Adobe Creates the Pen Tool Game

For my students who need to practice the Pen Tool, Adobe’s created an adorable online game to practice it’s usage. The pen tool is important in Adobe Illustrator (of course), but also in Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere, InDesign, Animate… there’s a version of it in almost every Adobe App!

Check out the game here: https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/illustrator/how-to/pen-tool-game.html

On1 Photo RAW 2018 FREE Public Beta!

As of tomorrow, October 6, 2017, On1 Is offering a download of a FREE public beta of their powerful and intuitive On1 Photo RAW 2018 application.

To Download the Public Beta and give it a try, click HERE

This new update includes:

  • HDR module, Pano module, tons of updates in masking (Luminosity mask, luminosity zone masks, global mask adjustments, color range masks and more) – in one app!
  • Versions or virtual copies
  • New user interface
  • New color brushes
  • ON1 Photo for Mobile
  • See bottom of post for details including Pricing and Availability

To Learn What’s new, Watch This Overview Video! https://youtu.be/k6QWJaqwdNU

Here’s the Press Release for On1 Photo RAW 2018:

Portland, OR – October 3, 2017 – ON1, Inc. announced a new version of ON1 Photo RAW coming at the end of the month. There will be a free public beta of this latest release available Friday October 6th. Along with the essential tools and features needed in a photography workflow, ON1 Photo RAW 2018 includes key updates to the fast, non-destructive raw processing engine. Photographers will now have an integrated tool with accelerated photo management, precise photo development, hundreds of customizable photo

effects, fast and beautiful HDR, pano stitching, masking and blending adjustments, layers, and much more – in one app.

From the beginning the ON1 community has driven the development of ON1 Photo RAW based on what’s most important to them. Almost every feature and improvement made to the app in version 2018 is a direct result of community input through the ON1 Photo RAW Project. “We are very excited to make the Photo RAW 2018 Beta freely available to the worldwide photography community this Friday. Over the next few weeks we will solicit user feedback and put the finishing touches on the app for an end of October release,” said Dan Harlacher, Director of Product Management. This type of transparency is what customers can continue to expect from the ON1 team. This process has solidified ON1 Photo RAW as the app designed by photographers for photographers.

ON1 Photo RAW 2018 will be updated and enhanced in many areas. Key new features will include the following.

  • ON1 HDR – Create stunning HDR photos that merge all tonality from a bracket of photos in a fraction of the time (test results have shown up to seven times faster than other HDR apps). Automatically aligns photos and removes ghosting from motion between exposures. Includes full non-destructive editing with natural results and can be turned up to 11 for a surreal look.
  • Pano Stitching – Combine multiple photos into a single panoramic or matrix photo. Automatically aligns photos, even if they are not shot on a tripod, and blends them together seamlessly. An option to embed panoramic metadata for Facebook panning is also available.
  • Global Mask Editing Tools – These include new mask Density and Feather sliders to allow for changing the density or opacity of masks as well as blur masks for softening.
  • Luminosity Mask Updates – Adjust the levels of a mask to increase the contrast or brightness as well as set a tonal window to only affect a certain zone. These updates allow users to target just the area they want, based on the photo.
  • Color Range Masks – Create a mask from a color range selection.
  • Blur and Chisel Mask Tools – In ON1 Effects, the Blur and Chisel mask tools are now included. The blur tool is perfect for softening or feathering a mask selectively. The Chisel tool lets the user push or pull the edge selectively, to remove halos. All of these new masking options are re-editable and non- destructive.
  • Versions — Versions are virtual copies of the same photo. Each version created can include non-destructive settings, including crop, retouching and adjustments. Versions work just like any other photo without taking up more space on your computer.
  • Updated UI — Clean and modern UI where your photo is the center of attention. Custom name filters and layers to easier keep track of work. Also select your own UI accent color.
  • Paint with Color Brush — Painting with color can be a solid color, perfect for skin smoothing and making annotation layers, or paint with just the color and leave the underlying luminosity in place to change the color of objects like eyes.
  • Selectively Add or Remove Noise — Brush away noise in areas like skies or add noise for an artistic effect.
  • ON1 Photo for Mobile — Take the best shots with you on the go with the free ON1 Photo for Mobile app. It’s a great way to share portfolios. It can also sync new photos taken on phones back to the desktop so those photos are ready for editing.
  • Additional Camera & Lens Support — Added support for the Nikon D850, Olympus EM-10 III and Panasonic DMC-G85, plus a ton of new lenses.ON1 Photo RAW 2018 will differentiate itself from other apps by allowing photographers to both browse and catalog their photos from the very beginning of their workflow. This hybrid system provides one of the fastest ways to manage and organize photos. The ultra fast photo browser is perfect for quickly viewing and culling through photos without having to wait on an import process. Once the culling process is complete, the ability to create and catalog those photos is the next step in most common workflows.

There is plenty more available within the apps non-destructive workflow in terms of photo development. These features include re- editable adjustments such as exposure, contrast, color, shadows, highlights, lens correction, and transform tools. The hundreds of unique photo effects are also perfect for finishing off your photos to add that extra punch. Photographers have complete control of how each effect is applied using masking brushes, gradients masks, and local adjustments. Each effect is also completely customizable to save any look as a custom preset.

Photo editing technologies such as live blending options, apply to, smart layers, smart photos, and mask refinement tools also make ON1 Photo RAW 2018 a more advanced pixel editor without having to launch a separate app. The ability to combine photos together with layers, masks, and selectively apply filters and effects to raw photos gives users a big advantage.

Don’t let the name fool you; ON1 Photo RAW 2018 isn’t just for raw files. Supported file formats include JPEG, TIF, PSD, PSB, PNG, and DNG are supported and benefit from the speed, performance, and abundance of editing tools in the app. Photo RAW 2018 also continues to work seamlessly within current photography workflows. The app integrates as a plug-in for Adobe® Lightroom® and Photoshop® and further builds its case as a complete standalone photo editor. Version 2018 also integrates with the major cloud services to allow for uploading, managing and editing photos across multiple computers. This also allows users to sync photos and their edits across multiple computers or in a studio setting.

Price and Availability

ON1 Photo RAW 2018 will be available for download as a free public beta on October 6th from the ON1 website. Previous owners of any ON1 app (or ON1 plug-in) can upgrade for just $79.99, regularly $99.99. Those who don’t own an ON1 app can pre-order for $119.99.

For a limited time, ON1 Photo RAW 2018 is bundled with some excellent bonus materials which will include: Three ON1 Photo RAW 2018 Courses by Product Director Dan Harlacher, and all of their 2017 and 2018 Loyalty Rewards. A single purchase of ON1 Photo RAW 2018 works with both Mac and Windows and includes activation on up to five computers. The full release of ON1 Photo RAW 2018 is currently scheduled for the end of October. ON1 will also be releasing another update to the previous version, ON1 Photo RAW 2017, later this year. This update will include support for new cameras, lenses, and bug fixes.

Samples of the beautiful new interface:

Aurora HDR 2018 Pre-Order – ONLY 7 DAYS LEFT!

 

Aurora HDR 2018 will be released on September 28th. Until then, you can buy it for Windows and Mac at a Discounted price PLUS BONUSES!

Pre-Order Pricing:

  • Current users of Aurora HDR may upgrade at a special pre-order price of $49 ($59 MSRP)
  • New users can purchase Aurora HDR 2018 at a special pre-order price of $89 ($99 MSRP)
  • A collection of bonuses will also be included with every purchase.

Pre-Order Bonuses:

  • Trey Ratcliff Deep Dive video (HDR Training by Trey Ratcliff)
  • Travel Photography Tutorials by Matt Granger (2 hours of tips, tricks and techniques to capture the best travel photos)
  • Source Brackets (5 sets of HDR brackets)
  • 3-month Zenfolio Pro website, including a complementary design consultation. $60 value.

Aurora HDR 2018 works for your RAW files, your single-shot (non-HDR) photos, as a stand-alone app OR as a Photoshop Plugin.

Take Advantage of this new release at a Discount by ordering before the release, before 9/28/17!

 

On1 Announces a New On1 Resize 2017 With a Great Discount

Many of my students and clients know that resizing digital photographs to a larger size with any kind of clarity is nearly impossible. That is – anybody who didn’t use Genuine Fractals in the past, which became a part of the On1 Suite of products a few years ago.

On1 Resize 2017 uses a fractal algorithm to resize images to MUCH larger sizes, while maintaining, and in many cases, improving the clarity of the image.

New customers can purchase On1 Resize 2017 for $20 off the $79.99 MSRP through the end of September, 2017 – that’s $59.99 for the best, high quality photo enlargements possible!

To learn more, please click here – and claim your discount now!

  • Get the industry standard for photo enlargements and keep all the sharpness and detail in your photos
  • New Browse module included for finding, culling, organizing your photo library
  • Easily prepare your photos for print, even mobile phone images!
  • Works as a plug-in for Photoshop & Lightroom and as a standalone app
  • You also get a free upgrade to the next version coming this year!

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MacPhun Aurora 2018 PreOrder for Mac and Windows – SPECIAL PRICING!

The pre-order of Aurora HDR 2018 starts on September 12th for both Windows and Mac Versions!

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.

Offer Availability:

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

Pre-Order Pricing:

  • Current users of Aurora HDR may upgrade at a special pre-order price of $49 ($59 MSRP)
  • New users can purchase Aurora HDR 2018 at a special pre-order price of $89 ($99 MSRP)
  • A collection of bonuses will also be included with every purchase.

Pre-Order Bonuses:

  • Trey Ratcliff Deep Dive video
  • Travel Photography Tutorial by Matt Granger
  • Source Brackets
  • 3-month Zenfolio Pro website, including a complementary design consultation. $60 value.

What’s new in Aurora HDR 2018:

  • Next-generation Tone Mapping – A new smart Tone Mapping algorithm automatically reduces noise, and produces more realistic and natural initial results.
  • Mac and Windows versions – Aurora HDR 2018 is available both for Mac and PC users, enabling mixed-computer households to share the same product key.
  • Lens Correction Tool* – The new Lens Correction filter easily fixes all kinds of lens distortion, from barrel and pincushion to chromatic aberration and vignetting.
  • Transform Tool* – Easily scale, rotate and shift your image to better fit your vision.
  • Dodge & Burn Filter – Selectively lighten or darken specific areas of an image to artfully direct your viewer’s eye towards the key subject of your image, similar to a traditional darkroom technique.
  • HDR Enhance Filter – Adds details and clarity to an image, adjusting colors, details and contrast without creating artificial halos or other problems.
  • User Interface – A new, modern and responsive user interface brings a powerful, yet  joyful experience to HDR photo editing.
  • History Panel – An easy-to-reference list of edits made to your image, the History panel allows you to click on any editing step to revert the photo to an earlier stage of editing.
  • Touch Bar support for Mac – Aurora HDR 2018 adds Touch Bar support to give new MacBook Pro users fast access to key editing features and speed up their workflow.
  • Image Flip and Rotate* – Perfect for correcting photos with incorrect horizons or making creative compositions or other stylistic changes to an image.
  • IMPROVED:  New Structure Algorithm – The re-developed Structure tool allows you to adjust detail and clarity of an image to get a classic HDR effect with great detail or a smoother effect with less details.
  • IMPROVED: RAW handling – An improved RAW conversion brings out more details in shadows/highlights, displays colors more accurately and reduces noise in RAW files.
  • IMPROVED: Crop tool update – Now specify custom crop sizes for even more versatility.
  • IMPROVED: Speed – Faster merging and masking performance, improvement in RAW image processing.

* Lens Correction and Transform tools, as well as image flip and rotate will be available in the Mac version at launch, and arrive in the PC version with the first free update in the beginning of October. Other tools and features that are currently available for Mac only would be added to PC version by the end of the year.

Update released for MacPhun Luminar

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

 

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!!!

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!

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