Free Software

One of the leading add-on software makers, onOne Software, has made some of their products available at no charge. If you want to download a copy of these, which have fewer presets than the paid versions, point your browser to onOne Software Web site page. The price is right!

Photoshop CS5 Unveiled Today

Adobe will take the wraps off the CS5 series of products today, in fact in less than 3 hours as I write this post. If you want to watch the unveiling live online go register for the event and stay tuned!

Adobe CS5 Countdown Timer

Photoshop CS5 processed photographs

Adobe allowed, even encouraged the beta testers to post images created/processed using Photoshop CS5. Although there will still be no information on what features yielded the photographs, you can take a peek at a few I processed using Photoshop CS5. Point your browser to this related post on my site.

Photoshop CS5 feature set, around the corner

I have been one of the beta testers for Photoshop CS5. I cannot speak of its features because of Non Disclosure Agreement I signed before joining; however, I can tell you that the wait to learn the feature set is getting shorter. In fact, Adobe has a countdown page where you can find tidbits of information. Mind you, when they announce the feature set you will not be able to go out and buy it yet. Stay tuned …

The following video, showing a very cool feature, was put on YouTube by Adobe.

Printing Workflow Presentation

If you like to review the presentation I made this evening, February 23, 2010, you will find the information on my site. I recommend that you watch the slide show one slide at a time with full effects, showing the transition from one state to the next. The PDF files are for convenience and for printing if you like. You may ask questions if you have any; if you do, please do so where the post is on my site so the questions and answers have context and accumulated information.

Topaz DeNoise, Photoshop Plugin Review

This is the second in a series of review of Topaz Labs plugins for Photoshop.  I’m not a Photoshop expert, and the tools that I use have to be easy to understand and straightforward to use.  I have used Topaz DeNoise for about a month now and have found that I can rescue images that I normally would have deleted, but saved for emotional reasons.  Now I have more confidence in using high ISO settings and long exposures, knowing that I can correct the image sensor noise these techniques generate.

You can read my full review of Topaz Denoise and see how I’ve used this tool , including a few image examples.

Topaz DeNoise is available individually or as part of a Photoshop Bundle. The price of Topaz DeNoise alone is around $80 and the complete Photoshop Bundle retails for about $180, a savings of $160 off the separately priced plugings.  Topaz Labs offers a number of upgrade paths if you choose to purchase an individual plugin, then decide to upgrade to the full Bundle.

Topaz Labs is getting ready to release a new versions of their plugins, and the company policy is to provide free upgrade to a new version to owners of the current version.  I will update my DeNoise review when the new version becomes available. Visit the Topaz Labs Web Site for more detail and to purchase your copy.  PSRI members be sure to take advantage of your Topaz Labs discount code.

Photoshop Turns 20

Four men who started the software that has become the standard talk about the “good old days.”

Nik Silver Efex Pro Review

B&W photography gained more interest after the advent of digital photography as more photographers realized that it offered unique expressive and artistic capabilities even when the starting point was a color photograph. Over the years much has been written on how to make this conversion and features of popular image editing software made this better and easier. I have been making B&W, or monochrome conversions for quite some time now using the rich tool set in Photoshop, and later, Lightroom. I have experimented with tools ranging from simple gray scale conversion to channel mixer, from desaturate to gradient maps, from multilayer Hue-Saturation techniques to the newly introduced B&W conversion tool in Lightroom and Photoshop. I have even written up on them and made presentations here at PSRI. I am very pleased with my results to the point of exhibiting or publishing folios of my work.

I recently worked with a tool from Nik Software, Silver Efex Pro. The results are remarkably good and the ease of use makes further exploration of many different looks possible. In the review I have written you will get a sense of what it does with examples and my objective evaluation of Silver Efex Pro. If you are interested in acquiring this plugin, don’t rush to get your copy until you get your 15% PSRI discount code. It will be announced at the meetings, starting this evening, and distributed in our weekly e-mail newscast.

Nik Silver Efex Review

Workshop Notes on Sharpening

The sharpening workshop on January 3, 2010 was well received. Dennis is going to share his notes with more detail, but until then you can view the slide show of the conceptual part of the presentation and get a copy of the printable handout.

Go to the post on Kept Light Photography

PSRI Workshop

Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and Photoshop Lightroom are common tools in the arsenal of most of our members. Continuing on with the series of workshops I have offered in the past, I will be offering a new on on January 3, 2010 Sunday from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM. The subject of the workshop is “Sharpening in Photoshop and Lightroom” and is open to PSRI members in good standing with fully paid dues. I will limit the participation to 12. If you are interested in participating, please post a comment on this post with your name and e-mail address for me to contact you. When the comments reach 12 plus a few for standby, I will close the comments and thereby registrations. (Note: Your comment will not be visible until it is approved.)

The location fo the workshop will be the Koffler Computer Lab on Providence College campus. I will post directions to the lab as the time gets near.

Workshop: Sharpening in Photoshop and Lightroom
Workshop leader: A. Cemal Ekin
Date: January 3, 2010
Time: 1:00 – 5:00 PM
Location: Koffler Computer Lab, Providence College

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