September 28, 2011

I’ve been hinting at this for awhile, but today Silver Shadows II is getting official. This is a collection of LR presets for black and white that is like no other and I think it’s going to set a standard.

Black & White was my second ever presets collection and after some refinements and updates it became Silver Shadows. A collection of effects for black and white that kept getting better with free updates over the past few years. But I felt we needed something more.

Note, that anyone who buys Silver Shadows v1 after Sept 20th 2011 will get a free upgrade to V2. So even if you get v1 today, you’ll get an email with that free upgrade when v2 launches.

I’m passionate about black and white. I mean I’m really fanatical about it. I want to take digital images and make silver art from that that sings. There’s some great tools our there for B&W, but they can slow a workflow and usually require that you leave your RAW file behind, that throws away information and dynamic range that can be really valuable in making a great silver image.

This is just a little teaser I had made up. But the full collection is releasing soon along with all the details. SSII been remade from the ground up and will be the only toolkit you need for black and white.

 

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August 23, 2011

I’ve been refining a new effect for a gentle warm sunset feel. This result is something that may well find it’s way into my Color Fantasies and Lightflow collections in the future, but I thought it would make a great freebie for you readers today.

It was interesting making the same effect side by side in both LR and Aperture.I don’t plan to do that with everything, as both my Lightroom and Aperture preset collection have their own effects that suit the tools available in each. But it was a good challenge to use the varying tools of both applications for the same effect. While their not identical, the preset should run very close on a RAW file in Lightroom or in Aperture. Cross platform. Oh yea.

This effect is gentle. Well suited for pictorial or portrait work, where a warm gentle process is needed. It’s meant to be used like a summer breeze. Not sharp, but not dull. Not too hot, but enough to make you smile. I really like it and I hope you will too. Below is a quick example of what the preset does. You can download it via the link. Enjoy… Gavin Seim

 

Download The Presets (Lightroom/Aperture) ZIP

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May 27, 2011

Click To Listen>> Photography Podcast. PPS #77
Review in iTunesVote on Podcast AlleyDirect Podcast Feed

Today’s Host... Gavin Seim

On this shorter episode Gavin takes a look at what he learned with another month on the road. A discussion of 4×5 film, a look at learning and working conceptually, and a little practice session on evil laughs.

140 minutes of night. Gavin's longest ever exposure. Click the image to see Gavin's post with all the details.

Podcast #77 forum discussion:

Notable Time Indexes:

  • 00:00 Introductions quick updates.
  • 04:09 Experiences from a month on the road.
  • 12:32 Random interesting video and things.
  • 16:27 A month long trip with 4×5 film.
  • 26:05 Lightroom Power online workshops.
  • 28:00 Main – The Concept Photographer.
  • 45:05. The after show. Picks and stuff.

 

Links to things we mentioned.

Gavin’s Online LR Workshops.

Lightflow Aperture Presets are now available.

Video. Battle At F-Stop Ridge. Can you say, Awesome.

Good reads on using Zone System for digital. One by M Frye…. http://bit.ly/me3SjA and a thesis by Gary Meek…. http://bit.ly/lrTfYO

Color images before there was color, by Prokudin Gorskii.

Ansel Adams videos.

PICKS:
Rothco 550lb. Type III Paracord.

Gavin’s favorite travel apps list is here.


 

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April 6, 2011

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.

Best… Gav

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March 20, 2011

You users been asking about these for a long time. The truth is I’ve avoided it because I really like teaching photography workshops in person, and for some, like my  Lights & Shadows workshop, it’s the only way to fly.

But reality says I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve that I can teach online. With that in mind I’ve decided to stop resisting it. Coming soon is an all new series of digital learning workshops. Separated into bite sized chunks, inexpensive, live and online.

It’s going to start with a Lightroom Power learning series. Workshops that start at basics and work into very advanced editing skills. You can pick the sessions you want based on your current skillset. Cool part is these will be about 90 minutes each and will only cost about twenty dollars. Spend an evening at the live online workshop, then take time to let is soak in before the next one.

After Lightroom I plan to take it further. I may even do a seasonal series. Focused workshops on things that seem simple, but can go so deep. Burning and dodging, cloning, prepping files for print. I’m getting excited because with this online format I can host a workshop on nearly anything, no matter how focused, because there’s no travel and no venue overheads to take into account.

Stay tuned for more details. Registration for The first webinars will be opening soon… Gav

You can follow the Facebook Page. All workshops will be announced there. You can also join the newsletter over in the sidebar >>

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