featured – Page 18 – Gavtrain.com

Water shaped heart

I love photographing water. Technically it’s not hard to do and even with basic equipment the results can be amazing but water is a challenging subject if you want consistency. Every drip, splash or droplet of water will be a little different to the last and that element of slight unpredictability is what makes every water photo unique.

In this tutorial I make use of the uniqueness of a water splash by throwing some in the air and freezing it with a burst of flash. Repeating the action produces more splashes of a similar, yet different shape and then it’s into Photoshop to make this amazingly beautiful water heart.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrY78qEw68s&feature=c4-overview&list=UU8Pksdbj37CdE00kmE7Z1dw[/youtube]

Can’t see the video? Click Here http://youtu.be/LrY78qEw68s

Equipment used in this video:
Adobe Photoshop CS6 http://www.adorama.com/searchsite/default.aspx?searchinfo=photoshop+cs6&category=4294967278+11&KBID=67338

Canon 60D http://www.adorama.com/ICA60D.html?KBID=67338

Canon 24-105L f/4 IS http://www.adorama.com/CA24105AFU.html?KBID=67338

Vanguard ABEO Plus 283CT Tripod http://www.adorama.com/VGABEO283CT.html?KBID=67338

Vanguard GH-300 head http://www.adorama.com/VGGH300T.html?KBID=67338

Two Curves Tricks – Creative Lightroom Episode 4

In the fourth episode of Creative Lightroom, I have not one but two creative techniques and both of them involve using Curves.

You can still catch the first three episodes here
episode 1, Light leak effect
episode 2, Painted border
episode 3, Selective colour

The two effects couldn’t be more different even though the same tool is used to make them. The first technique is a very gritty posterization effect which looks amazing on the right image. The second effect is perfect for anyone who scans or copies old negatives and wants to make them back into a positive.

As always it’s worth mentioning that if you’re a Photoshop user rather then Lightroom user then remember EVERYTHING I show in the video is the same as Adobe Camera RAW in Photoshop CS3, CS4, Cs5, CS6 and Photoshop CC.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsDg8EV-Byw[/youtube]

Can’t see the video? Click here: http://youtu.be/IsDg8EV-Byw

UPDATE
Lots of you have been guessing which of the men in the old photo is my Grandad. The answer is he’s the tallest one, in the middle holding his trademark pipe. As for the question of why the guy on thr right is without trousers, I’m not 100% sure. It’s probably a combination of the heat (they were in South Africa) and being taken in 1943, there was a war on!

Coffee Stain Photoshop Brushes

This weeks Friday Freebie is a set of four high resolution Photoshop brushes. What they do is probably pretty obvious but if you can’t see the photo then the words coffee cup rings should explain everything.

Click Here To Download the Coffee ring brushes

These brushes were hand crafted in my studio using only the finest tea stains (I’m not a coffee drinker) which I photographed and turned into very high resolution brushes. They are the perfect compliment to your grungy images and add some instant aging to your retro images. They work brilliantly with the ageing texture that I ran as the Friday Freebie a few weeks back. It’s also the same texture I used on the photo opposite.

Once downloaded, the brushes will need to be unzipped before they are installed. The brush set is compatible with all versions of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. If you need help installing them then remember to search on Google and YouTube for the answers.

If you create a photo using the Friday Freebie then let me (and everyone else) know by leaving the link in the comments below.

Usage rules
The brushes are copyright Gavin Hoey 2013. Use is limited to any personal, non-commercial purposes. Please share the Friday Freebie by linking back to this page. Do not redistribute the original image without my permission

Just one colour – Creative Lightroom Episode 3

In the third episode of Creative Lightroom, I have a very quick trick for reducing the number of colour tone ranges in your image to just one.

This is a really quick and simple technique that works with all versions of Lightroom including the latest and greatest version, Lightroom 5.

In the video I show you how to remove almost all the colour and leave just the reds in an image but you can just as easily leave blues, yellows or greens. I then go on to show you how to quickly tidy up any stray colour areas with the adjustment brush.

It’s worth mentioning that if you’re a Photoshop user rather then Lightroom user then remember EVERYTHING I show in the video is the same as Adobe Camera RAW in Photoshop CS3, CS4, Cs5, CS6 and Photoshop CC.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr6fSZY57R0&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Can’t see the video? Click here: http://youtu.be/wr6fSZY57R0

Industrial Template

This weeks Friday Freebie is an industrial style border and texture which has a wonderful 3D feel. The standout feature must be the rectangle of red bolts. There’s no Photoshop here’s that’s exactly as I found them.

Click Here To Download the industrial template

With those bright red bolts and the metal texture the sort of photo that’s likely to work best is something with an industrial feel. I found mono images worked well but don’t let that limit your imagination. If the red bolts are a bit too bright then reduce the templates saturation value to suit your taste.

The sample image here was simply placed above the template, resized to fit and the layer blending mode was changed to Overlay. Other blending modes will also work so experiment away.

If you create a photo using the Friday Freebie then let me (and everyone else) know by leaving the link in the comments below.

Usage rules
The template is copyright Gavin Hoey 2013. Use is limited to any personal, non-commercial purposes. Please share the Friday Freebie by linking back to this page. Do not redistribute the original image without my permission

Bringing back Photoshop’s missing filters

When Adobe moved from Photoshop CS5 to Photoshop CS6 they gave the interface a long overdue facelift. The most obvious change is the new default dark interface but to make that happen the Photoshop engineers had to remake 1000’s of buttons, icons and panels from scratch.

As if that wasn’t enough Adobe decided that now was also good time to do a spot of Photoshop spring cleaning and one place where that’s most obvious is in the filter menu. In fact at first glance you might well think that half the filters have been removed.

Take a quick glance down the filter list of Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CC and you won’t find the Artistic, Brush Strokes, Sketch, Stylize or Texture filters listed. They’re still in the Filter Gallery, just not on the filer group list.

So how do you get the full list back? The answer is hidden away in the preferences.

The option to switch on the full filter list is under:
PC Users Edit – Preferences – Plug-Ins
Mac Users Photoshop – Preferences – Plug-Ins

Tick the box marked Show all Filter Gallery groups and names, then restart Photoshop. Your complete list of filters will now be back.

Painted Border – Creative Lightroom Episode 2

In the second episode of Creative Lightroom, I have a great border technique which looks amazing especially on pictures with smooth tones at the edges. That means it’s perfect on pictures with blue skies or defocused backgrounds… just like this one.

This is a really quick and simple technique that works with all versions of Lightroom including the latest and greatest version, Lightroom 5.

At the end of the video where I show a quick way to increse the white space around the outside in the Print module but watch carefully, blink and you’ll miss it.

It’s worth mentioning that if you’re a Photoshop user rather then Lightroom user then remember EVERYTHING I show in the video is the same as Adobe Camera RAW in Photoshop CS4, Cs5, CS6 and Photoshop CC.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcfYL-sUDFI[/youtube]

Can’t see the video? Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcfYL-sUDFI

Instant Extra Confetti

This weeks Friday Freebie is perfect for wedding photographers who are looking to enhance thier conffeti photos with a burst of extra confetti.

You can download the action here: Instant Confetti

The confetti shot at a wedding is a one off event, get it right and it can be a fanstatic photo but the combination of over eager wedding guests and restrictions on confetti throwing some venues impose can make it a challenging photo too.

The action makes three layers of coloured confetti with just one click. You can then dive in to the layers and change the colour saturation, the size of the confetti and erase any stay flakes that are in the wrong place for your photo.

The action will work with Photoshop CC, CS6, CS4, CS4, CS3.

If you create a great photo with my action then feel free to link to it by leaving a comment below.

Usage rules
The action is copyright Gavin Hoey 2013. Use is limited to any personal, non-commercial purposes. Please share the Friday Freebie by linking back to this page. Do not redistribute the original action without my permission.

Download instructions
The direct link to download the actions is https://www.gavtrain.com/free/instant-confetti-gavtrain.zip

No support is provided with the Friday Freebies. If you need help Google or YouTube the question and you’ll almost certainly find the answer 🙂

Light Leak Effect – Creative Lightroom Episode 1

In the first episode of Creative Lightroom, my new 10 week series, I have a great light leak technique which looks amazing on vintage and retro styled images.

Light leaks were origianlly a problem that affected film cameras and often resulted in a ruined photo. On the rare occasion a light leak would occur which actually enhanced the photo. Using Lightroom it’s very easy to choose which photos would benefit from a light leak and how big it needs to be. On the right photo light leaks will look amazing.

It’s worth mentioning that if you’re a Photoshop user rather then Lightroom user then remember EVERYTHING I show in the video is the same as Adobe Camera RAW in Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CC.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQzIgb9G6Bs[/youtube]

Creative Lightroom… Coming Soon!

Over the past 12 months I’ve been keeping very busy making video tutorials for a range of companies. You’ve proably seen me in front of the camera as a presenter on Adorama TV but I’m also often found behind the camera recording and producing video tutorials for other companies unrelated to photography.

With everything that’s going on I’ve been neglecting my own YouTube channel a bit too much, but not for much longer.

Today I’m excited to announce that on Monday 15th July I’m launching a new series of video tutorials on my YouTube channel. Every Monday for the next 10 weeks I’ll be adding a new episode of Creative Lightroom to my YouTube channel and also posting them here on my blog.

So what can you expect from Creative Lightroom? Well the clue is in the name, every episode will focus on the creative aspects of Lightroom rather then looking at the basics or how I edit individual photos. It’s what I love doing and I hope you enjoy it too.

The sneak peek video below should give a great idea of what’s coming up.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/WRVn6C-sfWc[/youtube]