The new On1 Photo RAW 2020 is Released, and it’s AWESOME!

ON1 Photo RAW 2020

On1 Photo RAW 2020 is OUT!

I’ve been speaking so highly of On1 Photo RAW for so long, I’ll bet you know all the previous features by heart! If you don’t, I recommend you check out their site for the wealth of information on just how this can be the MOST powerful image editing program you can use. Yes – I said it! As far as image editing, this program is in SO MANY ways more intuitive and simpler to use than Photoshop (and you KNOW I LOVE PHOTOSHOP!), and since it has so many “automatic” features that you can tweak, I feel that in many ways this give the user greater power to perfect their images in a more efficient manner. AND, the license is a LICENSE, NOT A SUBSCRIPTION!

With Photo RAW 2020, you’ll encounter SO many new, exciting AI-based features, even avid Photoshoppers will find themselves opening On1, just to plain ‘ol get things done.

Here’s some of what’s new in this version:

  • New AI Match — Match how your raw photos look to what you saw on the back of the camera. This automatically detects when you shoot in black and white or custom film looks in your camera.
  • New AI Auto Tone — The new algorithm does a much better job on all types of photos, also controls the amount of auto-tone you want. By analyzing thousands of photos, the algorithm has learned how to do an even better job, especially on tough images.
  • New Speed & Performance Updates — Opening raw files in Edit is up to two times faster, and brushing is smoother, even on integrated graphics cards.
  • Enhanced Raw Processing for Fujifilm – The decoding of Fujifilm X-Trans raw files has been improved to reduce scalloping and other artifacts.
  • New Hottest and Trending Presets — Over 100 new looks and styles curated from today’s hottest photographic trends. We also added tons of new skies, backgrounds, and textures for your masking pleasure.
  • New SmugMug Integration — Select photos and videos, then publish them to any of your SmugMug galleries. Even create new galleries and control the size of the photos you upload. I love my Smugmug membership, and if you use their service, this new function is a BOON!
  • New Custom Camera Profiles — Get predictable, natural color results by creating custom profiles for your camera and lights. We have partnered with X-Rite, the leader in color management, to make this easy. Photograph an X-Rite target with your camera, then import it into ON1 Photo RAW, then send it to the X-Rite Camera Profiler software to build a custom camera profile.
  • Better Noise Reduction — The new state-of-art noise reduction algorithm can reduce noise, both color and luminance independently, while maintaining detail, even with today’s ultra high-ISO cameras.
  • New Color Balance Filter — Remove a cross color cast from the shadows or highlights or create unique duotone or tritone tints by adjusting the color and brightness of the highlights, mid-tones or shadows.
  • New Weather Filter — With the new Weather filter in Effects, you can add rain, snow, and fog to your photos to create a realistic atmosphere.
  • New Channel Mixer Filter — For precise black and white conversions, channel swaps for infrared, or shift entire color ranges.
  • New Sun Flare Filter — Add realistic sun spots, lens flares, and bokeh to your shots all powered by real photographs from renowned photographer and educator Matt Kloskowski.
  • New Print Module — Print contact sheets, a wall portrait, or tile multiple photos into package prints, the improved print dialog can handle it all. Easily print individual images. Also, print multiple photos on one piece of paper to create packages like 2 5×7’s or 4 4×5’s. Add watermarks and sharpen before you print.
  • New Timeline Albums — Exploring your photos by date has never been easier. The new automatic timeline albums organize your photos by year, month, and day.
  • New Map View — View where your photos were taken on a map, explore photo locations, and add location metadata to photos that don’t have GPS metadata. Even search by location address to find photos quickly, without having to add additional metadata.
  • New Focus Mask Overlay — Now you can view what’s in-focus in our photos easily. The new Focus Mask overlay marks the areas of best focus with green so you can compare similar photos and pick out the sharpest photo quickly.
  • More Language Support — ON1 Photo RAW is now localized into eleven languages, giving many more photographers access to the best photo editor out there. It currently supports English, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, Italian, and Dutch.
  • New Enhancements — Before/after image preview splitter, control preset opacity from the preset browser, Windows installer now gives the option to install on other drive, UNC paths on Windows, Lossy Canon CR3 support, Visualize brushstrokes with a red overlay.
  • New Camera and Lens Support Added 

And all this is just for their initial release of 2020! Updates and upgrades will introduce more features.

And remember, On1 Photo RAW 2020 can stand alone, or can be used as a plugin for Photoshop – so you get the best of both worlds!

Price and Availability.

ON1 Photo RAW 2020 is available today for download from the ON1 website. Previous owners of any ON1 product can order the upgrade for just $79.99, and those who don’t own earlier versions of ON1 can order the full version for $99.99. For a limited time, ON1 Photo RAW 2020 is bundled with launch bonuses that include an additional 100 pack of presets covering some of the hottest looks and trends. A single purchase of ON1 Photo RAW 2020 works with both Mac and Windows and is a perpetual license (own it forever) for activation on up to five computers. A free 30-day trial with no watermarking and no credit card required is also available from the ON1 website.

 

 

 

Luminar 4 AI Structure is AMAZING!

Skylum Luminar 4 Logot

Skylum Luminar 4 is Coming – with AI Structure Enhancement that’ll blow your mind!

Coming this Fall, Skylum will be releasing Luminar 4 – a powerful yet intuitive image enhancement tool. While it already includes such amazing AI enhancements such as:

  • Accent AI 2.0
  • AI Sky Enhancer
  • Pre-created “Looks” Presets
  • POWERFUL adjustable filters
  • A manual Structure filter
  • And SO many more ways to automatically or manually improve your images
  • A Photoshop Plugin Feature

But one of many new features that’re coming in version 4 is the AI Structure Enhancement! Automatically enhance contrast and details – without the trouble of manual masking (hiding what you don’t want to affect). Make your images come to life with the hit of a button!

Click HERE to Pre-Order Skylum Luminar 4!

Just take a look at the demo video below:

 

On1 Announces DEAL + NEW Products Coming SOON! (including video editing!)

On1 is working hard to be your GoTo Suite of software, for those who want to own licenses, not subscriptions!

In the coming months, ON1 will be delivering a complete line of new photo and video products providing an integrated creative workflow. New products will include ON1 Photo RAW 2020, ON1 Photo Mobile, ON1 Video, and ON1 Sync Service. Check them out here and stay tuned!

You read that right – VIDEO!!!

And, if you purchase version 2019.6 by August 31st, you get a 2 for 1 Special – Photo RAW 2019.6 now, and a FREE UPGRADE to On1 Camera RAW 2020, when it’ released this fall!

On1 also offers an AMAZING training site, to learn their software, access classes, download presets, learn pro Tips and More. It’s called On1 PLUS – check it out here!

Skylum Luminar 3.1.2 Update is out – and 4th of July Offer

AWESOME 4th of July pricing on Skylum Luminar

a powerful image editor, that can work as a stand-alone image management, image editing system, or can work with Photoshop and Lightroom as a plugin!

New in Luminar 3.1.2:

  • A new “On This Day” photo organization feature
  • Faster import from a memory card on Macs
  • Add plugins from other manufacturers, like the Nik Collection
  • Faster scroll and speed improvements in Windows
  • Overall performance and stability improvements – works better with large libraries

With THIS OFFER, Pricing is:

JixiPix Summer Sale – 30% OFF Amazing Art and Creativity

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!

 

LAST DAY for Discount on Skylum Luminar 3.1

Luminar 3.1 Discount ends in 24 hours

You’ve already heard me extoll the virtues of Skylum’s Luminar 3.1. An advanced image editing alternative, for which you own the license, without a subscription.

If you don’t recall ALL that it can do, please visit this page.

This offer includes Luminar 3.1 at 70% off! – That’s $49!!!

AND, it includes the excellent bonus: Photography 101 Video course by SLR Lounge!

I am unsure if the usual coupon will work on this promotion, but you might as well try entering SGANS_DISC at checkout. It may save you an additional $10.

On1 Photo RAW 2019.5 Discount Ends May 15th!!

ON1 Photo RAW 2019.5 - The Best Alternative to Lightroom and Photoshop

$30 OFF On1 Photo RAW 2019.5!

By now, many of you may know WHY I suggested backing up your systems with older versions of Adobe software installed. Unfortunately, I was under NDA, so I could not disclose that as of a few days ago, Adobe has pulled ALL previous versions of the Creative Cloud Apps, leaving only this version and the last most recent version. In this case, leaving only last year’s and this years. An exception to this is InDesign, which, for a while will still offer access to older versions. While this doesn’t affect people who bought boxed versions of software (despite some technical difficulties in accessing the electronic download files at the moment), anyone who was using something from CS6 Subscription, to CC2017 are out of luck in ever restoring these versions, if necessary. This includes me – who started using the subscription model at CS6.

I know that Adobe is not doing this because they want to. I know they have a legal reason for doing so (which was not disclosed to us), but it goes against every promise Adobe made to it’s subscription users from the beginning – the promise that we’d have access to older versions at any time.

For people who have been balking about the subscription model, this has just added fuel to the fire.

The good news for those who need alternative software to Adobe’s Photoshop/Lightroom bundle, there are a few great alternatives. In a previous post, I revealed a discount from Skylum, on their Luminar offering.

But, On1 Photo RAW has extended it’s $30 off discount in it’s software until May 15th.

SO many features to list, but the new ones are:

  • Dual Mode — Easily undock the Browse Module from the Edit Module, use a second display, or make sales or client presentations on a projector or TV. The dual mode will allow photographers to customize how they want to work when browsing and editing photos.
  • Edit History — A full edit history will be added when working on photos. Each editing step will be viewable, along with the ability to roll-back and compare adjustments. Photographers can also revert to the beginning of the editing session.
  • Settings Applied Info — Photographers will be able to quickly view which modules, tools, and filters are applied to a photo. This non-linear approach will also allow photographers to double-click on a setting and jump straight to it for further adjustments.
  • Selective Sync — Enhanced granularity in which settings to apply when syncing your settings (or pasting and saving a preset) will be added. For example, photographers will be able to drill down and only apply a white balance adjustment. The ability to sync cropping, retouching and brush strokes between photos will also be included.
  • Hierarchical Keywords — The master keyword list will now support nesting keywords inside of other keywords. Nested keywords will allow photographers to organize keywords as they see fit. Importing a list of nested keywords from other apps like Adobe Lightroom® will also be supported.
  • Apple® Photos® Extension Enhancements — Integration with Apple Photos now supports the full raw data, improving adjustments to tone and color. It also supports re-editable non-destructive editing and more native ON1 Photo RAW features like layers, crop, and text.
  • First Launch Experience — If it is your first time using ON1 Photo RAW, there will be new walkthroughs to help you learn the basics. This will give photographers a running start and directs them where to learn more.
  • Tool Tips — Tool tip animations will be added to improve the usability and shorten the learning curve for each tool.
  • Layers Enhancements — Create a new canvas of any size or change the size of the existing canvas.
  • Text Tool Enhancements — Add a background color to a text box and control its opacity. Easily control the character and line spacing. New options also will allow photographers to duplicate and change the order of text boxes and automatically insert text from a photo’s metadata.
  • Performance Improvements — Zooming, panning, and brushing are now much faster. A new preview quality option can help increase performance on lower-end and integrated video cards as well. Export is now up to 10x faster when resizing or exporting a photo or photos already edited.
  • Local Adjustments — The Local Adjustments tools will be faster to brush and adjust.
  • Windows High-DPI — Support for high-dpi displays on Windows will be dramatically improved. The scaling of the fonts and controls will work much better, especially on 4k displays and laptops.
  • Keywording — Keywords will be easier to search, add, delete, and modify. Also, keywords are now case sensitive.
  • Soft Proofing in Resize — The soft-proofing feature will also be available in ON1 Resize (Genuine Fractals®).
  • Drag and Drop from Film Strip — Drag and drop photos from the film strip to add them as new layers.
  • Increased Thumbnail Size Range — The range of thumbnail size will be increased, so photographers can go all the way up to two giant thumbnails or down to tiny thumbnails to survey an entire folder.
  • Default Photo Location — Now control the default photo location in Browse. This is where ON1 Photo RAW will look to find photos instead of the Pictures folder.
  • Preview the Resize Algorithm — When using the Genuine Fractals algorithm, photographers will be able to preview the resulting quality at 100% zoom to more accurately adjust the options and sharpening.
  • Persistent Crop Preset State — The crop tool settings will be persistent and remembered across photos.
  • Search by Adjustments Added — Search for photos based on specific adjustments applied such as cropped, retouched, etc.
  • Update to Lightroom Migration — The Lightroom Migration tool will now migrate the pick and reject flags.
  • Added for Support New Cameras and Lenses
  • Many other under-the-hood bug fixes and performance improvements.

On1 Photo RAW works with RAW, jpg, psd, and so many more file formats, you OWN your license in perpetuity, and you can install it on up to 5 Windows and Mac Computers. Check it out, NOW!

Skylum Luminar 3.1 Sale Ends May 14, 2019

For those of you who want to get out of the Adobe software subscription plans and still use POWERFUL image editing software at a reasonable price for a license you own, please note that Skylum Luminar’s Spring Offer is ending in less than a week!

Don’t forget the pricing – and to add SGANS_DISC as your coupon code!

Despite the fact that Under pressure, Adobe has reconsidered it’s “test” of new pricing for it’s photography bundle and gone back to $9.99/mo for Photoshop/Lightroom, this is a serious consideration for photographers who want powerful image editing capabilities. One never knows what’ll happen in the future.

Adobe Hikes the Price of it’s Photography Plan – Some alternatives

Edit (5/8/19): Adobe appears to have succumbed to the pressure. They’ve currently withdrawn their price hike, for the moment.

On May 2nd, Petapixel posted a story about Adobe increasing the price of it’s Photography Plan from $9.99/mo to $19.99/mo. Doubling it’s price!

As you all know, I’m an Adobe person. I love the Adobe ecosystem, it’s offerings, and it’s power. Photoshop was my first “Adobe baby”, when I started using it at Version 2.5 (before layers were invented, let alone, editable text!). I am an Adobe Certified Instructor for Photoshop and an Adobe Community Professional.

However, I don’t know if this price increase is a great idea for Adobe, unless they’re comfortable losing their Photography customers. YES, paying into the subscription plan will keep you up to date on ALL the new features of Photoshop and Lightroom as they come up. YES, Photoshop is still the most powerful image editor out there, especially for people who want to create composites and compositions, include the ability to create video (and work with video clips), and work in 3D in their image editor. It has many graphic features not employed by it’s competitors in the image editing space. However, for those who are strictly focused on their photography, who want power and don’t care about Photoshop’s powerful design capabilities, their 3D, and their video options (and more), there are some AMAZINGLY POWERFUL Alternatives:


ON1 Photo Raw is about to release their 2019.5 version of their incredibly powerful image editing software. This software has functions that replace much of Lightroom, and Photoshop allowing Presets, Filters, Color Look-Up Tables, POWERFUL AI lead masking, retouching, layers, HDR, Panorama,World Class image resizing and more. On1 Photo Raw allows for:

  • Image organization and Editing
  • Working with any file type you throw at it: RAW, jpg, psd, png, and more
  • Installation on up to 5 computers, Mac or Windows
  • No Importing!
  • Direct migration from Lightroom (so you don’t lose the work you’ve done)
  • Tons of tutorials

On1 Photo Raw costs $63.99 (for upgrade), $79.99 Full Version, or $129.99 (including On1 Plus Pro – amazing support, free presets, and more). And you OWN the license – NO SUBSCRIPTION. Buy 2019.2 today, and you’ll receive the upgrade to 2019.5 for free, when it comes out.


Skylum is offering a Discount to their Luminar 3.1 application until May 14th.

Luminar 3.1 offers:

  • AI Image Enhancement (one click enhancements)
  • A Full-Featured Organizer and Editor (with keywording, labeling, rating and more)
  • Powerful Presets to use as they are, or to edit
  • Layers, Blends, Filters (50+), Masks
  • AI Sky Enhancer
  • AI Foliage Enhancer
  • Erase Unwanted Objects
  • Powerful Noise Reduction
  • Non-Destructive Photo Editing
  • Workspaces
  • Activation on up to 5 Computers – Windows or Mac

And, if you order before May 14th, you get a great discount, Plus “Photography 101” Video Course at a SERIOUS discount!

$60 Full Price ($50, with discount code: SGANS_DISC) – regular price $70
$69 including Photography 101 Video Course ($59, with discount code: SGANS_DISC) – regular price $169!
$129 including Aurora HDR and Photography 101 Video Course ($119, with discount code: SGANS_DISC) – regular price $268!

Again, you OWN the license – no subscriptions!


Affinity Photo is also a powerful alternative for Photoshop. And serif.com has created a strong ecosystem of their own – offering an Illustrator and an InDesign alternative as well. Affinity Photo can be purchased at $69.99 (Canadian dollars)

And for those of you who like to work with Donation-ware (FREE, but requesting donations), please take a look at GIMP – a powerful, cross-platform image editor at https://www.gimp.org

If you feel I left your favorite out of this list, please say something in the comments!

Luminar 3.1 update announced – with a FANTASTIC new Accent AI Feature

Skylum has announced the V3.1 Update To Luminar, and WOW is it terrific!

With an update that includes “Accent AI 2.0”, Artificial Intelligence helps you enhance your images to a whole other level! Dozens of adjustments available within one slider! With extra technology to recognize and enhance people in your photos separately. How easy to get amazing images with one click!

But, they didn’t lose their full-featured editor and all it’s enhancements, along with tons of presets to get you started in making your photo yours (if you wish to use them)!

Until May 14th, Skylum is offering the following:

Anyone who wants a smooth, easy-to-use, photo editing application will not go wrong with this app (it also comes with Photoshop and Lightroom plugins, for those who are Photoshoppers).

This is software for which you OWN the license. No subscriptions required!