elements – Gavtrain.com

Gloucester prison group shoot

Going to prison isn’t something I’d ever want to do. But going to a decommissioned prison and having exclusive access to all areas is my sort of event.

Gloucester prison is an incredible location to visit. Its last residents left 5 years ago but luckily Brian and P-J came along to play the part of prison inmates for the day. The cold, small cells with peeling paint may have looked grim but photographically they were perfect and both models really got into character.

Being a winter workshop and with small windows in the cells, we needed extra light to create mood and atmosphere in the photos. The photographers on the workshop got to work with some excellent continuous light courtesy of Rotolight Aeos LED panels and the small but powerful Pixapro Pika200 flashes.

Of course you need more then a great location, great models and great light to take great photos and luckily we also had a great group of photographers. I loved watching them take my original idea and turn it into something unique. It’s not often you get to take part in a shoot like this, so it was wonderful to see so many photographers making the most of the opportunity.

The whole thing was organised by Olympus UK and was open to users of any camera, not just Olympus users. For details of their upcoming workshops check out the Olympus Image Space events page.

Painted Corner Brushes – Friday Freebie

Here’s a painted border effect with a neat twist. First up these are paint brushes rather then a template and that means you can change the colour, opacity and use them with the Brush or Eraser tools. There’s four brushes in this set so you get one for each corners or mix and match to vary the effect.

You can download the brushes here: Painted Corners – GAVTRAIN

The brushes will work with all versions of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements however users of Photoshop CS6, CC and beyond will have the advantage of being able to increase the brush size to a maximum of 5000 pixels and getting bigger borders.

I’ve made a short video as a guide to installing the brushes and a few tips on how to use them. I hope it helps.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkr4rmZef9E&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Usage rules
The brush set is copyright Gavin Hoey 2014. 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/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Painted-Corners-GAVTRAIN.zip

You must UNZIP the action before installing it in Photoshop / PS Elements

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 🙂

Creased and Folded Action – Friday Freebie

In the real world folding a photo isn’t a smart move unless it’s heading for the bin. However in the mad cap world of Photoshop you can virtually fold a photo any time you like.

With this Friday Freebie Photoshop action folding and creasing a photo is a simple one click affair. Not only that but you’ll also get a border and some fancy shadow effects to enhance the 3D feel. The action is one of the longer ones I’ve made for a Friday Freebie and may take a minute or two to run but the wait and the effort to make it is worthwhile.

You can download the action here: Creased and folded

To use the action, start with the photo you wish to use already open in Photoshop and then play the action. The first thing it does is make a copy of your photo so the original will be untouched and safe. There’s a lot of things for Photoshop to do with this action so it may take a minute or two to run through. DO NOT switch to another image whilst running the action.

There are no options or controls for this action but at the end you will be left with several layers, so if you need to make any adjustments to the final effect you can.

As with most actions, the size of your image will effect the final effect. Smaller images with less the 2000 pixels on the longest edge are best avoided. Personally I’d also steer clear of portrait format images, this action works best with wide but not too wide shots.

The action will work with Photoshop CC, CS6, CS4, CS4, CS3 and should work with Photoshop Elements 11 and beyond too.

Usage rules
The action is copyright Gavin Hoey 2014. 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/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Creased-and-folded.zip

You must UNZIP the action before installing it in Photoshop / PS Elements

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 🙂

Pile of Prints Action – Friday Freebie

Here’s a lovely little Photoshop action which produces a very pleasing effect, all with one click of the mouse. Back in the day I recall the joy and frustration of getting a pile of prints back from the developers and sorting them into a pile of keepers and a big pile of photos fit only for the bin.

You can download the action here: Pile of prints – gavtrain

This action works best on landscape format images but will work on upright format photos too. As with most actions, the size of your image will effect the final effect and I’d suggest starting with a photo 3000 pixels (longest edge) or bigger.

The action will work with Photoshop CC, CS6, CS4, CS4, CS3 and should work with Photoshop Elements but I have yet to test that.

Download instructions
The direct link to download the actions is https://www.gavtrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Pile-of-prints-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 🙂

Spiral bound template

Why is it that the photos that look easy to shoot actually take the most time? This Friday freebie image is a perfect example. It looks like it should have been a quick thing to do but in reality it took the best part of half a day to shoot, and edit… You see, the things I do for you 🙂

I’m really happy with the end result, which of course makes all the effort worthwhile.

Full download instructions are below but you can also
Click Here To Download the Spiral Bound Template

Using the template is as simple as pasting your own photo over the template and changing the layer blending mode to Multiply. Other layer blending modes may well work too so it’s well worth experimenting. You can also try lowering the layer opacity for the photo layer and skipping through some blending mode, you’ll get a different set of results that way.

One thing to note. The Multiply blending mode will always makes your image darker, so I’d suggest adding a Levels adjustment layer above the photo (top of the layers stack) and tweaking the brightness accordingly, if you want to get an final image that matches the original photo.

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

Download instructions

Download instructions
Click the link https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_Mmmm3K1utNLTNKNGhEWXhFTm8/view?usp=sharing
1. Click the Download button

2. The download should start automatically

Perfect Photo Suite 8 First Look

There’s no shortage of plugins for Photoshop, Lightroom and Elements and many of them can really help get the most from your photos. For years I’ve been really happy with Nik Software and Color Efex Pro 4 has become a standard part of my workflow, I even did some webinars for them. The problem is, since Nik was sold to Google in late 2012 there’s been little news of upgrades, improvements or even minor tweeks and that’s a shame. At the moment it feels like Nik Software is just going to be left to fade away gracefully.

So I’ve been on the hunt for an alternative. Something that does the things I can’t do in Photoshop and makes it quick and easy too. Enter Perfect Photo Suite 8 from onOne software. You can download the free public beta here.

Alternatively if just want to dive in you can Pre-Order Perfect Photo Suite 8 here

I’ve been using the public beta version of Perfect Photo Suite 8 for the past few weeks and my inital reaction has been really positive. It does the things I do with Nik such as enhance detail in a way not possible with Photoshop and it has an excellent black and white conversion section. In fact because it’s a complete suite you could use it as a standalone photo editor or do as I do and use it as an extra add on to my Photoshop work. That does mean I don’t use modules that replicate what I would do in Photoshop but the Perfect Effects and Perfect B&W are getting plenty of use.

OnOne Software have just launched a free to try version of Perfect Photo Suite 8 Beta 2 so my advice is to download a copy and give it a spin. Do keep in mind that it is a Beta and that means they’ll be some bugs, not everything will be 100% working and the final version will be better.

I’d recommend jumping in and trying the Effects module first (File – Automate – Perfect Effects). The example above made use of the sunshine effect to add a warm glow to the image but the thing that caught my eye are the clarity style adjustments. Things Like HDR, Dark Contrasts and Dynamic Contrast are already shaping up to me some of my favourite features. There’s even an effect called Grunge… How can I resist that! All the effects come with a bunch of presets which are previewed on adjustable sized thumbnails. You can also take control with the sliders to create your own style and save it for future use.

If you do give it a go I’d be interested in hearing what you thought, especially if like me you’re a user of Nik.

Distressed Wood Frame

This week’s Friday Freebie is a frame template that has a slightly dark, moody feel. The background is a sample of flooring bought from a DIY store. It has a wonderfully distressed and weathered look to it, making it the perfect compliment to everything from coastal scenes to urban decay. Once photographed and edited in RAW, I gave the final image a light texture effect using OnOne’s Perfect Photo Suite 8 beta, perfect for adding a touch of grunge!

Full download instructions are below but you can also
Click Here To Download the distressed wood frame

To use the Friday freebie download it and open it in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, then open the photo you wish to add to the frame. Flatten any layers (Layer – Flatten Layers) and then press CTRL+A to select it all, followed by CTRL+C to copy. Jump over to the frame and press CTRL+V to paste the image on to the frame.

You’ll need to resize the image with Free Transform (CTRL+T). Use the corner handles to drag the image into the photo area and when done press Enter. Finally change the layer blending mode from Normal to Hard Light to blend the photo with the template.

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 image 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.

Download instructions
Click the link https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_Mmmm3K1utNSnFEM1UwRjkxa3M/view?usp=sharing
1. Click the Download button

2. The download should start automatically

Shooting a slide show

What do you do with all the 1000’s or may be 10,000’s of photos you take every year? There’s only so many pictures you can put on Facebook and tweeting to many photos, to often, is a sure fire way to loose followers.

Of course there’s no shortage of photo sharing sites like Flickr and the excellent 500px and uploading the best of your photos to these sites is a great idea.

In this video I have another way to show off lots of your photos in an amazing way, by making a slide show. It’s a great way to show off the photos you’ve already taken but you can also take photos specifically for use in a slide show. That’s exactly what I do in this video and I get to pass on some shooting tips along the way.

Once you’ve chosen which photos you’d like to use in your slide show, you’re ready to start putting the show together. I used Photoshop Elements to do the job but there are plenty of alternatives out there (such as Lightroom) which is good news if you’re on a Mac as frustratingly the slide show part of Elements is a Windows only feature.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmXh9poFRhI&feature=c4-overview&list=UU8Pksdbj37CdE00kmE7Z1dw[/youtube]

Need royalty free music? YouTube has you covered with thier brand new audio library, which is where I downloaded the mp3 file used in this video.

Here’s the final slide show
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onUsQsKHALw[/youtube]

This weeks Friday Freebie is a a high resolution image that adds a light flare to any image. I’ve also added some lens internal artefacts to the
template for that added touch of interest. Best of all it’s unbelievably easy to use and works with any image.

Click Here To download the Light flare template

Once downloaded, the light flare template will need to be unzipped. To apply it to your photo open an image in either Photoshop or Photoshop Elements and then open the lens flare template. Copy and paste the template over the image and change the layer blending mode to Screen. Finally use Free Transform to resize, rotate and reposition the lens flare to suite the image below.

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

Eroded Edge Texture

This weeks Friday Freebie is an eroded texture which is simple to use and gives amazing results. It’s a black and white texture that has a dark mottled centre, fading to a lighter edge.

Full download instructions are below but you can also
Click Here To Download the Eroded Edge Texture

Unlike most textures, the eroded edge effect works best with photos that have large areas of darker tones. All you need to do is paste the texture over your photo and set the layer blending mode. There are loads of different layer blending modes to choose from and they’ll all give a different look, with this texture Screen blending mode worked well as did Overlay and Soft Light.

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 texture image 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 texture without my permission.

Download instructions
Click the link https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_Mmmm3K1utNc2tESjJKYTNIUUk/view?usp=sharing
1. Click the Download button

2. The download should start automatically