February 6, 2011

Creative Essentials is my general use editing pack for Photoshop, but there’s some pretty advanced stuff inside it. Well I just did a major update and I mean more than just the snappy new header image. V1.6 includes three brand new actions including a new B&W called Silver Shimmers and two new color effects, Dynamic Snap and Shadow Twist. There also been updates, including a revamp of the Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate effects. They’re much more refined and versatile now, giving you a toned black and white that is powerful and more advances than what can be done in software like Lightroom.

There’s also a bunch of fresh before/after samples on the product page along with a brand new drop down list that gives details on every included effect, plus a link to the updated sampler pack.

This is a free update for existing users, so Check you inbox as you should have a fresh download email. If you’ve purchased CE, but don’t get your update feel free to give me a shout (effects@seimstudios.com) and I’ll get you taken care of. If you don’t yet have CE head over and check it out. Enjoy… Gav

NOTE: I also want to mention that some users have been getting marketing emails from a company that’s made another action pack and called it Creative Essentials. Watch out for it. I don’t know if it’s good or not, but just a heads up. Unless it’s from Gavin Seim, it’s not my Creative Essentials. I tried to talk to them about the fact that they copied the product name and they were uncooperative.

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December 3, 2010

by Gavin Seim: I’ll keep this brief because Photoshop CS5 has been out for months now and reviews have been floating all over. Rather than get redundant with an ultra in depth review, I’ll just talk a little about what I think. I’ll be frank and you can make your own decision from there.

Photoshop CS5. Full = $699 – $999.
My overall rating 6.5/10.

New features worth noting…

  • Content Aware tools are the big news in CS5. It works when lassoing and deleting sections of an image, using the healing brush and more. Neat tool, but not perfect. More on that below.
  • New “Mixer Brushes” blend color like paint, similar to something like Painter (but less powerful).
  • Crop has a rule of thirds overlay now (finally).
  • Remastered HDR tools and Pseudo HDR with HDR toning. Better, but not perfect.
  • Remastered Refine Edge. Will find more detailed edges for better masking and has automatic edge decontamination.
  • Puppet Warp allows you to modify in a new ways. Move limbs, horizon lines and more by defining control points.
  • New process versions and improved camera RAW.
  • Mini bridge right within PS.

Content aware fill. This feels more like a beta feature. It got hyped a lot prior to release. Probably over hyped. Once we got the product in our hands, reality set in. Content Aware was not the magical tool that Adobe made it out to be in demo videos and they took some flack for it. I think the problem was that they showed it as being so perfected. Erasing entire areas of photos, cleaning out power lines with a single stoke. It looked wonderful in theory.

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June 5, 2010

Click To Listen>> Photography Podcast. PPS #69
Review in iTunesVote on Podcast AlleyDirect Podcast Feed

Two After the Storm. Mentioned on this episode, Gavin caught this image using his E-PL1 with a 20mm 1.7 lens. The detail and quality would be easily adaptable for a 30-40 inch canvas. Processing was done using LR and the Pickles Preset from Color Fantasies.

Today’s Host... Gavin Seim. This week Gavin look at news, the new rangefinder, Photo CS5, stolen images, education and studying, focus ideas and more.

Podcast #69 forum discussion:

Notable Time Indexes:

  • 00:00 Introductions and news
  • 09:02 Photoshop CS5
  • 19:23 Gavin’s W0rkshops
  • 23:00 Stolen Photo (see notes for link).
  • 32:37 Mastering the Craft.
  • 45:30 Talking about focus.**
  • 105:55 Outtakes.

HDR Workshop in Twin Cities MN.

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April 25, 2010

04/24/10 Seim Effects: Howdy everyone it’s Gavin Seim. Today I want to announce a brand new product to the Seim Effects editing system. Naked Elements is a collection of more than 60 photographic textures, combined with Photoshop speed actions for adding and prepping images at blazing speeds.

Naked Elements includes natural and scientific elements from rock, to fire, to metal, to sky and beyond. Check out the Naked Elements product page for a video and samples of what’s included. Like all Seim Effects products, free in version updates will be included in the complete set. You can also download a free sampler pack below. Enjoy… Gav

– Download the Free Naked Elements Sampler Pack –

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November 19, 2009

I’ve been a fan of OnOne products for awhile now. I did the review on V4 some time back and it nailed a 7/10. Plugin suite is a nice collection of tools in a single package. V5 is now available for order and the folks at OnOne have hooked readers up with a sweet deal. I’ll be getting hands on for a closer look at whats new in version 5 soon, but for now here’s some details.

The sale is for $200 off the complete suite. That’s over 30% off, making it $399. It ends Dec 5th 2009 however. Here’s the direct link, or you can just use coupon code PPS200 at checkout.

If you found this post after the sale ends you can still use code PRPHTPC for 15% off. You can also check for other specials over the the PPS Deals page. Have fun… Gav

  • Resize images using Genuine Fractals 6.
  • Remove unwanted backgrounds with Mask Pro 4.
  • Color correct photos with PhotoTune 3.
  • Put the focus where you want with FocalPoint 2.
  • Get the professional look with PhotoTools 2.5.
  • Add the perfect finishing touch with PhotoFrame 4.5.

suite5-awards-boxes

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