November 15, 2024

1

Fine Art, special effects

Mochochrome photography. Make stand-out black and white with any camera.

Monochrome cameras let you shoot in ONLY black and white. But they are not what makes your photos jaw-dropping. I dug into this as I worked on the new Silver 5.5 preset update and the new L Monochrome preset I crafted for it.

If you own Silver 5 login here and get the free 5.5 update. If not get Silver or the FREE mini Silver Pack here and try some of these monochrome methods.

Do you need a monochrome camera?

Last night I was shooting a roll of Delta 3200 and thinking about what makes a black-and-white photo work and why many color photos converted to black-and-white fail. The problem is not the camera. It’s the tone. Like we talk about in Shadow Hackers.

Customers using a Mohchrome camera often ask me if my black and white tools like Silver and BlackRoom will work on these files. The answer of course is yes, it still lets you edit tone you just don’t get the color channel info. The process is still the same.

If you take a color Leica VS a Moncrhome for example and simply switch the color to BW mode there is very little difference. Monochrome does not make you better just because you paid more.

Use the camera that inspires you…

Just don’t think a cool camera will make you a great photographer.

In today’s video, I’ll show you the best secrets to amazing black-and-white images and it’s not the monochrome camera. But if that’s what makes you shoot and lobe your work, use that.

If you love this camera use them by all means.s Monochrome camera due to being made only for black and white has a unique feel and is also amazing at high ISO being less vulnerable to noise. Here’s a good video on that.

While the low grain of a monochrome camera is great it does not mean “better” photos or more authentic. True black and white film has grain and it’s one of its artistic characteristics. Neither choice is wrong.

Even that does not make a good monochrome photo

The gear is not what matters the tone is. Stay to the end of the video because I will close with some valuable tips to test and see if your tone is special or boring.

In studying how monochrome cameras render and making the new L Monochrome and S monochrome presets for Lightroom and Capture One I was struck by how flat and even monochrome fields were. They rely on you finding that contrast in the camera and challenge you.

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July 7, 2024

1

lightroom, lightroom vs capture one, special effects

DXO Photo Lab vs Lightroom tested. Can you switch from Lightroom?

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.

LR vs DXO Photo – An alternative to Lightroom and C1?

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.

Last year I compared Lightroom to Lumiar Neo.

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.

Lightroom vs DXO Photo Lab – Speed

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.

Zero sponsors. This is my honest DXO Photo Lab 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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December 27, 2022

2

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.
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December 20, 2022

0

free capture one styles, free lightroom presets, presets

Free Black and White Presets Mini Pack for Lightroom and Capture One Styles from Silver 5

Merry Christmas. I started creating presets 15 years ago before the rest existed. I always gave you free preset samplers from packs Like Filmist and Natural HDR. So today I’ve made you a perfect starter pack of free black and white presets from the new Silver 5 presets.

This free black and white presets pack includes 5 hand-picked B&W styles for Lightroom, Capture One and RAW

Go HERE to the Silver Page to DOWNLOAD the FREE Silver 5 Black and White Presets Pack

I also added a few mod’s from the brand-new Mod-Kit that’s included in the complete version to show you how fast it will make you. I even included one of the AI mod tools in the LR version!

There are 3 key elements that create better black and white. Watch this video and I’ll show you them as well as how to use these black and white presets to level up your black-and-white.

I, the video, my secrets to using black and white presets to edit!

Take special note of how each Silver preset takes a different approach in how it mixes your tone using the 3 keys for a perfect black-and-white recipe. Once you have the complete pack, you’ll see this extended much further but just as simple and easy to apply.

Some are perfect for portraits, others for rich streets of the landscape. That’s the key to mixing the tools and completing your vision!

free black and white presets silver 5 sampler with capture one styles
Natural screens often benefit from a more crushed dark black and white and you’ll see great examples of that even in the free presets of Silver 5

You’ll quickly see what I showed you in this Silver 5 training video from my channel. How when you have advanced formulas you are more creative with your edits than any purist who tried to create a recipe from scratch every time. They simply never get this deep in their edits. That’s why presets are essential.

I hope you enjoy this free black and white presets pack.

Please let me know in the comments. See just how much time a good black and white presets system will save you and take a look at the complete Silver 5 pack as well because this free presets sampler pack is just the beginning.

Gavin Seim

Capture one and Lightroom free portrait black and white presets
Good portrait presets tend to focus on softer tones and the skin color channels are very important.
Lightroom free black and white presets
Download the free Black and white presets from Silver 5 and try all these elements in your photos.
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October 28, 2022

2

Free Effects & Goodies, free lightroom presets, lightroom, lightroom vs capture one

My free Lightroom Training Series is here!

Lightroom should be easy. So I decided to take a step-by-step course to make it easy.

I’ve been looking for a way to teach Lightroom better because when it’s natural all your photos get better. So I’ve started this series, taking Lightroom step by step.

A Lightroom training and reference guide.

You can watch the parts you need. I’ll keep adding more chapters so they are all kept tidy in a playlist. As this project grows you will be able to come and review any part you need at your leisure.

See the entire playlist. here

Please like and subscribe while you’re there 😉

The tool should get out of the way.

That’s been my theory in making Lightroom presets and Capture One styles like Filmist, GoldChrome, PowerWorkflow, and more. The tool should work for you. It’s the same with software. If you know what’s happening, the tool will get out of your way and you can work smoothly and better.

I’m also considering a series like this for Capture One so let me know if you’re interested.

You tell me what you want to see.

I’ll keep expanding this. Next will develop settings. We’re going to create the largest free library of Lightroom training resources, so you tell me what you need and I’ll keep them coming.

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