A Topaz Labs Webinar Today!
Today I presented “Finding Your Photographic Style” with Topaz Labs. This is an extremely important topic that I think will be useful to any photographer from the basic beginner to the advanced photographer.
A style is not something you obtain overnight. It may not happen over the course of a year. However, when you find it or I should say when it finds you, it is unique to you and only you!
Along with this webinar, there is a free PDF of the opening presentation and 10 High-Res Texture Images that you may find useful in your journey to find your Photographic Style!
f.64 Academy and f.64 Elite are the brainchildren of Blake Rudis. While he is a landscape photographer, he is most passionate about post-processing images in Photoshop and mentoring others.
For Blake, it's all about the art and process synergy. He dives deep into complex topics and makes them easy to understand through his outside-the-box thinking so that you can use these tricks in your workflow today!
For Blake, it's all about the art and process synergy. He dives deep into complex topics and makes them easy to understand through his outside-the-box thinking so that you can use these tricks in your workflow today!
Looking forward to this Webinar Blake. I have my “L” plates on, as I am still learning to crawl, and want to progress to toddle 🙂 Best wishes from the UK .Terri
Good stuff! You will certainly learn quite a bit about how to develop your style.
Great webinar today. I even experimented with IMPRESSIONS myself on a digital photo. Thanks so much.
Thanks! I app appreciate the feedback! I was wondering how this one would go over.
Thanks for the great presentation today, Blake. Not only do you present concepts at a level everyone can grasp, but I enjoyed how you told everyone to find their own style and to not be afraid to experiment. You are a great presenter.
I know you are loyal to Topaz, but I encourage you to look at how you can incorporate your textures into Onone Software (I just like them. I don’t work for them, nor am I affiliated with them in any way). I, too, love Topaz, (I own the Suite), and I felt OnOne wouldn’t be able to compete with them; thankfully, I still gave their program Effects a try. I went to a few of their webinars, and I learned how to incorporate my own textures into the program. It is really easy to scroll through the “add” textures to a picture in their software. It provides a quick visual peek that allows one to look at options quickly. It certainly beats adding layers in Photoshop, and working that way. I encourage you to give it another look since you said you have a thousand textures. I think you might be pleasantly surprised at how it facilitates your workflow in working with different backgrounds in this area alone.
L.A. James
Thanks James! That is a very welcomed compliment! I was worried this one would not go over so well as it was very different than my usual webinar.
I have used some OnOne software but not all of it. I will have to look into it further. I appreciate the info.
Great webinar today. Downloaded it so I can watch again! It’s hard to share a start-to-finish process in less than an hour but you really managed to do it in clear and logical steps. You provided the basics for each of us to tailor our images to our own individual visions. Thank you!
Thanks for watching! I am glad you were able to download it to watch it more than once. I did put a lot into that one hour!
Blake
Could you share the link to download the textures that you offer today? Your presentation was great. I will need to see it 2 or 3 times to fully understand all you gave us.
Certainly! You can pres the download button in the post or go to this link: http://goo.gl/uZfMNc
Unfortunately I tuned in the last 10 minutes of your webinar but I will be able to enjoy looking at it at another time. It was fantastic. I’m far from being an expert with Topaz but I have just about the complete collection, I work mostly with OnOne and the textures, find it great!
I’m thinking of purchasing Topaz Impression, if I buy from you, how do I go about it? I would love to have your series of Textures also.
Looking forward to see you again in another webinar!
Micheline Tanguay
Hello Micheline! I think they are going to try and get it on YouTube soon. When they do I will embed it here.
You can get the textures here: http://goo.gl/uZfMNc
and if you go to http://www.topazlabs.com/store and click on Impression you can use the coupon code blakeweb9 to get 30% off. It is only good until the 26th though!
Blake, read your blog last week and couldn’t wait to try out Topaz’s newest app! Downloaded it last week and really love it!
Thanks to you and Topaz for making the deal amazing and for all the fab tips!!
Not a problem! I am glad you were able to get your hands on it. It is so much fun to work with and warrants so many possibilities!
Thank you Blake for a very interesting webinar. For the longest time I would listen to webinars, take lots of notes, and try to come up with similar effects as the presenter because I did not have my own style. That is probably why my earlier attempts at HDR look so different. I was copying other people’s style. Recently I have come up with my own workflow (I guess that would be my style) to get the natural effects I have always been trying to achieve. With your actions (the Digital Zone System and Color Zone System and other actions) I am now able to get the results in my photos that I had been trying to get for the last couple of years. In the past I would ask my wife what she thought of my work and she would try to be polite by I could tell she was not impressed. Now she actually says that my photos capture the moment and the colors are very accurate representation of what she remembers. Thanks again for coming up with these systems and actions. They really help me to get the results I have been trying to get since I started HDR Photography.
No problem, Don, I had fun with that Webinar! You have a very unique style that I can almost pick out right away. We have been in contact for a while with your images and you always have some amazing ones to share in the Critiques. I would say you have developed a style through your tedious editing practices! You are now refining it with the DZS and CZS and using those tools to their maximum potential!
Thanks for the textures. I enoyed the webinar yesterday and have a lot of work ahead of me! Oh well, Rome wasn’t built in a day so they say.
You are welcome, Marlene! I hope you enjoy them. Your style will develop over time, your job is to give it the time it needs and practice, practice practice. Don’t think about the work ahead of you or you will frown in your thoughts. Make small obtainable goals. Whether they are monthly, weekly, or daily. Make them small and make them achievable. Then the big picture will start to fall into place.
Great webinar. Lots and lots of worthwhile tips in how to use Topaz and PS layers. Really, liked the idea of grouping layers for history and linking a stamped layer to it. I’m new to Topaz, having purchased the full package about six weeks ago. I use Clarity a lot in Light Room and after listening to your webinar, tested Topaz clarity adjustments and find they give much better results without over processing.
Thanks for the textures. I’m incorporating these more and more into my workflow. My biggest challenge is figuring out what background texture fits.
Thanks, Mikki! The history Group is a life saver if you ever need to mask anything out on the stamp you always have the back-up. On all of my portrait edits I do that. It is always better to be safe than sorry!
The Clarity program is much better than the single slider in Lightroom or ACR, for sure!
As far as the texture that fits. Try to find one that matches the theme. A Grunge texture for my son would not have worked but something soft was perfect. Think about the subject and the story you want to tell about them through the use of other elements like textures and backgrounds. Also think about Color Theory, what colors are compliments what colors clash and what emotion you want to stir up from the color you chose. If you are having difficulty with Color Theory, I have a whole course on it in the Color Zone System found at http://www.zone-edit.com.
It is very useful to know and understand color like a painter even in the photo world.
Blake, I just viewed your most recent Topaz webinar and was blown away by your demo on Topaz Impression. I also downloaded the texture files you made available and looking forward to trying them out.Since there is no installer I’m afraid I need a little help with the installation or is this done through the plug-in itself?
Thanks,
Warren Kneis
Hello Warren!
Thanks for checking out the Webinar! The Textures do not run in the program. They are JPEG files that are just pictures that can be used in your workflow. I.E. Applying them on images with soft Light Blend Mode or using as backgrounds (like I showed in the Webinar).
I didn’t get to see the live Webinar but will be watching it from your link right after this message. Unfortunately, I do not use Photoshop so I’m not able to take advantage of the actions you have developed but I’m following along wherever I can to see where I can duplicate as much as possible in Corel’s Paintshop Pro.
I own the Topaz collection and use it one way or another on every worthwhile photo..and some not so hot photos turn out surprisingly well. I also have Onone’s Perfect Suite 8 too that includes Perfect Effects as well as a few others. My favorite two apps that I find excel is Perfect Effects layer capabilities replacing backgrounds and their Resize app. With Resize, you can crop a small portion of an original photo, convert it into a new image and blow it up to poster size or more without any pixelation.
You can probably take what you need from this to develop something unique to Paintshop Pro.
I haven’t ventured much into OnOne’s stuff, I like what I am hearing though! I’ll have to look into them too.
Thanks!
Great tutorial, Blake.
Thanks!
Blake, thank you for the Webinar and the texture collection. You certainly pack a lot of lessons into an hour. My one wish would be that you could create actions and programs (Zone series) to be used with Elements. As several others have mentioned I also use onOne as well as Topaz. Slowly, but surly I am finding my way. Thank you for your help. I wish I could use your Color Zone. I’m originally from Kansas City and lived in Platte County many years. Wish I could meet you at Lydia’s. I like your KC images.
I am sorry I do not have anything for Elements. I do not own Elements or use Elements. I don’t foresee myself obtaining it in the near future.
We live in Platte County as well. We love it here, just need a beach!