Plug-in Suite 5 for Adobe Photoshop

Onone Press Release

onOne Software Announces Plug-in Suite 5 for Adobe Photoshop

New Version of Award-Winning Software Suite Offers Six Essential Tools That Help Photographers Achieve Better Results

PORTLAND, Ore.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—onOne Software, Inc., a leading developer of innovative, timesaving solutions for professional and advanced amateur photographers, today announced Plug-in Suite 5 for Adobe Photoshop. Designed to solve the most common problems facing photographers in the areas of color correction, enlarging, masking and professional photographic effects, the Plug-in Suite 5 combines full versions of six essential software tools in one affordable package: FocalPoint 2, PhotoTune 3, PhotoFrame 4.5 Professional Edition, PhotoTools 2.5 Professional Edition, Genuine Fractals 6 Professional Edition and MaskPro 4.

With support for Photoshop CS2, CS3 and CS4 the onOne Software Plug-in Suite 5 now includes the new onOne Panel which provides quick access to all products, Windows 64 bit support and the ability to access select plug-ins from within Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 and Apple Aperture 2.1. Plug-in Suite 5 will be available in November.

“This is our biggest product update and release in over 4 years,” said Craig Keudell, president of onOne Software. “Since the release of Plug-In Suite 4, we have been working closer than ever with both professional and enthusiast photographers to make sure that Plug-In Suite 5 continues to solve the most common problems they face as photographers. We are confident that Plug-In Suite 5 continues in the onOne tradition of providing photographers with software that sets the standard for value, quality and ease-of-use.”

Plug-in Suite 5 includes full versions of the following onOne Software products:

FocalPoint 2 – Like bringing the camera lens inside Photoshop, this new version of FocalPoint 2 gives photographers the best way to add the most realistic depth of field and selective focus control to any image after it is photographed. Photographers now have an incredible amount of flexibility and control over the look of the blur with FocalPoint 2’s new blur algorithm, FocusBrush, Lens Presets and multiple FocusBug features.

PhotoTune 3 – Getting great color doesn’t have to be so hard. This new version of PhotoTune 3 uses patented eye-fidelityTM technology, originally developed by and licensed from imsense to optimize the dynamic range, color and sharpness of images so that they look more true-to-life. The improved Wizard offers fast color and tone correction in as little as two steps while giving pro users direct access to advanced and innovative controls. SkinTune, which represents two years of research and analysis of thousands of skin tones, now offers one-click color correction of portraits and the option to correct just the skin in an image.

PhotoFrame 4.5 Professional Edition – With PhotoFrame 4.5, you can add the perfect finishing touch to your images with over 100 exciting new professionally designed frames, backgrounds, textures and layouts including over a dozen from professional photographer Kersti Malvre. With one thousand design elements like film edges, borders, textures, backgrounds and adornments, PhotoFrame 4.5 Professional Edition even has complete layouts where users can simply drop an image in and they are done. It is the easiest and fastest way to add an authentic darkroom touch with a film edge or to create beautiful albums or scrapbook pages

PhotoTools 2.5 Professional Edition – PhotoTools 2.5 is the highly acclaimed Photoshop plug-in that allows photographers of all skill levels to maximize the full power of Photoshop with it’s ability to preview and combine Photoshop Actions in a single, intuitive interface. Designed by photographers for photographers, PhotoTools 2.5 Professional now includes a new MaskingBug control based on the FocusBug control from the award-winning FocalPoint plug-in. The new MaskingBug allows photographers to create high-quality masks to selectively apply effects to images. With over 30 new creative effects, for a total effect library of 280, photographers can easily find, combine and save the results to create images that truly stand out.

Genuine Fractals 6 Professional Edition - The industry standard for enlarging photos, Genuine Fractals 6 enlarges images up to 1,000% while maintaining sharp edges and important image details. Genuine Fractals 6 now includes an automated gallery wrap feature and output options for tiling an enlarged photo. No other resizing plug-in is as widely used by more professionals than Genuine Fractals.

MaskPro 4 – For those times when you need to extract a subject from a photo, Mask Pro 4 uses a color-based method that allows users to easily remove unwanted backgrounds from your photos. Mask Pro’s unique Color Decontamination technology allows users to get realistic results by maintaining transparency in hard to mask objects like hair, smoke and glass in a fraction of the time using traditional tools.

Availability

The new Plug-in Suite 5 will be available in November to new users for $599.95; purchased separately the products would normally cost $1,300. Existing users of Plug-in Suite version 1, 2, 3 or 4 can upgrade to the Plug-in Suite 5 for $199.95. Customers who own any one or more of the products in Plug-in 5 will be able to upgrade as well by visiting http://www.ononesoftware.com/upgrade/. For more information on the Plug-in Suite 5, please visit http://www.ononesoftware.com/.

About onOne Software

onOne Software, Inc. a leading developer of innovative software tools for photographers, develops time-saving software solutions for professional and advanced amateur photographers. onOne Software solutions have been created to help photographers spend more of their time behind the camera taking pictures instead of the computer workstation. Such solutions include a wide range of easy-to-use plug-in enhancements for Adobe® Photoshop®, Photoshop Elements, Photoshop Lightroom, Apple Aperture, Apple iPhoto and iPhone applications. Founded in 2005, onOne Software is a privately held company located in Portland, Oregon. For additional information, visit http://www.ononesoftware.com/ or call 1-888-968-1468.

© 2009 onOne Software. All rights reserved. onOne Software and the onOne Software logo are registered trademarks in the United States, and all are the property of onOne Software. Adobe and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

 

Technorati Tags: onOne,Photoshop,Lightroom

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Classroom in a Book

Black and White in Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Lightroom: Create stunning monochromatic images in Photoshop CS3, Photoshop Lightroom, and beyond

Kubota Image Tools Announces Kubota RPG SpeedKeys 2.0 for Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 2

Press Release

Designed to optimize a photographer’s workflow and enhance creativity,this updated wireless USB device allows for complete user customization

New York, NY, PhotoPlus Expo Booth #854 – (October 22, 2009) – Kubota Image Tools is pleased to announce the newest addition to the Kubota Lightspeed Workflow family – new Kubota RPG SpeedKeys 2.0 for Lightroom 2. Kubota RPG SpeedKeys 2.0 for Lightroom 2 is a customizable wireless USB keypad with preset 1-button access to: essential adjustments such as brightness, exposure, fill light and more; the most popular Kubota Lightroom presets; and advanced tools such as paint with light, burn, soften skin, and hand-color.

In addition, the Kubota RPG SpeedKeys 2.0 now offers 48 new key options for completely customizable functionality. This gives users the ability to create hundreds of settings and preset combinations. The innovative Kubota RPG SpeedKeys software allows photographers to use pre-programmed workflow key combinations or they can use their own presets settings.

Kubota RPG SpeedKeys 2.0 comes loaded with 29 Kubota Lightroom Presets. As a bonus, the SpeedKeys comes with the entire collection of Kubota Lightroom Presets v3, which includes develop, export, print, filter, and more. All of the presets included in Kubota Lightroom Presets v1 and v2 are also included in the set, plus brand new presets never before available. There are over 100 presets in all.

“One of the things I’ve really wanted in order to improve my Lightroom workflow was a way to apply my most common adjustments and develop presets with a simple key press,” said Kevin Kubota, Idea Man of Kubota Image Tools. “Photographers will be surprised at how much time and energy they can save by not having to click little buttons with a mouse all the time. It doesn’t sound like a big difference, but over the course of editing thousands of images, photographers will really notice how this little tool can greatly improve their workflow. RPG Keys was able to create a custom keypad for us that integrated customizable functionality, my most used adjustments, develop presets, and local adjustment brushes, all on one small device. RPG Keys is a great company to work with and it’s a perfect pairing of our workflow tools and their hardware solution.”

“We at RPG Keys are excited about partnering with Kubota Image Tools to offer the new SpeedKeys line of products,” said Timothy Riley, wedding photographer and

founder of RPG Keys. “The Kubota RPG SpeedKeys 2.0 is the perfect marriage of art and technology allowing photographers the ability to create amazing images, in a fraction of the time. As always, happy editing!”

The Kubota RPG SpeedKeys 2.0 for Lightroom is available for purchase at: http://www.kubotaimagetools.com/ . Price is $349.00. It is available as a free upgrade to customers who purchased the first version of the Kubota RPG SpeedKeys. Also available is the Kubota RPG SpeedKeys 2.0 with Kubota RAW Workflow for Lightroom 2. This video tutorial helps photographers learn how to efficiently use Adobe Lightroom 2. This combination pack is available now for $399 (a savings of $50 if purchased separately).

System Requirements: PC or Mac running Adobe^® Lightroom^® 2 or higher
Available USB 2.0 Port

About Kubota Image Tools

Kubota Image Tools (www.kubotaimagetools.com) grew from the digital experience of Kevin Kubota who began pioneering the field of completely digital wedding photography in the 1990s. As one of the first photographers to master digital imaging, Kevin became inspired to share his experience and natural teaching ability with other photographers by founding the original Digital Photography Bootcamp® which consistently fills to capacity. He has successfully trained thousands of photographers to make the digital transition and continuously empowers existing digital photographers with new, effective workflow ideas and outstanding Photoshop techniques.

Through his Web site, www.KubotaImageTools.com, Kevin sells workflow training products and image enhancing tools for Photoshop^®. His innovative DASHBOARD^™ has made image enhancement faster and easier than ever. Through his ever evolving blog, Kevin provides tips and tricks on all things digital.

Kevin Kubota’s wedding, portrait and commercial photography Web site is www.KubotaPhotoDesign.com.

 

Technorati Tags: Kubota Image Tools,Kevin Kubota,Photoshop,Lightroom

 

 

Digital Photography Boot Camp: A Step-by-Step Guide for Professionals

Digital Photography Boot Camp: A Step-by-Step Guide for Professional Wedding and Portrait Photographers

Nik Software Announces Viveza® 2 for Adobe® Photoshop®, Lightroom® & Apple® Aperture™

Press Release

Now offers a complete range of new and powerful selective and global adjustments for fast and efficient photo editing

New York, NY (PhotoPlus Expo Booth #766) – October 22, 2009 – Nik Software announces today Viveza 2, an upgrade to its award winning and revolutionary plug-in for selective color and light control. Available in December, Viveza 2 now offers users robust global adjustments and precise selective controls that utilize Nik Software’s award-winning U Point^® technology. Viveza 2 eliminates the need to create complicated selections or layer masks and provides a powerful solution for users looking to save time and effort when editing images.

“New global image controls added to Viveza’s powerful selective editing capabilities now enable users to quickly and easily perform virtually all of their color and light adjustments within a single step,” said Michael J. Slater president and CEO of Nik Software. “New features such as shadow recovery, structure control, increased precision of selections, and user interface improvements together give users ultimate control, enabling truly spectacular results.”

Viveza 2, powered by Nik Software’s patented U Point technology, is the most powerful and precise tool available to globally and selectively control light and color in photographs. With

U Point technology, users can quickly select areas of an image to adjust by pointing and clicking and then using simple to use sliders to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, structure, red, green, blue, hue, and warmth in a fraction of the time needed by other tools.

Key features of Viveza 2 include:

• Powerful Color Control Points, enabling precise selective control of color and light
• New global image adjustments
• New and powerful levels and curves adjustments
• New shadow recovery—global or selective
• New fine detail structure enhancements
• Improved color rendering and increased precision of selections
• Improved timesaving user interface, including improved slider controls, slider favorites, multiple zoom states, keyboard nudging, grouped Color Control Points, and multiple undo levels
• Smart Filter support (Photoshop only)
• Selective Brush tool (Photoshop only)
• Multi-image support (Lightroom and Aperture only)
• New 64-bit support on Microsoft Windows

Pricing and Availability

Nik Software’s Viveza 2, offering support for Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and Apple Aperture, will be available via electronic and boxed delivery directly from Nik Software (www.niksoftware.com) or through specialty camera retailers. A complete list of resellers may be found at www.niksoftware.com/resellers.

Viveza 2 retails for $199.95. Customers that already own Viveza can upgrade for $99.95. Customers who have purchased Viveza after September 22, 2009 will be eligible for a free upgrade to Viveza 2.

To watch a video introduction of Viveza 2 and to sign up to be notified when the software is available, please visit www.niksoftware.com/viveza2.

About Nik Software

Nik Software, Inc. is a privately held company that develops software solutions for the growing digital imaging and photography markets. Established in 1995, Nik Software has become the recognized leader in digital photographic filter development and produces award-winning technology and software products for digital photography and imaging professionals including U Point^® technology (www.upoint.com), Dfine^®, Viveza^®, Color Efex Pro™, Silver Efex Pro™, and Sharpener Pro™ software.

 

Technorati Tags: Photoshop,Nik,Viveza,Aperture,Lightroom

 

Photoshop CS4 Down & Dirty Tricks

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers

Apple Pro Training Series: Aperture 2

Nik Software Adds Comprehensive Online Webinar Schedule to its Free Educational Offerings

Press Release

Free webinars offer information, insights and tips on using Nik Software products

New York, NY, PhotoPlus Expo Booth #766 (October 22, 2009) — Nik Software announces today its Fall 2009 Webinar schedule. These seven hour-long educational webinars, which continue through mid-December, cover a range of photography topics including portrait, sports/action, wildlife, landscapes, weddings, commercial and Capture NX2 while offering basic information, insights and tips on using all Nik Software’s award-winning image enhancing plug-in products. Additionally, the webinars enable attendees to pose questions to the live educators.

“These free online webinars are designed to show how each Nik Software plug-in product can be used to enhance any photographer’s work within all types of photography while dramatically reducing editing time and complexity,” said Tony Corbell, Nik Software’s senior manager for product education and planning. “Education is so important to today’s busy digital photographer and Nik Software is committed to empowering everyone to get the most out of their photographs with our products.”

The Nik Software webinars have been developed to address specific types of photographic styles and are designed to appeal to everyone. Both current Nik Software customers and those who have not yet purchased a Nik Software product will learn more about how these tools can simplify their digital photography workflow and create extraordinary images. Participants only need to log in from their computer to access these free educational events. By the end of each webinar, attendees learn quick, easy and powerful ways to enhance their photographs.

To register for any of the webinars listed below, please visit: http://www.niksoftware.com/webinar.

In addition to these webinars, Nik Software currently offers over 70 brief online learning videos for the entire line of Nik Software products including Dfine^® 2.0, Viveza^®, Color Efex Pro™ 3.0, Silver Efex Pro™, and Sharpener Pro™ 3.0 software. For a free download, streaming access or iPod versions, please visit: http://www.niksoftware.com/lessons.

October 27, 2009 — 10:00am PST

Enhancing the Portrait image

This Nik Software training webinar is dedicated to the features and functionality specially designed in its product line to take portrait photography to a new level. From showcasing techniques for color correction and retouching to traditional filters and a touch of creativity, this webinar will show photographers how Nik Software products can help them make gorgeous memorable portraits.

October 29, 2009 — 10:00am PST

Improving on Sports and Action Images

Working with sports and action photography often requires precision timing and optimum camera technique to be successful. On occasion there is the need for optimizing an image after the shoot. This webinar will show photographers how Nik Software can enhance photographic depth of field, introduce how to imply motion and the freezing of action to images, how to correct for changing color temperature and more.

November 12, 2009 — 10:00am PST
Critters and Creatures

Nik Software’s own Laurie Shupp, an accomplished wildlife and nature photographer, teaches techniques specific to photographing wildlife. Attendees will see her beautiful wildlife work as she leads them through a series of enhancements including optimizing skies and backgrounds, highlighting animal fur, and minimizing distractions while maximizing primary subjects.

November 19, 2009 — 10:00am PST

Enhancing the Landscape Image

Photographers can follow along during the webinar as techniques designed to improve outdoor landscape images are illustrated in detail using numerous Nik Software products. Though particular styles and techniques differ from photographer to photographer, Nik Software products work together to capably handle all corrections and enhancements that combine to improve the overall photograph.

December 1, 2009 — 10:00am PST

Wedding Photography Techniques featuring Lightroom

Working specifically inside the host application of Adobe Lightroom^®, this webinar focuses on how Nik Software products can enhance wedding photography by optimizing colors, creatively converting images to black-and-white and more. Attendees will learn tricks for batch processing and editing hundreds or even thousands of images.

December 10, 2009 — 10:00am PST

The Power of Capture NX2

Working primarily with RAW Nikon NEF files, the Nik Software team will again showcase the incredible power and ease of use of Capture NX2. This software features innovative U Point^® technology for precise selective editing along with numerous other editing capabilities simply not found in other software. The intuitive nature of Capture NX2 helps photographers of all levels master editing techniques in days, not weeks, months or even years.

December 15, 2009 — 10:00am PST

Editing the Commercial Image

This webinar is devoted to commercial photography and the special needs this style of photography requires to satisfy demanding clients. Color correction, retouching and other techniques will be showcased on beautiful photography examples from some of the industry’s leading photographers.

About Nik Software

Nik Software, Inc. is a privately held company that develops software solutions for the growing digital imaging and photography markets. Established in 1995, Nik Software has become the recognized leader in digital photographic filter development and produces award-winning technology and software products for digital photography and imaging professionals including U Point^® technology (www.upoint.com), Dfine^® 2.0, Viveza^®, Color Efex Pro™ 3.0, Silver Efex Pro™, and Sharpener Pro™ 3.0 software.

 

Technorati Tags: Nik Software,Webinar,Photoshop

 

Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers: A Professional Image Editor's Guide to the Creative use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC

Adobe Photoshop CS4 One-on-One

Software Review: Michael Andrew's PaintBaller Pro Presets

Written by T. Michael Testi

Michael Andrew PaintBaller Pro is a package of presets that give you the ability to create a unique feel to your images that can range from a painted look to High Dynamic Range (HDR) without any specific in camera manipulation. These presets work with Adobe Camera Raw and Adobe Lightroom 2.

Installing PaintBaller Pro is as easy as copying files into the appropriate directory as discussed in the instructions that are included with the product. There is one set of files for Lightroom 2 and one set for Adobe Camera Raw. The license allows you to use both sets, but if you only have one or the other, copy the appropriate files to their location and once you have done this everything is ready for you to use.

PaintBaller Pro comes with 25 different presets that give a wide variety of looks to your images. The fact that you can combine these presets, and that the specific order in which they are applied can change the look dramatically, there are virtually an unlimited number of combinations that can be created. Unlike actions, these presets are run from within the Adobe Camera RAW engine which comes with both Photoshop and Lightroom.

In case you are not familiar with Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), this is a plug-in originally designed for Adobe Photoshop that is used for working with the RAW files that DSLR cameras produce. Camera Raw makes the process easier by giving you complete control over these uncompressed negatives, and allowing you to control many parameters within the image.

Adobe also integrated the ACR functionality into Lightroom when it was released the functionality of the two are the same. The differences come from the application. One of the main differences though is that in Lightroom 2 is that you can preview your preset change before you apply it. In Camera Raw you have to apply it to see the change.

Michael Andrew created these presets because as a photographer, he knows how easy it is to get into a creative rut. This can lead to images that become monotonous and repetitive. By creating PaintBaller Pro, he is providing new techniques to help you get your creative juices flowing again.

You do need to be comfortable with working with ACR or Adobe Lightroom 2 in the develop mode because chances are that applying a preset by itself will not provide perfect results. Many times, depending on the image, they will not look very good. Your success will come from "tweaking" the photo to get them to turn out correctly. When you purchase the product, you will receive a link and a password to access some video's that will show you the major and minor tweaks you will work with.

Once you have PaintBaller Pro installed, then it is really easy to apply a preset. First you select which medium you will work in - ACR or Lightroom. For ACR, you open Adobe Bridge and select the photo that you want to use and open in using ACR. Then in ACR you select the preset tab and select a preset and apply.

In Adobe Lightroom 2, you select the preset tab on the left panel and navigate to the MA PaintBaller Pro LR2. Then when you hover over a specific preset you will see the change in the preview window. From personal preference, to me it is easier working from within Lightroom but they work equally as well from either.

While, if you don't have a camera that shoots Camera Raw, you can still take advantage of PaintBaller Pro as it does work with any files that work within ACR which includes JPEG files. One thing to keep in mind is that because a JPEG file is compressed, it has lost data and therefore the quality may not be as good as if you used a raw file.

There are also other things that can affect result quality such as ISO settings and the amount of noise in the image. If you want to see some samples of what PaintBaller Pro can do for you check out the PaintBaller Pro Samples Page. There are also video demos there as well.

I found the Michael Andrew PaintBaller Pro presets very easy to use and very intuitive as having a lot of flexibility. This set is $150 and can be purchased at Michael Andrew's store. If you are looking for something to put some pop into photos, then check out PaintBaller pro.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The list of PaintBaller Pro presets that are available are:

• "A1 Starter"
• "Blitz"
• "Blown Away"
• "Comic Boy"
• "Comic Girl"
• "Dead Eye"
• "Edge"
• "Fullback"
• "Grenade"
• "Hat Trick"
• "Ice"
• "Jello"
• "Katana"
• "Lorie"
• "Maverick"
• "Newspaper"
• "Oreo"
• "Pseudo-Sun"
• "Quick Mint"
• "Rootbeer Float"
• "Secret Sauce"
• "Time Warp"
• "Viper"
• "X-Ray"
• "Zing"

Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers: A Professional Image Editor's Guide to the Creative use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC

The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers

Adobe Photoshop CS4 One-on-One

Technorati Tags: Photoshop,Presets,Michael Andrew,Adobe

onOne Software Announces Photo Essentials 3 for Adobe Photoshop Elements 8

Portland, OR September 24, 2009

New version brings improved color correction, additional image framing content and the new Make It Cool! module that gives digital photos a professional look.

onOne Software, Inc., a leading developer of time-saving solutions for professional and advanced amateur photographers, today announced a new version of Photo Essentials 3 for Adobe Photoshop Elements. onOne Photo Essentials 3 is a collection of five tools that painlessly correct color, remove unwanted backgrounds, add photographic effects and enlarge photos. These easy-to-use tools help photography enthusiasts get the job done quickly and easily in Adobe® Photoshop® Elements.

Supporting the new Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0, onOne's Photo Essentials 3.0 offers these capabilities:

- New Photo Essentials Palette - The Palette provides quick access to all five modules from a single location right inside Photoshop Elements.
- Make It Cool - New in Essentials 3, this offers a library with dozens of professional effects that can be added to images in one click.
- Make It Better - Turn your snapshots into professional images. Automatically fix brightness, contrast, color and sharpness with no need to understand cryptic sliders.
- Cut It Out - Easily remove an unwanted background while maintaining fine detail such as hair, clouds and glass.
- Frame It - Choose from hundreds of easy to add edge and border effects to give pictures the perfect finishing touch.
- Enlarge It - Get sharp, poster sized prints out of your photos, even from camera phones.

"Our mission is to provide tools that help make digital photography easier, faster and better. onOne Photo Essentials 3 delivers on this by helping amateur photographers spend less time in front of their computer correcting their digital images and more time behind the camera taking pictures," said Craig Keudell, president of onOne Software. "And with this new version of Photo Essentials 3 comes a completely new module, Make It Cool, based on our award-winning PhotoTools 2 plug-in, a new dynamic range optimization algorithm in Make It Better and a new version of the Photo Essentials Palette."

Availability

onOne Software's Photo Essentials 3 will be available in October 2009 for $69.99. Customers who purchase Essentials 2 on or after September 24, 2009 will receive a complimentary upgrade to Photo Essentials 3 as an electronic download for free. For more information on Photo Essentials, please visit www.ononesoftware.com/essentials.

About onOne Software

onOne Software, Inc. a leading developer of innovative software tools for photographers, develops time-saving software solutions for professional and advanced amateur photographers. onOne Software solutions have been created to help photographers spend more of their time behind the camera taking pictures instead of the computer workstation. Such solutions include a wide range of easy-to-use plug-in enhancements for Adobe® Photoshop®, Photoshop Elements, Photoshop Lightroom, Apple Aperture and Apple iPhoto. Founded in 2005, onOne Software is a privately held company located in Portland, Oregon. For additional information, visit www.ononesoftware.com or call 1-888-968-1468.

 

Technorati Tags: onOne,Adobe,Photoshop,Elements,Plug-in

Software Review: Kubota AutoAlbum V3 From Kubota Image Tools

 

One of the hotter trends in wedding albums is what is called the magazine style. It is a digital photo album that is flush mount and is constructed of a hard bound cover and ridged pages. The flush mount album doesn’t have matted pages and is much like a cross between a traditional wedding album and a coffee table book.

Kubota AutoAlbum V3 is a software program that assists you in creating a magazine style album easily and elegantly. The product consists of software and a layout book. The software contains over 500 different layouts and the Kubota Dashboard for interfacing with the product and automating the process of creating your pages. The layout book gives examples of the layouts.

The program is pretty simple and easy to use. You first activate the Kubota Dashboard for the AutoAlbum. This brings up the selector tools. As you can see in the image you are given a selection of formats.

You have square pages which are created as 10"x10" and can be resized anywhere from 5"x5" to 12"x12". You have square panoramas that are created as 10"x20" and can be resized from 5"x10" to 12"x24". Finally you have 11"x14" rectangle pages.

To get an idea of what the finished pages will look like you can look into the book that contains the page designs. You can also look on the dashboard at each of the codes and as you highlight a code, the layout is displayed in the dashboard as well. The one that I have highlighted is 2010-H0V4RV which translates to 0 horizontal images, 4 vertical images and the template is a rectangle format and vertical in position.

Now before you begin your album, the images need to be prepared properly in Photoshop. They should be color corrected, any retouching or enhancing should be complete as well as any sharpening done.

You then need to take you finished images and make sure that you have a copy because the Kubota AutoAlbum will place each image as a Smart Object on the page and therefore it still remains editable in the page layout.

Once you select your layout and click apply, you will then be prompted to select the images for the page one at a time. In the page illustrated here, the three small images were selected and then the lager one. When the larger one was selected, I was prompted to crop the image for it to fit below the smaller ones. Once done, you are prompted to save it as a .PSD file.

It really was that simple. There is a link to see what some of the page layouts look like on the Kubota site, and although it is for version two, it does give an idea of what you can accomplish with Kubota AutoAlbum V3. It sells for $399 and can be purchased at the Kubota Store.

If you are a professional photographer, especially one who does weddings, portraits, or graduations, you really owe it to yourself to check into the Kubota AutoAlbum, or any of the Kubota products for the photographer. They will allow you to get the maximum productivity with the least amount of effort. I think that the Kubota AutoAlbum will pay for itself in time savings and customer satisfaction over and over again. I highly recommend this product.

 

Technorati Tags: Photoshop,Photography,Plug-in,Kubota

Technorati Tags: Kubota,Photoshop,Plug-in

Software Review: Kubota Pro Pak from Kubota Image Tools, Part 2

The Kubota Pro Pak is a bundled package of products that contains six of the most popular tools from Kevin Kubota's professional image enhancing tools for Adobe Photoshop. This package includes the four Artistic Series of actions, his Production Tools, as well as his Formula Book which contains 42 separate recipes to get just the look you want.

In part one, I looked at the four paks that are called the Artistic Tools. In part two, I will look at actions the Production Pak and the Formula Book. In case you are not familiar, a Photoshop action is an automated series of steps that have been recorded to provide an effect or series of effects. Some of these actions are totally automated, others have stopping points that request you to perform some action, usually to paint in where you want some sharpening to occur. In all cases there is a pop-up window that tells you what you need to do.

Production Tools Volume 2

In this Production Tools you will find a variety tools that are geared to getting your images back to your clients much faster through the automation nature of Photoshop actions. There are a variety of tools that come with this pack including ones for making adjustments, retouching, finishing, sharpening, and logo placement.

Like with the other tools, everything here is run from the DASHBOARD. This is a separate panel that contains everything you need to work with all of the Kubota tools. You can filter based on the Pak, or you can use the search facility to find an action based on the name or type of action. This can be very helpful when you are using the Formula Book and are not sure from which Pak particular action exists. They have a video on their Web site if you want to see the DASHBOARD in action.

The Production tools are set up in sections so as to help facilitate your workflow from beginning to end. The first area is the Adjustments section. Here you are told to make any tonal adjustments and basic color corrections to your image. In this section, you can use actions to reduce noise, lighten your overall image, remove magenta casting from skin tones, paint out shadows, and an action to bring out shadow detail.

There is a retouching action that prepares the necessary layers for retouching portraits. There are instructions for what to do with the layers are displayed as sticky notes. As you can see in the image, when the portrait action is run, the layers are created, and a note explaining what you need to on each one is provided.

There is a section that focuses on finishing your images by creating borders around your image. There is a section that will help you interpolate your image by sizing your image up or down; there are ones that will place your image (either horizontal or vertical) into a matted 8x10 (both 250 DPI and 300 DPI).

There is an action in which you can embed the image filename in onto the image, as well as one that will let you place your logo on to various positions one the image. Finally there is a selection of sharpening actions that automates various levels of sharpening to your image.

Kubota Formula Book

Kubota Formula Book is a spiral bound book of 42 recipes from Kevin Kubota's magic bag of tricks. Included with this book is a companion DVD that contains a video tutorial for each of the formulas that will walk you through the creation of the final image in Photoshop.

Each page contains a before and after image so you can see the results. There is a story behind the image. Many of these are interesting in how the shot was captured and the reason why. I personally liked the one where Kubota is sitting on the trunk of a moving car to capture the image with his feet strapped in the rear passenger seat belts, while the bride and groom are in the middle of a kiss. Oh, and the groom is driving.

All of the metadata on the exposure, ISO, lens type, etc. is provided along with the steps and actions needed to create the image. Another interesting point about this book is that it is set up in such a way that future "add-on Paks" are planned for the future and you will be able to add these to the book. The image below was created using formula number three which is called "Daisy Duke."

While the biggest problem with having all of these actions is learning when to use what combination of actions and tools, the Formula book is an enormous help. I like the way it is laid out and professionally done. With the DVD tutorials, it makes learning these tools a cinch. The Power tools, like the Artistic tools, are very easy to use and make a lot of mundane chores automatic.

If you are a professional photographer, especially one who does weddings, portraits, or graduations, you really owe it to yourself to check into the Kubota Pro Pak, or any of the Kubota products for the photographer. They will allow you to get the maximum productivity with the least amount of effort. Even if you only use a small portion of the effects, they will pay for themselves in time savings and customer satisfaction over and over again. I highly recommend this product.

 

Technorati Tags: Adobe,Kubota,Photoshop,Plug-in

Software Review: Kubota Pro Pak - Part 1 From Kubota Image Tools

The Kubota Pro Pak is a bundled package of products that contains six of the most popular tools from Kevin Kubota's professional image enhancing tools for Adobe Photoshop. This package includes the four Artistic Series of actions, his Production Tools, as well as his Formula Book which contains 42 separate recipes to get just the look you want.

Who is Kevin Kubota and what makes his actions so special? Well first off he was named one of the top ten wedding photographers of 2007 by Popular Photography Magazine for giving his customers more than they expect by capturing fresh, expressive images. He has now taken that philosophy to Photoshop processing by providing the same techniques to you via his image tools.

Today I will look at the four actions sets known as the Artistic Tools. In case you are not familiar, a Photoshop action is an automated series of steps that have been recorded to provide an effect or series of effects. Some of these actions are totally automated, while others have stopping points that request you to perform some action, usually to paint in where you want some sharpening to occur. In all cases there is a pop-up window that tells you what you need to do.

Artistic Tools Vol. One: The "Classic Film Effects" Pak
In this pak you will find a variety of Black & White Actions, organic film grain, cross-processing effects, sepia effects, and monochrome toning. This set contains over 40 Actions and it includes Skin Cream, Fuji Snappit, Vignette, as well as Eye and Teeth Enhancer.

The black and white effects include conversions that give nice film grain effects without introducing digital noise. In this way they look much more organic and have a better feel. There is not a loss of sharpness and in fact many times the sharpness appears enhanced. There are actions that smooth skin, add glow to the image, add a Hollywood effect, as well as other creative effects for a vignette, giving a romantic feel, and adding vibrancy to the image.

There are color actions that can add a bright sunny effect, a cross processed look, and a contrasty Fugi Velvia film look. There are also image correction actions that raise the shadow values, lower contrasts and saturations, adding warming gel filters to add mood to an image, as well as a mid-tone brightener. There are even actions that will attempt to fix images shot with the wrong white balance. There are examples of "Classic Film Effects" Pak on the Kubota Image Site.

Artistic Tools Vol. Two: The "Modern Chic" Pak
This pak includes what has been known as Lord of the Rings series and is one of the most popular of the Kubota Actions and is what helped make it a HOT ONE award winner. Also it also contains enhancements that give your images color pop, colorful toning, soft glowing and innovative black and white effects. This pak contains over 50 enhancements including Daily Multi Vitamin, Radiant People, Radiance Landscape, Edge Burner, Digital Fill Flash and Smokeless Burn.

These actions under Black and White will give you the ability to work with a modern antique look that will have the user wondering if it is really black and white or color. There are some that will tone your black and white to blue, green, red, and other tones as well as ones to create a more traditional black and white image.

The color effects will help you add 'Life' to everyday images. The Lord of the Rings series aims to mimic the deep, romantic feel of the movie by adding color richness, a soft glowing effect, and contrast. There are several variations on this one.

The Creative effects include one that gives a painterly effect, another with a canvas texture, one that gives an angel glow, one that burns the edges, and one that performs an edge blur. The Image corrections include one to eliminate posterization problems, one that adds digital fill flash, a smokeless burn that works just the opposite of flash fill, one to work details, one to reduce noise, and one that works skin tones.

There are also a set of image bordering actions that will create 4x6 images with borders for printing proofs. There are examples of "Modern Chic" Pak on the Kubota Image Site.

Artistic Tools Vol. Three: The "High Fashion-Edgy" Pak
In this pak while there are a lot of enhancement tools that can be used to work on "everyday" images, you will also find a series funky high fashion looks, glowing and deeply romantic black and white effects, and color styles. This pak contains over 45 enhancements, including Fashion Passion, Kiyoko Punch, Tea Stained, Anime Soft, Anime Bold, Doll Face, Skin Powder Genie and Eye Color Enhancer.

The black and white actions include ones that lighten up the skin tones, add rich warmth to the shadows, have some bronze toning and combine velveteen with a black satin look.

Color effects include a Hollywood glow effect is works for fashion and outdoor scenes, a cross processed look that has more pleasing skin tones than the traditional, a dramatic old world look, a high key contrast that is bold and sassy, a tea-stained look, and a 'Look' that is gentle enough to use every day, but has the punch to make your images pop.

Creative effects include a glow that is made for children, graduates, and fashion images, a look that emulates half photo, half painting, a rich and moody forest look, a soft wash, and a wash-out look. The image corrections include a dark line eraser to remove things like shadows from eyes, an eye color enhancer, a skin powder genie to get that cover girl smoothness, as well as an overall helper to restore detail on a slightly overexposed image.

Again there are also a set of new image bordering actions that will create 4x6 images with borders for printing proofs. There are examples of "High Fashion-Edgy" Pak on the Kubota Image Site.

Artistic Tools Vol. Four: The "Cutting-Edge" Pak
This is a collection of modern image enhancing tools for producing unique looks in the marketplace. There is a three-dimensional "Enter the Dragon" all the way to a cinematic "300-esque." Also, there are new interactive B&W converters for the attempting the perfect tonal blend and richness within your images. This pak contains over 50 enhancements, including BW Full Moon, Highlight Enhancer, Dark Darkener, Popsickle, Punch Drunk, China Doll, Comic Relief, Vignette 2 Auto and Ragged Edges.

The black and white effects include ones with an infrared feel, one with deep blacks, one that allows you to fine tune the tonality of different colors before conversion, one gives a more edgy bold look, and one that you can give a subtle hint of color.

The color effects include "Enter the Dragon" series that gives a three-dimensional, edgy, bold look with lots of texture; one that is more soft and romantic; one that enhances details and removes haziness from your image; the "300-esque" series that attempts to capture the movie's warm perpetual sunset and soft film grain look; and there is one that gives an old London town look.

The image corrections include a contrast brush to paint contrast into areas that need that oomph, highlight rescue where you paint to bring out the highlights that are not there, a Dark Darkener for painting on areas that need to be darker, and a Luminizer for opening up the shadows.

In this pack you also get a series of edges and vignettes for darkening edges and bringing out the focus of your image. There are examples of "Cutting-Edge" Pak on the Kubota Image Site.

Obviously there are too many actions to do more than highlight what each pak contains here. You can get online to evaluate everything for yourself, but with the fact that you have over 40 actions per pak and you can combine them with each other, using multiple actions to create different looks, you really have a limitless array of effects that you can create.

The biggest problem I see with having all of these effects is knowing what to use and when to use it. Obviously, the final results will come from experimentation and trial and error. One thing that helps is that the samples from the Kubota site are a great starting point. It appears that there will eventually be tutorials as well, which will be even better. In part two, along with looking at the Production Tools, I will look at the Kubota Formula Book that gives you 42 step-by-step recipes for getting that certain look and, to me, that is something else that will help the learning curve tremendously as well.

If you are a professional photographer, especially one who does weddings, portraits, or graduations, you really owe it to yourself to check into the Kubota Pro Pak, or any of the Kubota products for the photographer. They will allow you to get the maximum productivity with the least amount of effort. Even if you only use a small portion of the effects, they will pay for themselves in time savings and customer satisfaction over and over again. I highly recommend this product.

 

Technorati Tags: Kubota,Photoshop,Plug-in

Software Review: Adobe Photoshop Plug-In DxO FilmPack 2 from DxO Labs

Written by T. Michael Testi

With the latest release of DxO FilmPack version 2 from DxO Labs you now can not only add the style and beauty of classic films to your images, but you can now add additional traditional film effects giving you more capabilities to replicate the look and feel to real film. DxO FilmPack is a plug-in that gives digital images both the look and the grain of conventional films.

OK, I know what you're asking! I gave up film (or never used it) because of all the graininess and the color differences, why would I want to start making my images look as though they were taken on film? Well, one reason is for artistic license. You may want to give an image that fresh-from-the-fixer look. Another reason is that you may want to integrate film images and digital images and you need some method to get a more consistent look for all.

DxO FilmPack recreates the color and grain of over 50 classic film types. These include Kodachrome, Tri-X, Velvia, and Illford. These films were analyzed and reproduced so that they could be applied with just one stroke of the keyboard. The package also offers access to several toning filters to transform any digital image into a toned print. These include Sepia, Terra Sepia, Ferric Sulfate, Gold Sepia, Gold, and Selenium.
DxO labs has a complete list of the available film looks, and they break down into nine categories. color positive films, generic positive films (without grain profile), instant color positive, black and white films, color negative films, instant black and white films, color filters, black and white filters, and tonings.

DxO FilmPack can be used as a standalone product or from the filter menu within Adobe Photoshop. The user interface is self-explanatory. You have drop-down lists and sliders. You choose an emulsion and the filter applies the color and the grain of the film to your image. You are presented with a preview on the screen so you can see what it looks like.

 

You can mix the color of one film with the grain of another. You can also adjust the grain of the film manually or you can match it with a 35mm, medium format, or large format look. There is also a special profile called "Cross-Processed" renderings. This is a specific development mode which consists of processing slide film with the treatment chain adapted to negative film and vice versa. This gives you a lot of room for experimentation.

What is new in version DxO FilmPack 2? First off there are 27 new film types. These include 10 slide films, 5 color negative films and 12 black and white films. These 27 also contain 7 new instant films (Polaroid and Fuji) and 3 Infrared films (Kodak, and Rollei). There are also 8 new color filters (Green, Yellow, Orange, Dark Orange, Blue, Red, Cool tone and Warm tone) providing you with even more post-processing possibilities and additional creativity.

While DxO FilmPack 2 is not going to be used for every situation, it does provide for a lot of creative artistic expression. It is very easy to use and very functional. My only complaint is that you still cannot create your own formulas and save them. If you get a specific look and feel, you have to reset it for each image you want to process. On the other hand if you need to match film-based images for a presentation, or if you want some unique creative license to experiment for a different look and feel for that film look, then DxO FilmPack 2 is the product for you.

 

Technorati Tags: Photoshop,Plug-in,Film,Photography

Software Review: Adobe Photoshop Plug-In - Sharpener Pro 3.0 from Nik Software

 

Written by T. Michael Testi

Sharpener Pro 3.0 is the latest addition to Nik Software's collection of digital photographic filters and effects for Adobe Photoshop. This is an updated version of their award-winning software that is aimed at sharpening photographic images.

Nik Sharpener Pro 3.0 has not only been updated with a new interface, it also contains Nik's premier U Point technology that gives you pin-point control over what you want sharpen. No longer are you limited to working with global changes and masking to accomplish your goals. Rather, now you can precisely control specific areas of your image with a couple clicks of your mouse.

What do you need to run Sharpener Pro? System requirements are Windows 2000 Pro or better, Mac OS 10.4 or better, 512 MB of RAM (1 GB Recommended), and Photoshop CS2 or CS3 on Windows or Mac, Photoshop Elements 2.0 or better on Windows, 4.0 and 6.0 on Mac, or any image editing software program that accepts Adobe Photoshop Plug-ins.

Basically, the Sharpener Pro workflow works like this. First you launch Photoshop, open an image, and open Sharpener Pro from the filter menu. This will open the Sharpener Pro interface. At this point you can apply RAW Presharpening which will compensate for any loss due to image capture. You then return to Photoshop to make all of your edits as you normally would to prepare your image.

Once complete you then reload Sharpener Pro to prepare your image to use the output sharpener to make up the loss of detail and clarity that occurs when images are created for different output devices. On the right side are the sharpening controls. You can choose what kind of output your image will take on: display, inkjet, continuous tone, halftone, or hybrid device. If you choose, say, the inkjet, you then get additional options such as viewing distance, paper type, and printer resolution. These will set the output sharpening for the appropriate type of device.

From there you have options for creative sharpening where you can apply global sharpening. Next you can use the U Point Control Points to selectively control where the sharpening is applied to the images. This allows you to control the effect without having to use selections and/or masking. By placing Control Points on an image, you control the effects and are able to fine tune certain areas of your images independent of the rest of the photo. Finally you review the image in the Loupe, apply the filter and then you can to generate your output.

Other things that are new to Nik Sharpener Pro 3.0 is a reworked interface that is resizable and now sports a color neutral theme with a medium-gray background. This allows you to focus more on the image than on the interface. You have different modes to preview including sharpened image, sharpening soft proof (output sharpener only), Effect overlay (this shows where the effect is applied), and effect mask, which displays the mask created by the color ranges and control points.

If you have Dfine 2.0, Viveza, or Color Efex Pro 3.0, the installer will update the existing Selective tool which lets you access all of these plug-ins from the same pallet.

The RAW Presharpener filter is an optional step in your image editing workflow. It is designed to be the first stage of sharpening your images and should be done before anything else. You apply it after any noise reduction has been applied. It was designed to sharpen your image for any loss of detail through digital capture without creating any sharpening artifacts or enhancement of noise.

Creative Sharpening controls are used to control both the strength of the output-specific sharpening and apply any global creative sharpening to the image. Control points can be added later to selective adjust the amounts of each of these controls on any given object.

I think that Sharpener Pro is another great addition to the photographer's tool box. I love the ease of use and the flexibility that this plug-in gives me. What would take a lot of work traditionally in Photoshop is accomplished in a fraction of the time. Want to see more? Check out the series of lesson videos that Nik has put together. Better yet, get the 15-day free trial and play with it yourself.

At $199.95, Sharpener Pro will pay for itself many times over. If you want to sharpen your images and feel intimidated by all the work and effort it takes to accomplish the same tasks using Photoshop, then I highly recommend Sharpener Pro 3.0 from Nik Software.

 

Technorati Tags: Photoshop,Plug-in,Software,Sharpening,Adobe,Nik

onOne Software Outlines Product Support for Adobe® Photoshop® CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended

Press Release

 

Digital photography software developer outlines product specific support for Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended

Portland, OR– September 24, 2008 – onOne Software, Inc., a leading developer of innovative software tools for photographers, today announces that all of their currently shipping Photoshop software plug-ins are already compatible with the new Adobe® Photoshop® CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended software announced yesterday by Adobe. Specifically, the following Photoshop plug-ins from onOne Software are compatible with Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended.

· Plug-In Suite 4

· Genuine Fractals 5 Print Pro

· Genuine Fractals 5

· PhotoTools 1 Professional Edition

· PhotoTools 1 Standard Edition

· PhotoFrame 4 Professional Edition

· PhotoFrame 4 Standard Edition

· Mask Pro 4.1

· PhotoTune 2.2

· FocalPoint 1

"We're certain that users of our Photoshop plug-ins will find Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended software to be very compelling upgrades," said Craig Keudell, president of onOne Software. "We're delighted to announce that all of the current versions of our plug-ins are already compatible with both Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended so that our users can continue to maximize the power of Photoshop by simply running the installers they already have after installing Photoshop CS4."

"It’s great to see plug-in developers like onOne rally around this latest release of Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended," said Kevin Connor, vice president of product management for professional digital imaging at Adobe. "onOne added Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended support to their products quickly, so photographers and designers can easily make the move to one of the most highly anticipated releases of the Photoshop family line. Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended are designed to be open applications, so our partners can easily extend the value of the software and provide more creative and innovative options to the customers we serve."

Installing onOne Software plug-ins with Photoshop CS4

To enable the Photoshop plug-ins listed above to work with Photoshop CS4 or Photoshop CS4 Extended, owners of the products listed above can simply run the installer they already have for the respective plug-in after successfully installing Photoshop CS4 or Photoshop CS4 Extended.

Upgrade Information

Registered owners of previous versions of the onOne Software plug-ins for Photoshop listed above can upgrade to the current version of each plug-in for only $99.95 plus shipping if applicable. Alternately, these users may also upgrade directly to the Plug-In Suite 4 for $399.95, plus shipping if applicable (electronic versions are available for download as well). The Plug-In Suite 4 includes the most recent versions of all onOne Software plug-ins. Upgrades from Plug-In Suite 1, 2 or 3 to the Plug-In Suite 4 are available for $199.95 plus shipping if applicable. More information about onOne Software's upgrade program can be found at http://www.ononesoftware.com/upgrade.

About onOne Software

onOne Software, Inc. a leading developer of innovative software tools for photographers, develops time-saving software solutions for professional and advanced amateur photographers. onOne Software solutions have been created to help photographers spend more of their time behind the camera taking pictures instead of the computer workstation. Such solutions include a wide range of easy-to-use plug-in enhancements for Adobe® Photoshop®, Photoshop Elements and Photoshop Lightroom.

onOne Software delivers the highest quality software products to users by working with industry leaders and continuing to develop core technologies for professional photo solutions on both Macintosh and Windows operating systems. Founded in 2005, onOne Software is a privately held company located in Portland, Oregon. For additional information, visit www.ononesoftware.com or call 1-888-968-1468.

Company Contact: Mike Wong, onOne Software, mwong@ononesoftware.com, 503-968-1468 x 121

Press Contact: Steve Rosenbaum or Leigh Nofi, sir@sironline.com, S.I.R. Marketing Communications, Inc., 631-757-5665

General press inquiries: press@ononesoftware.com
Online press center: http://www.ononesoftware.com/press/
onOne Software blog: http://www.ononesoftware.com/blog
onOne Software Exchange: http://www.ononeexchange.com

# # # #

© 2008 onOne Software. All rights reserved. onOne Software and the onOne Software logo are registered trademarks in the United States, and all are the property of onOne Software. Adobe and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

 

Technorati Tags: Press Release,onOne,Plug-in,Photoshop

Software Review: Adobe Photoshop Plug-in - Silver Efex Pro From Nik Software

Silver Efex Pro is the latest addition to Nik's collection of digital photographic filters and effects for Adobe Photoshop. This is a brand new product that is aimed at creating dynamic black and white images by offering the traditional tools of the darkroom while including the flexibility and precision of digital photography.

Not only is Silver Efex Pro a black and white converter, it contains Nik's premier U Point technology that gives you pinpoint control over what you want to do. No longer are you limited to working with global changes and masking to accomplish your goals. Rather, now you can precisely control specific areas of your image with a couple of clicks of your mouse.

What do you need to run Silver Efex Pro? System requirements are Windows 2000 Pro or better, Mac OS 10.4 or better, 512 MB, and Photoshop 7 through CS3 on Windows, CS2 and CS3 on Mac, Photoshop Elements 2.0 or better on Windows, 4.0 and 6.0 on Mac, or any image editing software program that accepts Adobe Photoshop Plug-ins.

Basically, the Silver Efex Pro workflow works like this. Launch Photoshop, open an image, and open Silver Efex Pro from the filter menu, which will open the Silver Efex interface. By default, the Style Browser with sample thumbnails of your image will appear on the left hand side of the interface. On the right side are the enhancement controls.

Once you select the style from the left that most closely represents what you want to accomplish, you can use the enhancement control options on the right to make global adjustments to the image. These include controls to adjust the brightness and contrast, and structure sliders.

Next you can use the U Point Control Points to selectively control where each filter is applied to the images. This allows you to control the effect without having to use selections and/or masking. By placing Control Points on an image, you can control brightness, contrast, and structure to fine tune certain areas of your images independently of the rest of the photo.

The next set of controls are the Color Filters. These work much in the same way that traditional color filters work when used with panchromatic black and white films; objects of the color of the filter are lightened while objects the opposite of the filter's colors are darkened.

Then you have the film type selection. Here you get 18 different film types based on the most popular black and white films. These include ISOs from 32 to 3200 and film types from manufacturers like Agfa, Ilford, Kodak, and Fuji. For each you can control grain, sensitivity, and tone curve.

Finally, you have the Stylizing section which gives you control adding tints, tones, as well as allowing you to dodge and burn the image. Here you can add a classic vignette, burn the edges, or perform an unending set of task by using the collection of stylizing tools, or creating your own new looks.

If you are using Adobe Photoshop, you also have the ability to use a powerful selective tool. This gives you access to Silver Efex Pro and allows you to brush filter effects into your image using any brush available in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Layers and masks are created allowing you to apply enhancements to precise areas of your image.

While it is easy to like the preset styles, what makes this so strong a feature is the ability to modify and add styles to your collection so that when you get something that you like, you can use it again and again. You can also export the styles as individual styles such that you can share amongst friends as well. You can even fine tune a style and use the update feature. If you have Dfine 2.0, Viveza, or Color Efex Pro 3.0, the installer will update the existing Selective tool which lets you access all of these plug-ins from the same Selective tool.

Nik Silver Efex ProI think that Sliver Efex Pro is another great addition to the photographer's tool box. I love the ease of use and the flexibility that this plug-in gives me. What would take a lot of work traditionally in Photoshop is accomplished in a fraction of the time. Want to see more? Check out the series of lesson videos that Nik has put together. Better yet get the 15-day free trial and play with it yourself.


At $199.95, Silver Efex Pro will pay for itself many times over, but from now until September 15, 2008, every copy of Nik Silver Efex Pro sold in North America will include a free sample pack of Gekko Fine Art Collection inkjet papers from Pictorico. This includes two sheets each of 4 paper types: Award winning Gekko Green (Glossy), Gekko Blue (Luster), Gekko Red (Cotton), and Gekko Black (Matte). If you want to do black and white and do it with spectacular results then I highly recommend Silver Efex Pro from Nik Software.

Software Review - Adobe Photoshop Plug-in - Dfine 2.0 From Nik Software

Written by T. Michael Testi

Dfine 2.0 is the long awaited update to Dfine 1.0; the Noise Reduction product from Nik Software that is redefining noise reduction for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. That leads to the question "What is Noise?" Noise is the unwanted imperfections created by digital cameras as they try to capture the digital image. The amount of noise that is generated is determined by the quality and type of image sensor that created the image.

Dfine is a plug-in to Adobe Photoshop and other image editing applications; ones that support Photoshop Plug-ins, that can help you reduce noise in your images. Its goal is to reduce noise while still maintaining the detail and sharpness and therefore improving the quality of every image. Dfine will help fix problems due to fast or high ISO speeds as well as low light levels. It even works on JPEG artifacts.

So what is new with Dfine 2.0? Well first we have U Point® Technology; a dynamic and flexible technology that provides photographers a new way for editing digital images with out layers, masks or selections. It does this by using algorithms which consider relationships between color and light. It was first featured in Nikon's Capture NX Software. This allows you to reduce noise only where needed by using U Point Control Points
There is also Selective Functionality. This can be done three ways. As said before, it can be done by using control points. It can also be done by using Color Ranges; this is done by selecting to reduce noise within individual color ranges and is generally best done when working in a batch process. Lastly there is the Selective Tool. By using the brush tool in Photoshop or Elements, you can manage layers and layer masks.

Dfine has added a brand new reduction engine that provides noise reduction while retaining a great deal of detail. This can reduce the need to purchase camera profiles and it fine-tunes images by using automatic camera profiling.

Finally there is an updated interface. This will allow you to resize and in general, more easily incorporate Dfine into your workflow. You can see from the image below the redefined interface.

The program is very easy to use. Effectively you measure the noise and choose your method of reduction; whole, color range, or control points. You can then preview the image's detail before and after noise reduction with a variety of methods. Once you are happy with the reduction, click OK and your changes will be applied

I like Dfine 2.0's simplicity and ease of use. It takes a complicated process and brings it into your workflow without impeding it. If you want to see more you can watch some of the lesson videos or you can get a 15-day free trial. If you are already sold on Dfine, you can purchase it new for $99 USD and $69.95 USD for the upgrade from version 1.0.

 

Technorati Tags: Nik Software,Dfine,Plug-in,Photoshop

Software Review - Adobe Photoshop Plug-in Color Efex Pro 3.0 From Nik Software

Written by T. Michael Testi

Color Efex Pro 3.0 is the latest update to Nik's collection of digital photographic filters and effects for Adobe Photoshop. Version 3 has been updated for speed, a new interface, and something called U Point technology.

Color Efex Pro 3.0 contains four different types of enhancements; traditional filters, color correction, retouching and creative enhancements. It contains 52 filters that contain over 250 unique effects, and with the fact that you can combine them, it makes the possibilities limitless.

System requirements are Windows 2000 or better, Mac OS 10.4 or better, 256 MB RAM (512 MB Recommended), and Photoshop CS2, CS3, Photoshop Elements 4.0, or any image editing software program that accepts Adobe Photoshop Plug-ins.

Basically, the Color Efex Pro 3.0 workflow goes like this. Launch Photoshop, open an image, and open Color Efex Pro from the filter menu which will open the interface. By default, the filter list will appear on the left hand side of the interface. This is an alphabetical list of the available filters. They are categorized by topics such as portrait, landscapes, etc. Since there are three versions of Color Efex Pro the number of filters may vary. The standard edition contains 15 Filters, the Select Edition contains 35 filters, and the Complete Edition contains 52 filters. You can check out which filters are available from the Nik Website

Once you select your filter, you are given options to make adjustments to the filter. Then you can use the U Point Control Points to selectively control where each filter is applied to the images. This allows you to control the effect without having to use selections and/or masking. By placing Control Points on an image, you can control color, tone, and light on your image. These might be sky, skin, clothing etc.

Essentially you take this Control Point and drop it on the image. You can then adjust the area and the opacity of the image. You have a 0% control point that begins at no opacity and has not filter effect, and you have full opacity which fully enables the filter. You can then see what the effects of the Control Points from the modes pull down menu.
After setting your values and Control Points, you can then preview the image either side by side or in a split view mode. Once you are happy with the effects, you can then press the OK button and the effects will be applied to your image.

Another new feature is the interface which now features a much larger preview than before. To many people, this alone would be worth the price of upgrade over version 2. Color Efex Pro 3.0 now can use the full screen of your monitor.

The new Selective tool automates the creation of layers and layer masks within Adobe Photoshop. You can pinpoint your filter by simply brushing on the filter effects to your image. Color Efex Pro 3.0 handles the layer masks behind the scenes. It is also great for Wacom Pen Tablet use as well. This effect is only available in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

I think that Color Efex Pro 3.0 is a great addition to the photographer's tool box. The new filters, which include Bleach Bypass, Cross Balance, Film Effects, Film Grain, Glamour Glow, Low Key, High Key, Polaroid Transfer and Tonal Contrast, along with the enlarged preview, and the Selective tool are well worth the upgrade.

As advertised Color Efex Pro is very fast and very easy to use. Because of the U Control Point and Selective tools, you don't have to be an expert at using layers and layer masks; granted you won't have as much control as you would if you did, but this is so much faster. The biggest downside to Color Efex Pro is that it will take time to learn what works and what doesn’t. Color Efex Pro is highly recommended.

 

Technorati Tags: Nik Software,Plug-in,Color Efex,Photoshop