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BACKUP!!!!!!

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As all of my clients and students know, I’m a stickler for telling everyone to BACKUP their data – regularly – automatically, and in multiple places. Personally, I use 2 local backups (one is a clone of my data and a separate for my hard drive – AND I use MacOS’s Time Machine). But I also keep an offsite secure backup in the cloud. I live in earthquake country – and nothing would stink worse than if my hardware was all broken and my data irretrievable (of course, there’s always DriveSavers, but despite my discount, it’s quite expensive). Also, if you guys ever DO need a discount from DriveSavers, please use Discount code DS16297.

For my offsite backup, I’ve been using Backblaze for YEARS. Their uploads are unobtrusive, their security is raged as VERY GOOD, and their prices are extremely  reasonable. They’ve also recently increased the speed of their ability to download files, and added the ability to choose specific files (instead of folders) to restore when necessary.

Many of my clients have been using Crashplan’s Home backup option. Well… they’ve stopped taking new subscriptions, and they’re shutting down the Home version of their options as of October, 2018.

Backblaze is VERY interested in picking up this business – and since I do appreciate their service – AND their support when I needed it, I’m writing this post to recommend them. Take a look at their options. AND, if you do like their offerings, and use my referral link, we both get a free month of service!

Referral link: https://secure.backblaze.com/r/01c089

As I said, your data is irreplaceable. Have you noticed that when you create something, and work on it until it’s right, that you can never really duplicate it again, if you need to? It’s never quite the same? Backup is the only  option, and as for Cloud Backup, I recommend BackBlaze!

 

Update released for MacPhun Luminar

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Luminar is a new universal all-in-one photo app designed to tackle anyone’s photography needs, ranging from correcting challenging image problems to artful stylizing. Sporting a totally unique user interface that adapts to your needs and skills, tons of one-click presets for instant results and a vast number of image processing filters and tools, Luminar may be the last photo software you ever buy. It’s photo editing, reimagined for all of us. Experience it today at www.macphun.com .

There are more choices of cameras than ever before, and more ways to enjoy photos. Luminar comes at a time when current software tools are simply not keeping up with the versatility to satisfy the needs of everyone or evolving to be more complicated.

As a result, Macphun has invented a new scalable, adaptive user interface and mated it to a set of tools that truly provides ease of editing photos on your Mac across the entire span of customers, from Smartphone users to Pros.

  • ?  New photographers and mobile shooters who don’t often use their Mac for editing will appreciate a simple approach using one-click presets and universal tools like cropping, noise reduction, and image healing.
  • ?  Casual photographers may start with those same presets, but will soon “graduate” to using Luminar’s purpose-built workspaces that offer uniquely tailored tools which achieve great results quickly.
  • ?  For passionate enthusiasts and professionals, workspaces and the full gamut of editing tools such as brushes, layers, blending modes, texture overlays, an editing history menu and much more herald a new generation of advanced photo editing possibilities.

  Retail price

MacPhun Luminar is currently still a Mac product, but don’t forget – the Windows version is in PUBLIC BETA, NOW! Please check it out here.

NEW On1 Photo RAW 2017.6 – SUMMER SALE

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On1 Photo RAW 2017.6

For those who don’t yet have On1Photo – On1 is offering a 50% off sale – Ending August 31st! Price for everything below is just $49.99!!!
On1 Photo RAW is not JUST for RAW files – the power of this app extends WAY beyond RAW, and will do a BEAUTIFUL job of giving you creative control over your jpeg files, even files from your Camera Phone!

Here’s what you get with this free offer!

ON1 Photo RAW 2017.6

The next generation of ON1 with NEW Browse, Develop, Effects, Resize, and Layers. – $119.99

ON1 Master Course: Landscape Photography Workflow & ON1 Photo RAW 2017.6

Learn how to bring your landscapes to life with Matt Kloskowski’s workflow in ON1 Photo RAW 2017.6. View details » – $49.99

Portrait & Studio Photography Video Course

This video series by ON1 gurus Liz LePage & Hudson Henry covers everything you need to know about Portrait & Studio Photography. View details » – $29.99

Hudson Henry Core Landscape ON1 Presets

10 fundamental presets for every landscape photographer to add to their collection, packaged with a special instructional video for how to create your own similar styles for your photos. View details » – $14.99

Hudson Henry Core Portrait ON1 Presets

10 fundamental presets for every portrait photographer to add to their collection, packaged with a special intructional video for how to create your own beautiful styles for your photos. View details » – $14.99

TOTAL VALUE – $229.95

YOUR PRICE: $49.99

ON1 Photo RAW! Version 2017.6, is a free update for product owners, is available for immediate download.ON1 Photo RAW 2017.6 includes more new features, speed improvements, and many other updates. In addition, we’ve included many fixes for issues reported by ON1 customers.

Mac OS X:
http://ononesoft.cachefly.net/photoraw2017/mac/3844/ON1_Photo_RAW_2017.dmg

Windows:
http://ononesoft.cachefly.net/photoraw2017/win/3844/ON1_Photo_RAW_2017.exe

What’s new in ON1 Photo RAW 2017.6:

– Fast Preview Mode — When you have just come back from a shoot and you want to dive in a view hundreds or even thousands of photos, Fast Preview Mode lets you rip through them faster than anything. No need to catalog them first.

– Browse Performance Improvements — We have made Browsing ever faster than it was! It loads thumbnails and fit-screen previews faster and it remembers more so that it will be even faster than next time you view the same photos.

– Cataloged Folders — Indexed folders, one of the most powerful features in Browse, have grown-up into Cataloged Folders. Your cataloged folders are scanned and kept up-to-date automatically. Large previews are generated in the background to make browsing much faster too. The powerful database behind Cataloged Folders enabled fast searching and viewing across folders and drives.

– Kelvin Color Temp — When processing RAW photos, the color temperature range is now measured in Kelvin degrees, giving you a larger and more accurate range to make adjustments.

– Rotate Photos Anywhere — Now you can rotate photos in any view in Browse, Develop or Effects.

– Compressed Photoshop Files — When you export or create Photoshop PSD files, they are now losslessly compressed, making them half the size they used to be.

– Other Improvements — Zooming and panning the photo is more intuitive. The Crop tool now remembers the last used used crop settings

– Photo Via improvements — Updated support for new Google and Dropbox sign-in versions. updated, labels improved, bugs fixed.

– Increased the maximum amount of motion blur.

– Added Lens Correction for fixed-lens cameras.

– Added support for the Canon 6D Mark II, Olympus TG-5, Nikon D7500, Leica TL2, Canon Rebel SL2/200D

– Other bug fixes and performance improvements

Happy World Photography Day!!!

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It’s a day to celebrate the beautiful art of Photography, and to honor it, MacPhun has written an fascinating article named 20 Photography Facts

Remember, MacPhun has a few GREAT apps for editing your photos after you’ve shot them.

MacPhun Luminar Neptune – a powerful image editor  – always available for Mac, and now in Public Beta for Windows – and

MacPhun Aurora HDR 2018 – entering pre-order on 9/12/17, and being released on 9/28/17 – both Mac and a new Windows version

Go out, Get Photos, Make Your Memories!!!

AURORA HDR 2018 Coming soon for Mac and Windows!

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Aurora HDR 2018 will be available for pre-order on September 12nd, and released on September 28th. Sign up HERE to be notified when Pre-Order opens!

About Aurora HDR:

Aurora HDR is not just a tool for merging bracketed images, it also provides numerous tools and countless options to create perfect HDR photos for every taste – from one-click presets and advanced tone-mapping, to layers, noise reduction and powerful luminosity masking controls.

Aurora HDR’s Key Features:

  • Total HDR editing experience with the most complete set of tools available.
  • Fast, powerful RAW processing engine.
  • Tone-mapping algorithm to achieve both realistic and dramatic HDR images.
  • Over 70 presets that give photos an amazing HDR look in just one click.
  • Luminosity masking that automatically makes advanced selections within HDR images based on the Zone System.
  • Unique layer system that supports blend modes, custom textures and using original exposures as source images.
  • Image Radiance, brushes, masks, lighting, vignettes and much more help users achieve their artistic vision
  • Highly versatile batch processing
  • Works as a standalone app, or a plug-in to Photoshop and Lightroom

A sneak peek into what’s new in Aurora HDR 2018:

  • Lens Correction Tool – The new Lens correction filter easily fixes all kinds of lens distortion, from barrel to pincushion, to chromatic aberration and vignetting.
  • New User Interface – Redesigned from scratch, the modern and responsive user interface brings a powerful, yet joyful experience to HDR photo editing.
  • Cross-platform version – Aurora HDR 2018 will be available both for Mac and PC users. Files are interchangeable and mixed-computer households can share the same product key.
  • Speed Improvements – Up to 4x improvement in RAW image processing, and up to 200% faster merging and masking performance means that Aurora HDR 2018 is dramatically faster than the last version.

Availability:

Aurora HDR 2018 will be availabe for pre-order on September 12, and released on September 28.

Pricing:

Mixed-computer households can share the same product key for Mac and PC that can be activated on 5 devices.

Pre-order:

  • Current users of Aurora HDR may upgrade at a special pre-order price of $49
  • New users can purchase Aurora HDR 2018 at a special pre-order price of $89
  • A collection of bonuses will also be included with every purchase.

Retail price:

  • $59 for current Aurora HDR users
  • $99 for new users

 

And, For Those Who Just Want a Great Photo Without the Hard Work

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Photolemur 2.0 is changing FROM a subscription based app, TO a Direct License app! How often does THAT happen?!

And they have an offer going for the licenses – Until August 10th. Purchase through This Link

The prices for Licenses are:

Single License – $30

Family License (activation on 5 devices) – $35 (usually $50, with 30% discount)

Seriously – this app is Easy Breezy – and POWERFUL!

Check out this demo:

MacPhun Luminar’s Flash Sale Ends Tonight

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Luminar 72 Hour Sale: Best Price Ever! $20 OFF!!!

As mentioned in a prior post, MacPhun’s Luminar is having a Flash Sale – making this the BEST opportunity to purchase Luminar at a discounted price.

If you buy Luminar today – your pricing will be as follows:

$49 instead of $69 – for all first-time purchasers
$39 instead of $59 – for anyone who currently owns a Macphun product

 

MacPhun Luminar for WINDOWS Now in Free Public Beta!

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The terrific Photo Editing App and Photoshop plugin is now available for Windows OPEN Beta test!

Luminar makes complex photo editing easy and joyful.

Download the Public Beta NOW, and find out how much you can DO! *

 

Luminar is a powerful all-in-one photo editor with over 300 tools on hand designed to tackle anyone’s photography needs, from correcting challenging image problems to artful stylizing. Users can adapt their workspace to match their image processing experience, and move up to more advanced modes as they learn. Luminar works non-destructively and aims to take the “work” out of a photo editing “workflow” for photographers worldwide.

Luminar for Mac was released in November 2016, with the latest update on July 15, 2017.
In April, only 5 months after its launch, Luminar for Mac won the prestigious TIPA award for Best Imaging Software 2017. For more details about full featured Mac version visit macphun.com/luminar . Experience the public beta of Luminar for Windows today at macphun.com/pc .

Why did we make Luminar?

Today, there are more choices of cameras than ever before, and more ways to enjoy photos. Luminar comes at a time when current software tools are simply not keeping up with the versatility to satisfy the needs of everyone, or they are evolving to be too complicated to learn and use.

As a result, Macphun has invented a new scalable, adaptive user interface and mated it to a set of tools that truly provides ease of editing photos on your PC across the entire span of customers, from beginners to pros.

  •   Newbie photographers who don’t often use their PC for editing will appreciate a simple approach using one-click presets.
  •   Casual photographers mastering their first digital cameras may start with those same presets, but will soon “graduate” to using Luminar’s uniquely tailored tools which achieve great results quickly.
  •   For passionate enthusiasts and professionals, the full gamut of editing tools such as brushes, layers, editing history menu and much more herald a new generation of advanced photo editing possibilities.

Target audience:

Casual shooters, enthusiasts and professional photographers

Typical types of photography:

  •   Landscape / Nature
  •   Architecture
  •   Street / Urbex
  •   Portraits
  •   Artistic & Black & White
  •   Dramatic composites
  •   Photographic correctionsCompatibility:Language support

? English

Image formats

  •   PNG
  •   JPG
  •   TFF 8-bit and 16-bit
  •   GIF
  •   Popular RAW formats
  •   .CR2, .NEF, .ORF, .RAF, .ERF, .ARW, .RW2, .PEF and moreRecommended System Requirements:
  •   Windows 10
  •   CPU: Core i5 2.2 or equal
  •   RAM: 8 Gb or more
  •   GPU: 1Gb or more
  •   SDD drive with 20+ Gb free

Top 10 Features

  •   Scalable, adaptive user interface
  •   Over 50 one-click presets
  •   Over 40 image enhancement filters
  •   Accent AI Filter, powered by an artificial intelligence technology
  •   Extensive brushes
  •   Selective masking
  •   Custom Texture overlays
  •   History panel
  •   RAW file conversion
  •   Non-destructive editing

User Interface / Performance

  •   Innovative adaptive user interface, based on user needs and skill
  •   Editing history menu for fail-safe editing
  •   Advanced high-quality real-time image processing engine
  •   Clean, modern user interface design
  •   3000% Zoom level
  •   Histogram preview
  •   Quick compare toggle
  •   Side by side comparison
  •   Full Screen preview mode
  •   Choice of background colors
  •   Online help

Editing

  •   Over 50 categorized built-in one-click presets, with large real-time preview
  •   A variety (40+) of image processing filters for different looks (each filter has customadjustments), each with a custom amount slider:
    •   Accent AI Filter
    •   Adjustable Gradient
    •   Advanced Contrast
    •   B&W Conversion
    •   Bi-Color Toning
    •   Brightness / Contrast
    • Channel Mixer
    •   Clarity
    •   Color Balance
    •   Color Contrast
    •   Color Temperature
    •   Cross Processing
    •   Curves
    •   Dehaze
    •   Details Enhancer
    •   Dramatic
    •   Exposure
    •   Fog
    •   Foliage Enhancer
    •   Golden Hour
    •   Grain
    •   High Key
    •   Highlights / Shadows
    •   HSL
    •   Image Radiance
    •   Microstructure
    •   Orton Effect
    •   Photo Filter
    •   Polarizing Filter
    •   Remove Color Cast
    •   Saturation / Vibrance
    •   Sharpening
    •   Soft Focus
    •   Soft Glow
    •   Split Color Warmth
    •   Split Toning
    •   Structure
    •   Texture Overlay
    •   Tone
    •   Top & Bottom Lighting
    •   Vignette
  •   Layers
  •   Masking brushes
  •   Gradient Masking
  •   Separate masking for Layers
  •   Crop Tool

(Adjustment or Texture)

  •   Native RAW file support, including DNG
  •   Runs as Standalone software
  •   Open/Export to JPEG file format

*NOTE: 

  • Beta version is not the final version and features are subject to change
  • Current beta version does not include all of the features/tools that the final release version will
  • Final version will be released late 2017