Their finally here. My Hollywood Effects actions include fourteen of my best effects that I’ve made up into Photoshop actions and can applied at the click of a mouse.
The set sells for $29.99 and is available now for instant download. It also comes with nearly 30 minutes of video where I walk thru the actions and discuss tips for making them work for you. The video alone should help you understand the action workflow, so even if you have no experience with actions you’ll be running these in no time.
You can get them right now at www.seimeffects.com There’s also a gallery of sample images you can check out.
I use using Lightroom Presets like crazy. I’ve decided to add to the mix of free Lightroom presets, with a few of my favorites that come from my Power Workflow2 Lightroom presets.
On to the free stuff. These have both RAW & JPEG versions just like you’ll find in my PW2 collection. You can also find more of my free presets right here.
These are a few of my favorite special effects from my Power Workflow. 400 is loosely based on the very popular “300”series by Mikelao. It’s a cool fantasy effect that adds some snappy drama to a scene.
Fantasy is a preset I use all the time, and have found it to be very useful since it gives a creative look. Fantasy Basic is a great lightweight general use effect that gives a nice gentle look. It works great on nearly any image. There’s more variations in the my complete set but this should get you rocking!
Don’t start using HDR. I want to be the only one… This phrase is often pretty close to what goes thru my mind when I think about the potential of properly implemented HDR photography in today’s market. So much so that I have thought of refraining from the subject and keeping the ideas to myself. My thought is this… “If nobody else is using HDR, that will make my work that much more unique” But alas that’s not what PPS is all about, and we’re here both to learn, and to help others learn, so here I go again.
In recent months I have been working to become a sort of guru of HDR. Whether I have succeeded or not will be left up to you, however I do feel that I have a strong enough knowledge of HDR techniques, and its possibilities in the portrait & wedding world to ask other photographers, and organizations What are you waiting for?
Now don’t get me wrong! HDR will boom before long, and when it does you can bet that organizations that are supposed to be leading the industry like WPPI, and PPA will be all over it. Since it’s my job to talk about the latest ideas in the photo world however I will speak on about this topic right here and now. In fact you’ll see that PPS has a special link in the nav bar just for special HDR posts, articles, and news.
What is HDR all about anyways!
You mean you don’t know yet? Well at least after today you’ll have no excuse to avoid trying it out. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. It’s better seen that talked about, so other than the images I’ve included in this article you can see some of my latest HDR portrait implementation in my HDR portraits set on Flickr, as well as on my website of course . Essentially however it’s the combining of multiple images taken at varied exposure levels, and then blended using…
To download mp3, right click above link, and “Save As” Podcast subscription feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/prophotoshow
Album Print, Bind, & Supply Company Resource Guide. (Also see) Part1 – PPS #32 Album Design Software Here’s the notes from the show on all the Print, Bind, & Design companies we talked about. Go to their sites and see all the trends and traditions to see what suites youe style best.
Asuka Book is a popular coffee table style album, and you can also find similar albums from WHCC, Digi Labs, & Illumina books from Apollo, as well as one I forgot to mention, Millers Press.
Some popular flush mount storybook albums include that have lots of options include PictoBooks, Zookbinders, and Some neat styles from Laguna Albums who also offers design services.
More simple flush mount storybooks albums include Black Tie albums from H&H, and the new kid on the block, Kiss Wedding Books who also has some great simple style.
Graphi Studios offer some really large sizes, and even metallic pages in their unique storyboard type designs, but you’ll have to pay for the elegance.
Some options in the more traditional covers, and mat pages include Art Leather, and Wooden Nickel who have many styles available and can send you printed information. Also check out Leather Craftsman which offer some beautiful covers, though a bit more high end. Note that these companies also have flush mount styles as well. Also check out JLee albums. They are basic, but handcrafted and a reasonable price
Have fun looking at all the options. Here’s a few sample images…
ZookBinders
Graphi Studios
Asuka Books
Other Show Notes…
Mike emailed asked about software to make DVD slideshows, and I recommended iphoto, and idvd for the Mac, and Pro Show Gold for the PC. Show it web was also mentioned, but for online slideshows. They do offer a DVD making service from the show it slideshows, but it’s not cheap.
Microsoft HD Photo has been announced. Get yourself started with Photoshop actions by going to the Adobe Exchange. Download Gavin’s free production enhancer action Visual Razor.
HDR Part 1.
It’s time to learn HDR. Listen to the main topic in this weeks show starting at time index 17:50, and more to come in next weeks show. HDR Software besides Photoshop includes Photomatix from HDR Soft. You can use our promo code PPS15 to save 15%. There’s also another HDR app available called FDR tools.
Here is an example photo taken off of Highway 12 in WA of a worker in the Tulip fields. This was done using Photomatix Pro & Photoshop, with 3 raw images. Notice how the detail can be captures in not only the foreground, but also the sky which would normally be washed out. At the same time however it’d still has a natural look to it, with some shadows and depth. (click for a larger version)
Their finally here. My Hollywood Effects actions include fourteen of my best effects that I’ve made up into Photoshop actions and can applied at the click of a mouse.
