Paint Candy Sky Overlays and Pretty Presets Lightroom Workflow Presets!

type="html">I have so many new actions, tutorials and digital design freebies coming out in the next weeks. I have had this creative burst of energy because it has been too hot to go outside.  I can't wait to show it all to you!

Today I have something to post for both Lightroom and Photoshop/PSE users!

Photoshop/PSE users:  April from Paint Candy has gorgeous new sky, rainbow, and star texture overlays at her site and my readers get 20% off right now!!!  She also has instructional workshop videos available you should check out.   Read all about it below.  I personally love the image with the rainbow overlay.

Lightroom users:  If you follow my blog you know the only presets I use besides my own are Pretty Presets and I edited an entire maternity shoot using Laura's newest Workflow and Fine Art presets.  If you haven't checked them out please do read all about them below.  Pretty Presets also has Lightroom workshop videos for those of you that are new to the program.  I love her presets and they are worth every penny!

Now on to the goodies!

---------------------------

PaintCandy has released our newest collection. You will enjoy this fun adventurous collection!

 

Features:

30 Hi-Res Sky Images

6 mountain pngs

3 tree lines png

2 shooting stars png

FOUR Instructional Workshop Videos

1: Turn Daynight photo into night

2: Add Mountains and a Sky

3:Create your own Sky

4: How to add a sky

 Bonus:

Rainbow Overlay

Layer Mask Action

Cloud Brushes

CLICK HERE FOR MORE EXAMPLES FROM COLLECTION

Bonus Rainbow Overlay

20% OFF AT CHECKOUT FOR A LIMITED TIME!!

 SEE MORE FROM SKYLAND

----------------------------

Create your own clean and polished look in Lightroom with the the Pretty Presets Workflow Set!!

This special bundle includes the following:

• 27 Workflow Presets - View the deal here!
• Presets work on RAW and JPEG images in Lightroom 2, 3, 4 and 5
• Video tutorial on using the Workflow Set

Included in the Workflow Collection:

• All in One Clean Edit
• Clarity Males and Still Life
• Clarity Soften Babies and Females
• Color Casts Fix Reds a Little
• Color Casts Fix Reds a Lot
• Color Casts Fix Yellows
• Color Enhance Blues
• Color Pop a Little
• Contrast a Little
• Contrast a Lot
• Exposure Brighten a Little
• Exposure Brighten a Lot
• Exposure Brighten Center
• Exposure Darken a Little
• Exposure Darken a Lot
• Exposure Lighten Shadows
• Exposure Recover Clipping
• Noise Reduction High
• Noise Reduction Low
• Sharpening Portraits
• Sharpening Still Life
• Vignette Low
• Vignette Strong
• WB Cool It
• WB Warm a Little
• WB Warm a Lot
• X Reset Image

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO TUTORIAL

Special thanks to Brooke Logue Photography for generously allowing us to use her images for our preset examples.

---

REVIEWS:

“Beautiful! I love these more than others I just paid double for! If you use presets at all, this is all you need and a bargain!” -Tamee

“Thank you Laura! I am using them right now. LOVE them! Great job!” - Nicole

“I have these presets and am totally in love with them! I am playing with them, and will post some pictures, hopefully tomorrow!” - Michele

“If anyone’s contemplating buying her presets…don’t! They are SO WORTH IT!” - Joy

“I am SO in love with your presets! You do an amazing job!! I just finished up editing a senior session that I did using your edits and I can’t stop looking at them! Your presets took the pictures to the next level! Thank you!” - Katie

"I don't know how in the world I missed this wonderful tool from your workflow set. The exposure recover clipping is something I have wished all along where you want to do an all over brighten but your whites get washed out. It keeps the brights but brings the details back. What a lifesaver!! Going to be a go-to preset from now on!" - Hope

"I love your workflow presets!! They have made my life so much easier!!" - Kim

View the original article here

Photography Tutorial: Late Afternoon Backlighting and LR4 Presets

type="html">I had the pleasure of doing a maternity photography shoot for my friends K&D who are expecting a little boy any day now.

We meet in a small field during late afternoon (and almost 100 F!).    I wanted to get some photos of this adorable couple backlighted by the setting sun.  I also took some with other outdoor natural lighting (facing sun, open shade) which I will highlight in another post.

This is the SOOC image (straight-out-of-the-camera).  I shot this in manual mode in RAW and had my camera set to 400 ISO (Canon EOS Rebel T2i) using the Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 lens.  Since I am not a professional photographer I can get away with my Rebel.  :-)  I often fantasize about getting a "real" camera, but I decided I prefer a lighter, smaller camera body and some extra money in my pocket.  Some of the perks of being a serious amateur and not a pro.  :-)

I wanted the background to be "soft" so I set my aperture to f/4.5 (the lower the number the softer the background) and then set my exposure to lighten their faces somewhat without completely blowing out the background and still allowing a ring of light around their heads (1/1000 sec in this case).  A trick to set the exposure on a face in extreme lighting situations like this is set your zoom and then walk forward until their face fills the screen, get a reading, adjust your exposure setting to expose the skin properly, and walk backwards to take your photo.

This type of image is best shot in manual mode as you don't want the camera picking your exposure settings.  At times I might want a silhouette effect, so I would expose for the background light.  Other times I might want to highlight their expressions so I would expose for their faces.  For this image I wanted to see their expressions but also silhouette that beautiful belly, so I tried to work out a happy balance.  I usually set my ISO and aperture and then adjust the exposure.

If you are new to shooting in manual mode, your best bet is to try several different exposures and then pick your favorite later when you start editing.  And remember, practice makes perfect in photography.  You can read books and go to classes as much as you want, but unless you get out there and use your camera you won't feel comfortable shooting manual and getting that perfect-for-you shot.

After I got home I decided to run some Pretty Presets in LR4 on the image.  I wanted to show you how many different edits you can do on this one simple image using presets.  I will also show some edits in Photoshop/PSE using my own actions tomorrow.

I also wanted to mention that some enhancements are more lovely on screen, others look better in print. And I would always keep a clean edit on hand because these "arty" effects can be very trendy and what you love today you might hate tomorrow.  I provided my friends a simple clean edit and then a few fun ones so they could choose their own favorite.

I ran the presets and did not other adjustments on these images.  Which one is your personal favorite?

 1.  Pretty Presets "Backlit RAW"preset from the Spring Color Flare and Haze set.

2.  Pretty Presets "Fine Art Film" preset from the Fine Art Film Collection.

3.  Pretty Presets "Bejeweled V1" from the Fine Arts Film collection.

4.  Pretty Presets "Sunflare Right + Up Light" preset from the Spring Color Flare and Haze set.

I was really excited to do this shoot, especially since I haven't done any maternity photography in almost four years.  I felt comfortable with my camera but I did realize I had deficits in hand/feet placement and best body positions.  I need to do another shoot so I can apply what I learned from this one.  I just appreciate that K & D let me practice on them!

Do you want to download my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one convenient zipped file AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

View the original article here

Paint Candy Sky Overlays and Pretty Presets Lightroom Workflow Presets!

type="html">I have so many new actions, tutorials and digital design freebies coming out in the next weeks. I have had this creative burst of energy because it has been too hot to go outside.  I can't wait to show it all to you!

Today I have something to post for both Lightroom and Photoshop/PSE users!

Photoshop/PSE users:  April from Paint Candy has gorgeous new sky, rainbow, and star texture overlays at her site and my readers get 20% off right now!!!  She also has instructional workshop videos available you should check out.   Read all about it below.  I personally love the image with the rainbow overlay.

Lightroom users:  If you follow my blog you know the only presets I use besides my own are Pretty Presets and I edited an entire maternity shoot using Laura's newest Workflow and Fine Art presets.  If you haven't checked them out please do read all about them below.  Pretty Presets also has Lightroom workshop videos for those of you that are new to the program.  I love her presets and they are worth every penny!

Now on to the goodies!

---------------------------

PaintCandy has released our newest collection. You will enjoy this fun adventurous collection!

 

Features:

30 Hi-Res Sky Images

6 mountain pngs

3 tree lines png

2 shooting stars png

FOUR Instructional Workshop Videos

1: Turn Daynight photo into night

2: Add Mountains and a Sky

3:Create your own Sky

4: How to add a sky

 Bonus:

Rainbow Overlay

Layer Mask Action

Cloud Brushes

CLICK HERE FOR MORE EXAMPLES FROM COLLECTION

Bonus Rainbow Overlay

20% OFF AT CHECKOUT FOR A LIMITED TIME!!

 SEE MORE FROM SKYLAND

----------------------------

Create your own clean and polished look in Lightroom with the the Pretty Presets Workflow Set!!

This special bundle includes the following:

• 27 Workflow Presets - View the deal here!
• Presets work on RAW and JPEG images in Lightroom 2, 3, 4 and 5
• Video tutorial on using the Workflow Set

Included in the Workflow Collection:

• All in One Clean Edit
• Clarity Males and Still Life
• Clarity Soften Babies and Females
• Color Casts Fix Reds a Little
• Color Casts Fix Reds a Lot
• Color Casts Fix Yellows
• Color Enhance Blues
• Color Pop a Little
• Contrast a Little
• Contrast a Lot
• Exposure Brighten a Little
• Exposure Brighten a Lot
• Exposure Brighten Center
• Exposure Darken a Little
• Exposure Darken a Lot
• Exposure Lighten Shadows
• Exposure Recover Clipping
• Noise Reduction High
• Noise Reduction Low
• Sharpening Portraits
• Sharpening Still Life
• Vignette Low
• Vignette Strong
• WB Cool It
• WB Warm a Little
• WB Warm a Lot
• X Reset Image

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO TUTORIAL

Special thanks to Brooke Logue Photography for generously allowing us to use her images for our preset examples.

---

REVIEWS:

“Beautiful! I love these more than others I just paid double for! If you use presets at all, this is all you need and a bargain!” -Tamee

“Thank you Laura! I am using them right now. LOVE them! Great job!” - Nicole

“I have these presets and am totally in love with them! I am playing with them, and will post some pictures, hopefully tomorrow!” - Michele

“If anyone’s contemplating buying her presets…don’t! They are SO WORTH IT!” - Joy

“I am SO in love with your presets! You do an amazing job!! I just finished up editing a senior session that I did using your edits and I can’t stop looking at them! Your presets took the pictures to the next level! Thank you!” - Katie

"I don't know how in the world I missed this wonderful tool from your workflow set. The exposure recover clipping is something I have wished all along where you want to do an all over brighten but your whites get washed out. It keeps the brights but brings the details back. What a lifesaver!! Going to be a go-to preset from now on!" - Hope

"I love your workflow presets!! They have made my life so much easier!!" - Kim

View the original article here

Photography Tutorial: Late Afternoon Backlighting and LR4 Presets

type="html">I had the pleasure of doing a maternity photography shoot for my friends K&D who are expecting a little boy any day now.

We meet in a small field during late afternoon (and almost 100 F!).    I wanted to get some photos of this adorable couple backlighted by the setting sun.  I also took some with other outdoor natural lighting (facing sun, open shade) which I will highlight in another post.

This is the SOOC image (straight-out-of-the-camera).  I shot this in manual mode in RAW and had my camera set to 400 ISO (Canon EOS Rebel T2i) using the Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 lens.  Since I am not a professional photographer I can get away with my Rebel.  :-)  I often fantasize about getting a "real" camera, but I decided I prefer a lighter, smaller camera body and some extra money in my pocket.  Some of the perks of being a serious amateur and not a pro.  :-)

I wanted the background to be "soft" so I set my aperture to f/4.5 (the lower the number the softer the background) and then set my exposure to lighten their faces somewhat without completely blowing out the background and still allowing a ring of light around their heads (1/1000 sec in this case).  A trick to set the exposure on a face in extreme lighting situations like this is set your zoom and then walk forward until their face fills the screen, get a reading, adjust your exposure setting to expose the skin properly, and walk backwards to take your photo.

This type of image is best shot in manual mode as you don't want the camera picking your exposure settings.  At times I might want a silhouette effect, so I would expose for the background light.  Other times I might want to highlight their expressions so I would expose for their faces.  For this image I wanted to see their expressions but also silhouette that beautiful belly, so I tried to work out a happy balance.  I usually set my ISO and aperture and then adjust the exposure.

If you are new to shooting in manual mode, your best bet is to try several different exposures and then pick your favorite later when you start editing.  And remember, practice makes perfect in photography.  You can read books and go to classes as much as you want, but unless you get out there and use your camera you won't feel comfortable shooting manual and getting that perfect-for-you shot.

After I got home I decided to run some Pretty Presets in LR4 on the image.  I wanted to show you how many different edits you can do on this one simple image using presets.  I will also show some edits in Photoshop/PSE using my own actions tomorrow.

I also wanted to mention that some enhancements are more lovely on screen, others look better in print. And I would always keep a clean edit on hand because these "arty" effects can be very trendy and what you love today you might hate tomorrow.  I provided my friends a simple clean edit and then a few fun ones so they could choose their own favorite.

I ran the presets and did not other adjustments on these images.  Which one is your personal favorite?

 1.  Pretty Presets "Backlit RAW"preset from the Spring Color Flare and Haze set.

2.  Pretty Presets "Fine Art Film" preset from the Fine Art Film Collection.

3.  Pretty Presets "Bejeweled V1" from the Fine Arts Film collection.

4.  Pretty Presets "Sunflare Right + Up Light" preset from the Spring Color Flare and Haze set.

I was really excited to do this shoot, especially since I haven't done any maternity photography in almost four years.  I felt comfortable with my camera but I did realize I had deficits in hand/feet placement and best body positions.  I need to do another shoot so I can apply what I learned from this one.  I just appreciate that K & D let me practice on them!

Do you want to download my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one convenient zipped file AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

View the original article here