PPS

Check Em Out

Yep even we do a little shameless self promotion occasionally. Gotta keep the goods coming! Our sister site Seim Effects has just launched a brand new set of Photoshop actions. This is a collection if effects geared towards the everyday needs of nearly any photographer. S.E already has lots of amazing photographers already using their effects and workflow. You won’t be disappointed*

There’s a detailed video showing them in “Action” over on Seim Effects. There’s also a launch sale over there. PPS readers can save 15% off this set, and any of actions or Lightroom Presets on S.E for a very limited time. Just use promo code “PPSS”

Fine Print… Yep we even have that :–)
* This detailed statistic is based on the fact that people love Seim Effects, and say so rather than the contrary. Though we cannot absolutely positively promise that you will never ever be disappointed, we’re really really thinking you won’t. If you have any trouble contact Gavin. He’ll be happy to take care of you.

JPEG, TIFF, PSD, Successive Save, Save As, and more how?

There’s often confusion about what makes a JPEG and other files degrade, so I though it was time to do a real world test. First let me say that simply copying, or viewing a file does not cause any degradation as some believe. If you copy and paste a file it’s simply a bit for bit copy, and there’s no loss.

When you open, and then re-save a file is when things usually change. When you do this, even if you save at the highest quality JPEG settings you have still uncompressed the file, and it gets re-compressed when you save again. Unless or course your using an uncompressed file format to start with.

So how bad is a file damaged each time you successively save it. Well lets just say you should keep your originals folks. Below we’re going to look at the same image submitted to various torturous conditions. You can then judge for yourself.

Actual images were 700px wide. Click any version to see full size, or download all the images (plus a few extras) to compare them. Images that were opened and saved with “Save As” rather than “Save” commands are noted as such. If you want to join the discussion beyond comments here is the forum topic on this.

Original File.

(more…)

Merry Christmas PPS World!

We here at PPS would like to give a big shout out to all our listeners and readers all over the world. You’ve all been so great since we started about a year and a half ago, and this continually growing community means a lot. If enjoy PPS you can always let us know if the comments, or shor your appreciation by linking to us, voting on podcast alley, or rating us on itunes.

You are appreciated, and we just wanted to say thanks. To do this I thought PPS should give you a small gift, so Gavin made a special Photoshop Action just for the occasion called Christmas Glow. It’s a nice effect that will make that Christmas tree photo look great, along with anything else that you want a nice smooth effect on. It’s great for portraits, even for a landscape effect, or just about anything else.

It’s not a big gift, but I know most of our PPS’ers have Photoshop, and it’s something we could give to you all. It should work on CS2, and CS3. For earlier versions just try it and see, it’s free after all!

• Download Christmas Glow Free Photoshop Action

Next… We have a special discount for those of you who want more Photoshop Actions, or Lightroom Presets You can get 20% off anything over at Seim Effects by using promo code pps2007 at checkout. It’s the biggest discount we’ve offered over there, and it’s an exclusive for PPS readers. You can save you quite a bit off the normal price. It’ll be good thru Dec 31st, so if you’ve been on the fence about getting some great effects now is the time.

Here’s to another great year of photography, ideas, collaberation and fun… Gav and the whole PPS team

Update… I updated the action to V1.1. I added a comp layer into it that will help keep things balanced when adjusting the glow effect, and made some other minor changes to make it a tad better for you. Feel free to download the updated version.. Gav

I just launched a huge Lightroom presets collection over at seimeffects.com. The set has over 50 cool presets in, covering everything in the workflow process from corrections to sassy creative color effects in a very broad variety.

If your looking for a good set of creative presets then check out power workflow presets. This set has been months in the making and has some killer effects. If you like Lightroom you’ll like Power Workflow, and there’s also a video over there that shows them in action. Check it out.

Update… The issue we were having with the site seem to be resolved. All links should work now. If you have further problems feel free to contact.

The Free Lightroom Preset Directory. (Updated July 21st 2008)

Welcome to the biggest most up to date list of places for free lightroom presets! Often our lust for lightroom presets is held back only by the fact that we don’t know where to find more. If you know of other cool free lightroom presets drop a comment.

Also check out our Seim Effects Lightroom Presets, Actions and Effects Store. For some complete workflow collections. Use promo code PPS to save 10% on your order.

It should also be noted that presets effect RAW & JPEG very differently. For more about it see this article. Also look here for  How To Install Lightroom presets. OK on to the free stuff.

• Our Favorite Free Lightroom Presets

• Lightroom Presets on the Adobe Exchange
  There’s not very many here yet, but the Exchange has always been a great place to get ad ons for Adobe products. Keep an eye on it.
• Seim’s Free Lightroom presets and effects
  You should find these a great addition to your growing library. Gavin Seim gives away selections from his larger preset collections like that are sure to please. Effects and workflow presets, Black and White/Infrared presets, and a Vintage preset. Some even have both JPEG & RAW versions.
• InsideLightroom.com
  Here you’ll find eight categories, inside of which area great variety of free lightroom presets. It has examples of what the preset does. There’s everything from camera calibration presets, to color effects here. You’ll also find a useful PDF Download about using and making your own presets. One of my favorites are the two 300 presets listed in the color effects.
• LightrooomPresets.com
  This a good place to pick up some variety for you free LR preset collection and get some cool effects rolling. You’ll also find dome HDR prep presets here towards the bottom of the page.
• Karin Knowland
  Here’s a nice batch of over a dozen presets that will give you a nice variety of effects.
• Adobe Exchange Presets
  The Adobe exchange has all kinds of free stuff posted up by actual users and designers. This LR category is new, but it will fill up soon to be sure.
• Sean McCormack’s IR Presets
  Sean has an article here on the Lightroom News Blog talking about Infrared in LR, and he lets you download some of his IR results.
• Jack Davis’s WOW Lightroom Preset Collection
  This is a download from our friends over at OneOne Software, and yep it’s free. It’s a large preset collection that is organized in a tidy list. You can drag you mouse over the list and see the variation as they subtly change (low contrast to high contrast for example. Very well put together with lots of effects.
• Lightroom Killer Tips presets
  Aside from a great LR video cast, Matt Kloskowski from Photoshop TV posts various presets on the site that you can download for free.
• Lightroom Essentials From L7photo.com
  Here’s a collection of free presets that includes a varied array from auto corrections to white balance adjustments to help speed up your photo modifications. You’ll find the full list on their site.
• markus-dollinger.de Lightroom Presets.
  This site is not in English, but Lightroom is a pretty universal language for us, and download links work in any language. This is a set of six free presets that do some cool selective color effects, some general punches, etc (there’s a sample gallery)
• Presets by Kelsey Smith
  Kelsy has some cool stuff on her blog. Here you can download most of her presets all in in place.
• NEW ~ XWorld Presets Page
  They have a nice varied selection of presets worth checking out. A lot of them are to mimic various film styles.
• NEW ~Kim Longs 70’s Set
  Though that faded 70’s look is something most photographers were happy to grow out of, it’s still a cool collection that will give you the retro look you want on certain shots

• More Presets you should check out
  Here’s some sites and blogs we’ve found with a few more free presets on them worth checking out
• Stellar Times Free Presets.
• Heather Green’s Enhancer Presets
• 640 Pixels free presets
• Katherine’s Blog & a pink preset
• Scenic World Presets
• NEW ~ Vert has few here including the Chrome and New York presets
• NEW ~Really Japans Presets. These are harshB&W’s, meant for mostly high ISO shots.

• Presets for specific Camera’s & Lenses
  If you looking for Lightroom Presets to you you get better shots from your camera here a few worth checking out.
• Nikon D300 Preset
• Nikon D200 Preset
• Canon 40D & 5D presets
• Leica M8 Presets
• CA Reduction for Nikon’s 18-200VR

Want the killer Lightrom presets collection? Get POWER WORKFLOW!
Use Promo Code PPS to save 10%

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Show Notes… Welcome to the wild episode
Aside from goofing off and having fun on todays show we review Corel Painter X (time index 17:23) DXO Optics Pro (time index 29:33) And compare noise reduction tools Dfine2, Noise Ninja, and Neat Image (time index 40:31)

We also discussed my new Hollywood Effects Actions, and where you can download a free photoshop  action, as well as the PPS article about Adobe Customer Support. The Canon ES2 portable printer was launched, and you can check out a really cool video of a trash the dress shoot.

Pick of the week was PanosFX Photoshop actions. You can enter the contest to win a full version of PainterX (Win or Mac) my sending one entry email to prophotoshow at(@) gmail.com

Lastly you can save 15% on Hollywood Effects actions by using promo code 11504416

Lastly heres a sample of an image made user the Painter X auto paint. Just a quickie, but it shows one example of what you can do.

Have a great week, and don’t forget to join the photography forum… Gav

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