few Aperture freebies. Well the day has come and after months of planning and experimenting with the best Aperture can do, I’m really proud to announce a set of presets that I hope will set a standard.
Lightflow presets are here and ready to rock. It has more that 50 presets. It’s been tested, planned and re-tested as I went under the hood with Aperture adjustments to make a set of presets that offer as much creativity as it does efficiency.
I won’t blabber on further, because you can get all the info on the LightFlow presets page. After that I hope you’ll help me spread the word and let your friends know that there’s new Aperture presets in town.
This has been in the works for a long time and I think you’ll find it’s been worth the wait. I’m proud to announce the immediate availability of Hollywood Effects version 2. Hollywood Effects has been a popular set for photographers who wanted to add something special to their best images after basic corrections. Version 2 it taking it to a whole new level.
V2 completely replaces Hollywood Effects 1, with many new effects and improvement to many classic effects for easier customization and better results. V2 is setting a new standard. This is killer set of actions with some AMAZING new effects.
Portraitist: HE2 has something for everyone and especially for portrait photographers. HE2 includes the full version of the brand new Portraitist Series actions. Change the way you work with skin by automatically smoothing skin and masking out critical areas like eyes, making a portrait that’s ready out of the gate. Similar to effects done with plugins that cost far more, now in a simple one click action.
For current owners of Hollywood Effects there’s a discount upgrade program. For those that have purchased Hollywood Effects V1 in the past 60 days (after May 30th 2009) we’ll be sending you a FREE upgrade to V2. If you have not received your discount/upgrade email soon, please contact us and we’ll hook you up.
