March 8, 2012

0

lightroom, news, ProPhotoShow

Silver Shadows 2 Featured in Digital Photo, Shutterbug Magazines.

Silver Shadows 2 presets are my complete black and white system for Lightroom. In the news in recent months, it launched late in 2011 and it’s also been given a free update recently to version 2.2, an update that includes new features and full Lightroom 4 compatibility. I’m thankful for our press agent who’s been helping spread the word and for my customers who’ve had nothing but good things to say about it.

Silver Shadows 2 was featured in Joe Farace’s Shutterbug column in the March issue as well as the gear section of Digital Photo in the April issue. They even featured a portrait example of my son Asher that I had added to the press kit.

It’s really exciting to see years of refinement and work getting some press. Click images for larger views. If want to learn more about the collection visit the product page.. Thanks, Gavin

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March 5, 2012

0

Gavin Seim, ProPhotoShow

Lightroom 4 Is Officially Here

by Gavin Seim: Adobe wasted no time getting out of the beta phase. It seems they wanted cha’ching sounds a ringing.

Lightroom 4 is hitting desktops as we speak. Thankfully Adobe did drop the price a good bit to $149 ($79 for upgrades). Something we can probably credit to the Aperture price drop in 2011. Thanks Apple.

All told. LR4 looks pretty good. Not Earth shattering. But good. Sadly there seems to have been few changes from the beta. There were areas some were hoping would get more features. But LR4 has some new develop tools, some refinements and some new modules that will keep us busy.

A few major things to look for include…

  • Changes to the Develop settings, including Shadow, Highlight, White Point and more.
  • Video playback and basic editing support.
  • The book maker module (limited but interesting).
  • More control over Brush and Gradient settings, including localized White Balance.
  • Built in maps module.

Of course there’s more. I’ll be back with some thoughts soon. For now go check it out and let us know what you think in the comments.

More detailed review in the works. This post will be updated… Gav

 

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December 16, 2011

0

lightroom, news, ProPhotoShow, special effects, tips, video, workshop

Press Release: Lightroom Ninja Video Workshop Series Launched.

12/15/11: Seim Effects Announces Gavin’s Seim’s, Lightroom® Ninja Workshop Series.

A fresh new Lightroom® workshop series from workflow expert Gavin Seim. Lightroom® training where you pick your workshop, pick your topics, and pick your time.

Soap Lake, WA, (December 17, 2011) – Seim Effects Photo Tools announces the availability of the new Lightroom Ninja downloadable video workshops for Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® at an introductory discounted price.

Lightroom is a system for creativity, quality, and efficiency. Each Lightroom Ninja video workshop takes users step-by-step through live screen recorded chapters, looking at each level of using Lightroom’s features with Gavin Seim, award winning photographer, writer, and designer of Seim Effects photo tools. Learn Lightroom step-by-step when and where you want.

Each workshop is fully downloadable in 720HD, making review and learning easy for all levels of Lightroom users. Three workshops are currently available: “LR Essentials,” “Everyday LR,” and “The LR Pro.” Three more workshops on advanced topics are planned for release in 2012. Each workshop is divided into topic chapters for a total of approximately 90 minutes. Workshops are being released at an introductory price of just $25.00 each. The first workshop in the series is also available for no cost to users that share about Seim Effects on their Facebook or Google+ pages. Details here.

Visit the Lightroom Ninja product page for more information.

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December 14, 2011

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f164, science, silver, technique

Dynamic & Tonal Range in the RAW File.

Right cut. Original RAW file desaturated in LR. Left cut, same file with the Dynamic Silver III preset from Silver Shadows 2 applied in LR.

Just a few quick observations today. One reason I stay in a RAW as long as possible is that quality and dynamic tonal control is at it’s highest on an original RAW file. Once we leave that environment, we can certainly still work with tonal values, but we throw away some of that precious information.

On the right is a sharpened and desaturated original file from Sunset’s Hidden Falls. On the left, the same file with nothing more than applying Dynamic Silver III from my new Silver Shadows 2 toolkit. This effect pulls out dynamic range without flattening the shadow and contrast too much. It could also be done manually of course.

Once I have the dynamic range under control, then I’ll move on to external edits as needed. I don’t hesitate to go into Photoshop (though I try to stay in 16bit mode) for detail work. I did plenty of that on the final version of this). But getting my basic tonal range managed before I leave the RAW file behind gives me better results and helps me maintain that quality as high as possible for my wall prints. It’s a better wokflow and a better image.

Gav

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November 4, 2011

9

Free Effects & Goodies, free lightroom presets, lightroom, presets, special effects

Free B&W LR Presets from Silver Shadows 2.

Silver Shadows 2 is finally here and it won’t disappoint. It represents years of refinement since v1 was released. It’s been expanded and revamped from the ground up and I think it will blow you away when you see the efficient high quality silver conversions you can do without leaving LR.

As always, I’ve made up a free sampler pack. This one include 6 great effects from SS2, including the one above that give a small sampling of just how powerful it is. You can download below, no strings attached. When you realize how much you like it, check the full collection. It has over a hundred effects, refined and organized into the ultimate black and white toolkit. Either way head over to the product page for the video of these presets in action.

Enjoy… Gav

Download the SS2 Free Sampler Pack.

Check out the complete collection.

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