Recent Post Production Articles

Fstoppers Reviews the Trapcode Suite 15 From Red Giant

As a freelancer, I find myself taking on different roles in both production and post. I can do some modest animations, but any major work, I outsource to an animator. With plugins like the Trapcode Suite though, even a simpleton like me can make some eye-catching graphics.

Will AI Be Taking Over Your Photography?

Did artificial intelligence technology take over photography? No, it hasn’t, and it probably never will. But here is how AI might have been helping you behind the scenes all along.

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is perhaps the biggest buzzword in the world of photography and tech for 2023, and it continues to be a widely discussed topic in 2024. This stems from the fact that the industry has had mixed reactions about the emergence of AI tools for photography and raised the question of whether this kind of technology puts photographers' jobs at risk. However, much of...

 Intensive Photoshop Workshop With Lesa Snider

If you weren't able to attend Photoshop World don't worry because creativeLIVE has teamed up with internationally acclaimed speaker and author of "Photoshop CS6: The Missing Manual", Lesa Snider. In this 3-day intensive workshop, Lesa will spend each day going over photoshop selections, adjustment layers, and smart objects. Lesa's workshop has already began however there are still 2 days left to tune in to her free-to-watch workshops.

Adobe Releases Plugin to Help Migrate from Aperture and iPhoto to Lightroom

Adobe has released a plugin it promised a while ago to migrate photo libraries from Apple's soon-to-be-forgotten Aperture and iPhoto apps into its own Lightroom. If you're worried about Apple's switch to its own all-in-one photo app, "Photos," or simply want to ensure similar functionality to that found in Aperture, Lightroom has long been an industry-standard alternative. There are, however, a few notes to keep in mind with regard to migrating from these apps to Lightroom.

Blackmagic Also Announces DaVinci Resolve 11.1 Update and Videohub Software

Along side the announcements of the PL mounted Cinema and Production Cameras, Blackmagic has also supplied some updates and new software for videographers everywhere, including an update to their DaVinci Resolve system - a multi track color correction system for videographers. Alongside the announcement of the update to DaVinci Resolve, is an all new software suite, entitled Blackmagic Videohub.

Save 40% on Alien Skin Products Including Exposure X2

A few weeks ago I shared my review of Alien Skin Exposure X2, and I was amazed by how efficient it is. Not only is it an amazingly powerful tool when used as a plugin for Photoshop or Lightroom, but it’s also very convincing as a raw processing software. Until the 24th of July, the app is becoming even more attractive as it’s now available with a 40% discount!

BTS Video Discusses Sound Design in 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'

As we all know, even the most stunning visuals require an equally amazing and unique soundtrack to bring the audience's emotions to their full potential. Supervising Sound Editor and Sound Designer Christopher Boyles from Skywalker Sound discusses his work and the burden of creating original sounds for "Avengers: Age of Ultron" that will stand the test of time.

VSCO Film 03 Is On Sale Till Tuesday

For anyone who might have missed it, I did a little review of VSCO 3 last week. VSCO Film emulsions are great at emulating an analog film look for your digital photos and also offers custom profiles for your camera manufacturer, if you are shooting Nikon, Canon, or now Fuji (just for Film 03), to further improve performance of the presets.

How to Make Your Own Dust and Grain Filters

Looking to add some vintage dust and grain look to your freshly taken digital photos? You know, that look when you come across some old polaroids or 4x6 prints that you dug up from an old photo album that's been packed away in some box… or possibly scrounged from your parents? Yeah, that look of slight imperfections where the ink has been scratched along with some dust that's hard to remove.

Secrets To Getting the Orange and Teal Look in Your Videos.

It’s no secret that the orange and teal look is popular in movies and photos but getting that look without using LUTs, can seem like a mystery. Unless of course, you know exactly what steps to take in post-production. In this article, you’ll discover the secrets to getting the orange and teal look.

How to Customize the Photoshop Toolbar so That It's Perfect for You

If you’re a Photoshop user, you’ve probably noticed that there are a ton of tools in the toolbar that you never use and others that you have to hunt for. This short video explains how to customize that toolbar to trim out unnecessary icons, make space for new ones, and make your workflow much more efficient.

Simply Undefeated: We Review the Datacolor Spyder X2 Elite

If you haven't calibrated your monitor recently — or perhaps ever — you may not realize the impact it can have. It is a rather dry topic and you might want to allocate those dollars toward a new lens, which I understand, but a color-calibrating tool is an essential piece of kit and Datacolor are the best in the game.
Lighting Tips and Tricks With JB Sallee

Do you want some new or different ideas on how to use your lighting when shooting a scene, a portrait, or both? Do you have multiple strobes or lighting but haven’t really put them to the test outside with a client? This set of lighting tips from B&H Photo Video and JB Sallee may be right up your alley.

How to Set the White Balance of Your Video Footage in DaVinci Resolve

White balancing video footage is crucial to make it consistent between sequences of edits you are putting together. However, adjusting it by hand using color wheels can be quite cumbersome especially for those who don’t see colors all that well. Using DaVinci Resolve 14 beta you can, however, make this adjustment incredibly fast and easily. Let’s see how with Dave Andrade from The Post Color Blog.

Peakto Integrates Pixelmator Pro, With DXO Links on the Way

I gave a favorable review to Peakto a couple of weeks ago, and one thing I noticed is that they do frequent updates, which is a positive thing in my view. Bug fixes and new features are frequent. Today, they've offered an update to Peakto that includes integration with Pixelmator Pro, a popular photo editor. Peakto, please note, is a Mac-only application.

Add a Prism Rainbow Light Using Photoshop

Adding a rainbow to your images can be done in many different ways. However, not every technique is easily put into practice or can offer a remarkably consistent result. For example, the prism method is very efficient to get the effect on your files straight out of camera, but it can make focusing and composition a bit difficult. In this tutorial, Jessica Kobeissi will show you a couple of simple techniques using only Photoshop.

Move Your Image Library From Aperture to Lightroom With Just A Few Clicks

With the announcement of Aperture's retirement, many of Apple's software users are seeking a new home for their image libraries. One of the most obvious choices is Adobe's Photoshop Lightroom. But moving those images from Aperture to Lightroom can be a little tricky. A new app has made it out of Beta and hit the app store that may provide an easier solution.

Palette Gear Announces New Hardware, Rebranding as "Monogram"

Palette Gear has announced new modular hardware controllers while rebranding to become Monogram. Cited as 40% slimmer compared to the original Palette, Monogram's new and re-engineered modules offer compact yet versatile control and backward compatibility with first-generation modules using the new Monogram core hub.

Enhance Your Product Images with Lightroom and Photoshop

If you have limited resources available to create your product images is there any way you can make them pop in post-production? In this step by step tutorial we walk through the editing process used to finish this image.

Vimeo Launches Review Pages

Vimeo launched the upgrade to their Profile Pages a couple of weeks back and they aren't sitting back. They just came out with Review Pages, based on team and client collaboration. It's a space for notes that can be made at certain points of a video.

Fstoppers Reviews Color Cone by Picture Instruments

Color Cone boldly positions itself as a powerful but easy to use tool to augment any color grading workflow. Is Color Cone the next great addition to your post-processing ritual or just another app that you will purchase and never use again?

5 Helpful Tips for Retouching Portraits in Luminar 4

Skylum's Luminar 4 is quite the fascinating application, particularly with its artificial intelligence features that are meant to save you lots of time in post-processing work while still delivering quality results. If you are interested in using Luminar 4 to retouch portraits, this great video will give you five tips to ensure you get the best possible results.

Is Photoshop Remixing the World?

PBS Digital Studios put together "Is Photoshop Remixing the World?" a brief look at how Photoshop has effected today's culture.In the video we hear from three users, first from Jeff Huang, Art Director & Illustrator discussing the way he works with Photoshop to execute his multi layered digital illustrations. Laurent Le Moing of Picturehouse NYC, follows up to talk about the enhancing

BTS: How This Beautiful Slow-Mo Film of a House Set on Fire Was Made

Slow motion is, certainly, one of the most beautiful cinematic inventions of all time. It can show us so many things that are not normally visible and can make any "normal" scene look magical and unique. For the past few years the slow motion technologies have continued to improve, and just last year the Phantom Flex4K Digital Cinema Camera was announced introducing some groundbreaking slow motion abilities like shooting at 1,000fps at at 4K resolution. Shortly after its release, Director Brendan Bellomo and cinematographer Greg Wilson got their hands on the camera and took it for a test and created this beautiful video called "Let Me Know When You See Fire."

Image Cataloging Made Easy With ACDSee Photo Studio Standard 2019

I hope I'm not the only person who does this, but up until recently, I had not used any of the cataloging features from any image editing software. This isn't because I thought any of them were particularly bad; instead, I just have my own way of managing files and their locations. However, ACDSee has changed my mind about this.

Testing Luminar Neo Extensions

I wanted to share with you my experience exploring the new extensions available in Luminar Neo, photography software that many of you may already be familiar with. These add-ons offer specific functionalities to enhance your photographs and are each sold separately.

A Look at Replacing a Sky in Luminar Versus Photoshop

Replacing a sky used to be a tedious (though still often worthwhile) procedure, but in recent years, advancements in selection technology and even AI sky replacement tools have surfaced, making the job quite a bit easier. This great video will show you how to replace a sky using both Photoshop and Luminar 4.