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JixiPix Summer Sale – 30% OFF Amazing Art and Creativity

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JixiPix Software is offering 30% off ALL of their products, including their Premium Pack and Pro Bundle! (USE CODE: SUMMERSALE)

Their Premium Pack offers 18 Powerful, Creative image effect products in one power package. It’s standalone software, but also includes plugins for Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom, and PaintShop Pro.
Regular Price $$119.99 – Sale Price $83.99

Their Pro Pack offers more control, and allows for layers, brushes, and multiple styles. It’s also standalone software, but also includes plugins for Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom, and PaintShop Pro.
Included are: Hand Tint Pro, Impresso Pro, Pastello, Rip Studio, PuzziPix Pro and Spektrel Art
Regular Price $159.99 – Sale Price $111.99

OR get the Entire Premium Pack +Pro Bundle. Including (Pro) Hand Tint Pro, Impresso Pro, Pastello, Rip Studio, PuzziPix Pro and Spektrel Art, (Premium) Aquarella, Artista Haiku, Artista Oil, Artista Sketch, Artoon, Chalkspiration, Dramatic Black & White, Grungetastic, Kyoobik Photo, Moku Hanga, NIR Color, Pop Dot Comics, Portrait Painter, Rainy Daze, Romantic Photo, Simply HDR, Snow Daze and Vintage Scene
Regularly $229.99 – Sale Price $160.99!

But they’re also offering 30% off their DESKTOP AND IPAD PRO Apps. Get individual apps for freakishly low prices. There are FAR too many to list here, but check them all out on the checkout page (some effects are only $4.19 after the discount!)

DO NOT FORGET to use the code: SUMMERSALE at checkout, and get an amazing, amusing, creative, powerful set of image edit and effects tools for some ridiculously low prices! I love these apps (especially Spektrel Art, Watercolor StudioPro , and Impresso Pro), and I think you will, too!

 

I use Techsmith Camtasia and SnagIt, and LOVE them!

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People often ask me what I use to create my training videos and enhance my screenshots and my answer is: Techsmith Camtasia for videos, and I use SnagIt for quick captures (still or video).

Camtasia is a powerful, yet easy video editor, an screen capture tool. You can capture your monitor, your voice, your webcam, your keyboard entries, and even your computer’s system sounds, and choose whether to use or edit all of those parts, as you wish. And, it’s easy to add video captured on another device, like a video camera, a still camera with video capabilities, even your smartphone! The markup tools can be used to enhance what your viewer sees – you can add highlights, callouts of text or graphics. You can animate items in the app, you can even use your computer’s voice to speech capabilities to create closed captioning! The learning curve is simple and Techsmith has some amazing online free videos (and I teach this, as well). Check it out HERE!

SnagIt is a Screen Capture and Screen Recorder application. It will capture screenshots and Videos, and allow you to mark them up or simple quickly produce a video to share online. It doesn’t have the power of al the video editing capabilities of Camtasia, but if you need a quick and powerful capture tool with great markup functions, this is a quick, accessible tool to choose.

View both Techsmith Camtasia, and Techsmith SnagIt at Techsmith’s website.

By the way – this is one of those companies that offers smart and professional customer support. It’s one I hold up as a standard for all the rest!

Skylum Aurora 2019 Pre-Order Deal Ends Soon!

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Click here to go to website

There’s still a bit of time to get in on the amazing deal for Skylum Aurora 2019 – soon to be released. If you order it Pre-Release, you get all sorts of cool extras along with the great changes.

Pre-Order Pricing:

  • Current users may upgrade at a price of $49 USD ($59 USD MSRP)
  • New users can purchase Aurora HDR 2019 at a price of $89 USD ($99 USD MRSP)

About Aurora HDR 2019:

Skylum’s Quantum HDR Engine harnesses the power of AI for a more streamlined editing experience than ever before. It reduces burned-out colors, loss of contrast, noise and unnatural lighting caused by halos and unstable deghosting.

The Quantum HDR Engine has taken three years to create within Skylum’s AI lab, and contains the vast knowledge of the development team paired with artificial intelligence to bring you seamless HDR editing, be it with a single image or multiple bracketed shots.

Skylum’s developers tested thousands of bracketed shots through a neural network, and used the results to develop the technology needed for creating incredible HDR photographs – whether it’s real estate, landscape, cityscape or any other type of HDR photography.

Here are the most essential changes:

  • New Quantum HDR Engine
  • LUTs support with 11 New Integrated LUTs
  • Photoshop plugins support
  • New HDR Smart Structure filter for realistic and artefact-free structure (can be found in the new HDR Enhance filter)
  • Presets are now called ‘Looks’
  • Improved Adjustable Gradient filter with new sliders for Shadows and Highlights added
  • Improved HDR Details Boost Effect (the photo is shown in high-resolution while fine-tuning the filter)

And when I spoke of BONUSES:

  • Video Tutorial: Getting the Most from Aurora HDR 2019 by Trey Ratcliff
  • Landscape Photography Handbook by  David Johnston
  • Burning Moods Looks by Richard Harrington

Skylum Luminar update 1.2.0 JUPITER – released today with a GREAT deal!

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Skylum Logo Luminar Logo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, Skylum (previously MacPhun) Software released a new update to their amazing photo editor, Luminar (this version called Jupiter).
Of course, Luminar can be used as a Photoshop Plugin, but it’s also positioned to work as a Lightroom/Photoshop replacement for photo editing (all this, WITHOUT a subscription fee!)

Pricing as follows:

Current users of Luminar may upgrade for $49 ($39 with coupon code SGANS_DISC)
New users can purchase Luminar 2018 for $69 ($59 with coupon code SGANS_DISC)

BONUSES Included in this offer:

  • Luminar 2018: the most powerful and technologically advanced photo editor for Mac & Windows (worth $69) – Luminar 2018 is a fast, versatile, and intuitive image editor, which can take your workflow from RAW file to fully finished image without needing to use any other image editor.

  • The Complete Landscape Photography Guide ebook from Photzy (worth $50) – An outstanding guide written by professional photographer and writer Kent DuFault. This ebook has something for everyone, with 237 pages packed full of information and assignments that will transform your landscape photography.

  • Aerial Photography & Video with Matt Granger (worth $79) – World-renowned photographer, Matt Granger will share planning, shooting and editing aerial stills and video. Matt will also demonstrate editing with Luminar 2018 on his still aerial images..

  • Photography Tutorial by Daniel Kordan (worth $29) – Extensive tutorial with a full workflow demonstration by expert landscape photographer Daniel Kordan. This tutorial includes shooting and post-processing images in Luminar 2018.

  • 119 Dramatic & Romantic Sky overlays (worth $29) – This is an amazing addition to your photo editing workflow, and will help give boring skies that ‘wow!’ factor.

  • Splitsville Presets By Brian Matiash (worth $15) – Add a professional polish to your images with these cool presets.

We have a TON of new and updated features in this one:

Speed improvements to get more done in less time

Skylum has dramatically increased the speed of editing across all areas of Luminar. Now images open faster, filters apply quicker, and the entire application is more responsive.

  • Most users will see snappier sliders as they’ve gained performance boosts of 3-25x for easier adjustments.
  • Luminar better uses the operating system for faster performance, with many operations seeing significant boosts.

Luminar Jupiter also got numerous interface and user experience improvements based on users’ feedback for an improved editing experience. The new version has several “under-the-hood” enhancements to add stability as well as to improve performance when editing even the largest of images.

Better RAW conversion

  • Better exposure calculation. Refined initial brightness setting for RAW files produces a perfect match to how a camera saw the scene.
  • Cleaner gradients. Improved de-mosaic process for even cleaner image conversion, i.e. smooth transitions in areas like skies and shadows for accurate color and less noise.
  • Fewer halos.If an image has high contrast areas, the improved Defringe option will help with backlit areas or strong contrast.
  • More cameras, better compatibility. Now even more RAW formats can be edited natively with the RAW Develop filter. Plus, a large set of existing camera modules have been refined for even better RAW conversion.
  • Reduced chromatic aberration. If a lens shows color artifacts in high contrast or backlit areas, the new Auto Chromatic aberration removal option will help to get rid of green and cyan shifts.

Automatic lens distortion removal

Getting the perfect shot is now easier than ever. The RAW Develop filter analyzes an image and its metadata to calculate an Automatic Lens Distortion fix that can be applied in one-click. This is a perfect tool to get rid of wide angle distortion and get truer perspective lines and more attractive portraits.

Advanced support for DCP Profiles

Luminar recognizes the industry standard DNG Camera Profile, or “DCP” files, that users may already have on their computers (or have purchased from third parties) to ensure accurate and consistent colors. Users will also be able to use DCP profiles from DNG files. This feature is currently available for Mac and will be available soon for Windows.

Essential New Features for Windows Users

The Skylum team has put a lot of effort into making the Windows experience be world-class and significantly faster. In fact, the PC version now matches the Mac version for all core features with Batch Processing, Free Transform and Flip and Rotate tools.

Here are some Windows-specific additions

  • NEW: BATCH PROCESSING. The powerful Batch Processing workflow saves time and effort.
  • NEW: EASY TRANSFORMATIONS. To easily transform the shape of an image, the Free Transform tool can scale and position an object as needed. Plus users can easily Flip and Rotate an image using the Image menu commands.
  • Better cloning. Users can quickly call up the Clone & Stamp module by pressing Ctrl + J. Softness, opacity, and size of the brush can also now be modified.
  • Cleaner zooms. Accelerated zooming now delivers a cleaner image at all sizes. Images appear sharper when the zoom is beyond 100% for detail work. Plus the new version provides a cleaner preview when zoomed out to see the whole image.
  • Preview mode.To check out a photo free from any distractions users can now use Full Screen Preview – a great way to really study an image in detail.
  • Localization support.It’s even easier to use Luminar in a different language. The localizations have been improved for greater accuracy and can now be changed from the File menu in Windows version.
  • Better masking controls. Users can create masks more easily when painting masks. Holding down the spacebar and dragging with the cursor, pans and moves the image when masking.
  • Improved workflow with other applications.When using Luminar as a plugin with other applications, color profiles are properly included. This change also improves image exporting with attached profiles.
  • Shared workspaces.Users can now share their custom workspaces.

If you’ve been waiting for a great time to buy or upgrade your version of Luminar – THIS IS IT!

Here are some before and after images, made in Luminar:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDITED – Hold Off on Upgrading Lightroom CC – A Suggestion

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EDIT: I have removed the link to the website – his post is great, and I’d had good experiences with this website before, but he has a bait and switch link for free presets, that leads to a SALE page. I have NO respect for that – so although I appreciate his email, I will no longer endorse his site!

This past week, Adobe released a bunch of updates, with some EXCELLENT new features for Adobe Lightroom CC. However, an email from LightroomPresetShoppe.com an excellent resource for some very cool Lightroom presets, has sent out a warning for Lightroom Classic CC users to HOLD OFF on updating until the next version, if you do use presets and keep them organized. Here’s their message, and hopefully, we’ve caught you in time (my recommendation – never do run updates as soon as they come out – watch forums, and wait to let OTHERS “beta test” the update). In fact, there’re a lot of threads on this on the Adobe Lightroom forum at https://forums.adobe.com/community/lightroom/lightroom-classic-cc/content

Here’s the content of that email:

Hey,

How have you been? Hope you are doing great 🙂

This week…Adobe Lightroom had a major update & I just wanted to write to you guys about my thoughts on the same.

The general consensus about the update is very promising & exciting.

But…if you haven’t updated Adobe Lightroom Classic CC to the latest version i.e. 7.3…I would highly recommend you to wait until the next update even though this update has been an exciting one!

Here’s why:

1. The new update has made Adobe Lightroom a little bit slower for quite a lot of users & most importantly

2. This update has completely messed up the order of Lightroom Presets inside a Preset Folder / Group!

Q. What does this mean to you?

A. Simply put…if you have downloaded or purchased any presets either from us or any other Preset Vendor, you will observe that the order of the presets is completely messed up.

Ever since the new update…a lot of adobe forum threads have been opened up to report the preset order bug & the speed & performance issues.

The amazing engineers at adobe have already made a note of the same & have ensured that they are working towards fixing the above issues in the upcoming updates.

So we highly recommend you to wait until the above issues get sorted via the next few updates.

We are keeping a close watch on the updates & once everything looks good…we will inform you guys to go ahead with the update.

Until then…please hold on to updating Adobe Lightroom to the latest version.

In case you have already updated to Adobe Lightroom 7.3…there is not much you can do to correct the order of your presets in Lightroom at the moment.

Your best bet is to wait for adobe to release new updates which will fix the issue that a lot of people are facing with the latest version.

That’s it for now.

We hope that this gets sorted out real soon 🙂

Have a wonderful weekend & talk soon!

Best Regards,

Amit Desai.

CEO & Founder

? Lightroom Preset Shoppe

 

New Update for Aurora HDR 2018

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Macphun, soon to be changing their name to Skylum, has issued a new update to Aurora HDR 2018

Aurora HDR2018 and Luminar 2018 are designed to work together, with our without Photoshop, to enhance photographic images with powerful controls. Check out it out by clicking here, to see what these excellent applications can do, and how intuitive they are to work with.

AND, don’t forget – Luminar 2018 is STILL offered with a significant Black Friday discount of $49 ($39 with coupon code) for current users who want to upgrade, and $69 for new users ($59 with coupon code) – and remember, that coupon code is SGANS_DISC (enter code on checkout)

Here’s what’s new in the Aurora HDR 2018 v1.1.1 update:

Aurora HDR 2018 version 1.1.1 for MAC:

  • Added Luminar 2018 in plugin menu
  • Added “Expand All” feature for filters
  • Added support for Adobe Photoshop Elements 2018
  • Added amount slider for image presets in Batch Processing
  • Improved RAW, DNG support for several cameras including Nikon D850
  • Improved Touch Bar support
  • Improved Batch Processing UI
  • Improved UI and performance
  • Fixed localization issues
  • Fixed several issues related to macOS 10.10
  • Fixed colorspace mismatch issue with Adobe Photoshop plugin
  • Fixed saving issues with Adobe Lightroom plugin
  • Fixed DPI resolution issues on exporting files
Aurora HDR 2018 version 1.1.1 for Windows:
  • Added Luminosity Mask feature
  • Added Resize option to export dialog
  • Added hotkeys for main application modes, brush, zoom
  • Improved stability, particularly app crashes on exporting files
  • Improved UI and performance
  • Fixed issue with Adobe Photoshop plugin
  • Fixed image orientation issue

Getting the Update.

Aurora HDR 2018 is designed to receive all free software updates automatically. However, if for some reason this doesn’t occur, or you want to make sure you’re using the latest version:

  • For Mac choose “Check for updates” in the Aurora HDR 2018 menu in the upper left-hand corner (near the Apple logo).
  • For Windows choose “Check for Updates” in the Help menu of the top bar menu.

 

MacPhun Black Friday Offer for Luminar 2018 and Aurora HDR 2018 – PLUS Discount Coupon HERE!

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 Macphun’s Black Friday offers are here!

This year, both apps are offered with special bonuses AND with special Black Friday pricing! In fact, they’re now ALSO offering their previous versions of the MacPhun Creative Kit 2016 (and also their individual apps) at a 30% discount

About Luminar:
Luminar 2018 offers everything a modern photographer needs for photo editing, including new filters powered by artificial intelligence, major speed improvements, a dedicated RAW develop module and a forthcoming in 2018; digital asset management platform.

Users will also benefit from the new intelligent Sun Rays filter, LUT support, and real-time noise removal. With workspaces that match different styles of editing, Luminar adapts to deliver a complete experience that avoids clutter and complexity.

Luminar 2018 has been re-built from the ground up for dramatic performance boosts. Existing filters deliver richer colors and depth in less time. A brand new streamlined user interface speeds up working with presets, filters, and masks. With full support of pro options like layers, masks, and blending modes, complex repairs and photo composites can be easily accomplished.

In fact, Luminar has just received it’s first point update – the new version is 1.0.1

  • Current users of Luminar may upgrade at a Black Friday price of $49 ($39 with your coupon code)
  • New users can purchase Luminar 2018 for $69 ($59 with your coupon code)
  • A collection of bonuses will also be included with every purchase.

The Bonuses: 

  • A Pack of Urban presets from Contrastly
  • Creative Look LUTs Collection for use in Luminar 2018
  • The Ultra-Wide Landscape Ebook by Ian Plant
  • Lights&Shadows Photo Training Video by Matt Granger

Those who pre-ordered Luminar 2018, will get these bonuses for free.

About Aurora HDR 2018

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.

  • Current users of Aurora HDR may upgrade at a Black Friday price of $49 ($39 with your coupon code)
  • New users can purchase Aurora HDR 2018 for $89 ($79 with your coupon code)
  • A collection of bonuses will also be included with every purchase.

Bonuses:

  • Deep Dive video tutorial from Trey Ratcliff
  • 40 realistic presets by PresetPro
  • A Special Ebook

Coupon Code:

Don’t forget to enter SGANS_DISC on checkout, to get an additional $10 off your purchase!

On1 Photo RAW 2018 is now available!

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We’ve had the pre-order going for a while, with a very nice discount, but the ACTUAL release went live at the end of last week!

For those of you who purchased the pre-order, please visit the link provided with your purchase confirmation email to download the full release.

For those who HAVEN’T yet purchased, here’s some of what you’re missing:

Click HERE to download a Free Trial!

About ON1 Photo RAW 2018
ON1 Photo RAW 2018 includes the essential tools and features every photographer needs in their workflow. Our super fast, non-destructive, and state-of-the-art processing engine gives you an ultra smooth and efficient editing experience. ON1 Photo RAW is focused on allowing you to get the most out of every photo. Photographers now have a tool with fast photo management, hundreds of customizable photo effects, fast and beautiful HDR, panos, masking and selection tools, layers, and much more—in one app.

ON1 BENEFITS
• No subscription
• Own it forever
• Migration assistant
• Open cloud storage integration
• Hundreds of free training videos
• World-class service and support

Video Training
ON1 Photo RAW 2018 Overview: https://youtu.be/k6QWJaqwdNU
New Color Range Masks: https://youtu.be/OVAZo59TIRE
Mew Luminosity Mask Tools: https://youtu.be/v7ry-zRGqAk
HDR: https://youtu.be/BTymQgFCkh0
Pano: https://youtu.be/P6ahMfxGiHs
Paint With Color Brush: https://youtu.be/2DiuYS2UBbM
New Noise Adjustment Brush: https://youtu.be/KrM-e75OwSU
New Mask Blur Chisel: https://youtu.be/1T7ZL4vOFs4
Remove Haze from a Photo: https://youtu.be/vzz1ueLqTis

Offer Availability
ON1 Photo RAW 2018 will be available November 9th or 10th for download.

MacOS High Sierra (OS 10.13) Compatibility FAQ for Adobe Creative Cloud

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As many of you know, I’m not a fan of upgrading my operating system for a great deal of time after the release of any new ones. Currently, I’m using Sierra 10.12.6, and will be continuing to hold off on upgrades. However, some people have either upgraded already, or have bought new equipment that comes with the new OS already installed.

For users of Adobe Creative Cloud products (as well as several other developer’s products), High Sierra has introduced quite a few bugs that need to be resolved.

Fortunately, Adobe has a page about compatibility issues with several of their products, with some workarounds and temporary fixes, until they resolve the problem with a CC update.

To view the list, please visit https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/macos-high-sierra-compatibility.html

How to retain old versions of Adobe CC Software when upgrading to CC2018

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I just got back from the AMAZING Adobe MAX conference in Las Vegas, NV. Perhaps you caught some of my social posts on the events!

This MAX introduced a bunch of new device apps and updates, as well as desktop apps. BUT, it’s very important for some people to retain their older versions, when upgrading their apps. The default behavior is to overwrite previous version with the new version – for instance, if you install the new Photoshop CC, you’ll be overwriting Photoshop CC2017 with Photoshop CC2018!

If that’s okay with you, great! But, if you’re like me, and prefer to wait until bug fixes are in, but still want to see (and get used to) some  of the amazing new features in the new version.

Here, I’m going to add a set of images to ensure you see WHERE to adjust your choices so you can ensure to keep your OLD version while also installing the new version. Don’t forget to comment, if you have any questions! Or, ask on our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/aym4training

Or, on our Twitter feed at @aym4training

  1. When you open the Creative Cloud app, either from your Menu Bar on a Mac, or your Task Bar on a Windows machine, you’ll see a list of applications that’re installed on your computer, and the option to update those that have new versions available. Note: in previous versions of the Creative Cloud apps, my “previous versions” were listed as a separate section of the updaters, but now, they’re all listed by app)
  2. In this case, I’ll be updating my Adobe Illustrator application. When you click the Update  button, you’ll get a window that looks like this – at Which Point, you’ll want to EXPAND THE ADVANCED OPTIONS SECTION! NOTE: If you want to retain your older version DO NOT select the Update button yet!
  3. In the Advanced section, be sure to UNCHECK the “Remove old versions” button (on by default)!
  4. At this point, you can select the Update button. Your NEW version of the software will be installed, and it will leave your older version installed as well. Personally, I like to import my previous settings and preferences from previous versions, and tweak them in the individual apps to accommodate any changes, but that’s a matter of personal preference.

Hopefully, this will save some of you the pain of encountering some of the inevitable bugs associated with upgrading, or will allow you to work in your older versions of the applications you use, so you may collaboratively share files with others who may not have updated yet.

Please remember to comment here, or on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/aym4training/ or my Twitter feed @aym4training if you need assistance, or clarification.