by Gavin Seim: I recently joined David and Kerry over on the Camera Dojo podcast to talk about making and selling large wall portraits and canvas pieces. I’ve been chatting about this quite a lot these days because it’s become so relevant to my business. Large prints sell and they look spectacular doing it.
Head over to Dojo and check it out. I apologize for in advance my hyperactivity. It was not coffee. I’ve just been very excited about large prints. Once you make and sell a few you’ll probably understand. Also take a peek at my recent article on large prints. Be prepared however. This has been the most hotly discussed topic ever on Pro Photo Show. I’m sticking to my guns because I know from recent experience that large prints sell and make sense. That said there’s no law against disagreeing with me. Enjoy… Gav
I want to take a moment to plug a few new products over at my Seim Effects store, since these are what help keep this all going. I just released Hollywood Effects 2, the follow up to my first special effects actions for Photoshop. Also in a separate collection a brand new set of cool actions called Portraitist.
HE2 is filled with some pretty amazing effects. I love Lightroom, but it’s not a solo runner. These are the effects that simply can’t be done in LR and really make my best images shine. When you get HE2, it includes the Portraitist actions, which are my new skin retouching tools that perform tasks similar to expensive plugins, but right from an action and for a lot less money. They even include skin smoothing that retains detail in critical areas like eyes.
Anyways I’m stoked about how good they work. It’s the best actions I’ve ever made and has been a very successful release thanks to many of you. Of course I still love Lightroom. You can find my presets there as well. If you want to learn more head over to Seim Effects. Other than that, have a great weekend… Gavin Seim
by Gavin Seim: Today I’m going to kick off the new analyze inspiration series I promised a few weeks ago. In a nutshell, I take an image that get’s me thinking in some way. I talk about what I see (or don’t see) in it and invite readers to chime in with their own ideas and inspiration.
Pretty straightforward random thoughts about what was done and why it’s good, or bad. Here’s today’s photograph. Let’s start by just looking at it…
I was experimenting with composition and lighting yesterday in the park when I took this. I actually had my face and camera down in the grass giving me this soft foreground perspective that covered a big area of the frame. I shot it on my 5D MK2 at 1/125, f11, ISO400, 58mm and I think I had a little off camera flash on the foreground grass. I did some quick post in Lightroom using the Nature Boy preset from my PW2 collection and darkened the foreground a little using a gradient.
Good: The composition is different which draws in my eye.
Bad: There’s no main focal point. The grass may lead me in but then I don’t know which element I’m supposed to be seeing.
Good: It feel like there’s something hidden here. My eye scans wanting to solve the mystery.
Bad: It feels a bit crooked which annoys me.
Good: I like the bold greens.
Bad: I don’t want it on my wall.
In my opinion this shot only gets 64/100. That’s a FAIL and I would not hang it on my wall. The fact that it lacks a MAIN subject pretty much kills it. That doesn’t mean it’s useless however. The reality is that I was not expecting a great shot. I was exercising my skills by trying things.
Below I approached it differently. Same image, but in LR I applied a warm infrared from Monochromatix. This changes the whole mood. I also like it this way. In many ways it’s more simple, but the key problem remains. I don’t have a main subject and without one, this shot does not fulfill my eye’s desires to fin something amazing at it scans.
Thinking out loud. I got something from this shot even though it’s not great. It has me thiking about perspective, lighting and patterns. What if there was a HUGE bull Elk in walking between those two tree’s just right of center. That would change everything. If I’m ever laying in the grass watching a huge elf, you can bet this exercise will come to mind.
This was fun. I’ve got myself thinking about new ideas by looking close at this image and talking about it. I think I’m going to like this series. This is the kind of thing KungFu Photo is all about. Now I’m ready for your thoughts and ideas.
by Gavin Seim: There’s plenty of info and a video on each product page of this site, but I wanted to make a post giving an overview of how I use Seim Effects in m fast photo workflow and what each collection is best for. I’ve found that having your workflow nailed down makes all the different in creative efficiency.
Power Workflow2: This is my starting editing tool, but certainly not the only one I use. Lightroom used with PW2 is the key to those fast 3hr wedding edit sessions I do. PW2 is a set of about 60 highly refined and organized presets that can be applied with a mousclick to one or thousands of images.
There’s categories, starting with the batch correction Super Series presets. I start my workflow by adding these to large batches of images from my session. This get’s me the basic but essential stuff like exposure, contrast and tone under control. There’s various Super Series presets depending on the shooting situation. Basically I pick the one that looks best for a batch of images and off I go. No rocket science yet. I may still have to do a few tweaks on a few images since no auto tool is perfect, but it get’s me close.
After the auto correction I sort down my images with a 3-5 star rating system. 5 being the best. I’ll then go over my favorite images and add other effects from the set. The Super Series is just the beginning. There’s lots of color and B&W effects to choose from and soon I have a nice variety.
MonoChromatix: Black and white can be so powerful. PW2 takes has some great monotone effects, but MonoChromatix takes it to the next level with a complete set of all monochromtic effects that perfectly complements PW2. When I think an image just looks great in B&W and want to get something really remarkable I’ll try some effects from this set until I find one that’s perfect. There’s everything from classic black and white to sepia, to infrared. I use these to get some really cool B&W looks, and it saves me the time of having to use a plugin in Photoshop.
Creative Essentials: Essentials is a great tool for someone who does not use Lightroom, but also for someone use mainlines in Lightroom and then does those special tweaks in Photoshop like I do. It’s simple and straighforward with some poerful tools.
Once my primary edits are done in LR I head to PS with a few of my favorite photographs. There’s things I can do in PS that just can’t be done in LR. Essentials is a great starter set of actions that includes a nice range of effects from tonal changes to really nice color tones, shatpening and softening effects.
Hollywood Effects: The set that started it all. It’s been thru some tweaks, but the name still says it pretty well. Hollywood and Essentals complement each other really well and when I head into Photoshop I use them both.
In Hollywood you’ll find plenty of cinematic glows, color modifiers and mood setters. Some of them can be intense, but since with my actions I make standard practice of having layers, masks and details, you can easily adjust the way an effect changes your image to get a totally unique look.
I keep a main workflow action set where my actions (as well as favorites from others) are saved in one set. Easy to manage and easy to backup. Then I put the action pallete into button mode and it’s like a console of photo tools a mouse click away.
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That about sums it up. As I work everything stays saved back into LR and when I’m done I just export the final results. Event those not using Lightroom can still move their workflow along much faster by having both action sets loaded and ready to fire.
It’s a complete workflow for Lightroom or PS users that does an important job. Giving us more creativity while making us faster. I’m always working to devise new workflow ideas and improve effects so stay tine. You’re also welcome to contact me with feeback or ideas… Gavin
I’ve added a new service to the site for those who want to be able to sit me down and pick my brain on on one. My On On One sessions are hourly chats where we can sit down in person, on the phone, with screen sharing or whatever you need.
I’ll share my experience on anything I can to help your photography and your business. From photographing weddings, to working with Word Press to managing workflow. It’s pretty simple and straightforward but very helpful.
by Gavin Seim: I recently joined David and Kerry over on the Camera Dojo podcast to talk about making and selling large wall portraits and canvas pieces. I’ve been chatting about this quite a lot these days because it’s become so relevant to my business. Large prints sell and they look spectacular doing it.
