For Font Fans and Font Freaks

So, I usually don’t pay any attention at all to unsolicited emails, but this one came through a trusted source, so I looked.

She sent me a link to a page that has MORE links. But these links are for Free Commercial Use Fonts.

Caveat: I have not tested all the links on this page, nor have I read all the licensing, but the few I tested link to legitimate sites, and there’s a variety of really excellent fonts on this list, so I had to share.

https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/best-free-fonts/

 

 

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:

 

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!

 

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!

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


 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 filterLUT 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!

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

InDesign – A Free Script to Rotate Single Characters INSIDE a Text Frame

InDesignSecrets.com has shared a link to a script that FINALLY allows us to rotate selected characters INSIDE a text box in InDesign. The text remains editable and the effect can be applied to individual letters, selected character, and/or dingbats. So VERY handy!!!

https://indesignsecrets.com/free-script-to-rotate-selected-characters.php

A Useful Clarification of the Term “Image Resolution” in Digital Images

In so many of my classes, particularly Photoshop, Digital Photography and the Video applications, we discuss image resolution – or DPI – dots per inch (or PPI – pixels per inch). For the most part, my students seem to grasp the concepts from when I teach in (as I describe it) “Stephanese“. But here’s another discussion on the subject – this time in “CreativeBloqese“.

Check out this article from CreativeBloq.com for further clarification on the subject of pixel resolution (height/width/depth) of an image for print and for screen viewing:
http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/what-is-dpi-image-resolution-71515673/2

1 Day Left of On1 Photo 2017 Spring Saving Event!

In 24 hours, On1 Photo 2017’s Spring Saving Event will be ending!

Get On1 Photo RAW 2017, and get a huge collection of bonus presets and textures!

ON1 Photo 2017 is the best new all-in-one photo organizer, editor, raw processor, and effects app! It includes new versions of Effects, Resize, Browse, Develop, and Layers.

Use it as a standalone app or as a plug-in for Adobe® Photoshop® and Lightroom®.

PLUS – you’ll get

  • Photomorphis Colores Y Texturas On1 Presets
  • On1 Guru Signature Preset Collection
  • Matt Kloskowski Landscape Presets

Click this banner to view your Spring Savings Discount!
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