Imagenomic Portraiture has always been my favorite skin softening product because it does a wonderful job of softening the skin without obliterating the texture like most other products (and techniques shown on YouTube). It's the secret sauce use by a lot of high end fashion and beauty photographers, so it's been a key part of my digital workflow for nearly a decade.
One of the big new features of version 3.0 is how the user-interface scales on a 4K UHD or larger display, like the NEC PA322UHD that I use.Here's the old UI which looks tiny both in thumbnail and when you click to view the 4K screenshot:
And here's the new UI which scales beautifully to any size:
The heart of the new user-interface can be found in the left panel which is functionally similar, but now just bigger and easier to read:
The new user-interface is significantly more responsive thanks to hardware acceleration, so zooming is now instant with no painful minute waiting for the softening effect to be applied.
The user-interface does lose my beloved tabs feature which allows you to experiment and see the results of different settings spread over multiple tabs, but that was a geek feature most people didn't know exist so I don't think most users will miss it.
Skin Softening Results
Original Image - BEFORE Skin Softening (Zoomed to 111%) - Click for larger version
Portraiture 3 Normal Preset AFTER Skin Softening (Zoomed to 111%) - Click for larger version
Video Tutorial
My previous tutorial on Portraiture 2 had nearly 150,000 views and the advanced techniques tutorial was featured on the Imagenomic support website. In this all new for version 3 review, I focus on both a face and full body with basic and advanced techniques with improvements that hopefully address user suggestions for my past videos:
Conclusion
If you have a high resolution display, the upgrade is a no brainer because it's so much easier (and faster) to use. However, if your budget is tight I can honestly say that I don't see any improvements to the skin softening algorithms that make me prefer the new version over the old version.
This is still a great product that I highly recommend, especially for those who are disappointed by the wealth of terrible skin softening products and techniques currently available today. It's fast and easy to use and a must have for anyone who edits a lot of photos with people.
Where to Buy?
CLICK HERE to learn more or buy today, and be sure to use my coupon code RONMART20 to save 15% on one or more Imagenomic products as shown below:
Enter the code and click update to apply the discount
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I've been playing around with the final release version of on1 Photo RAW 2019 starting with this 5 minute edit of a Nikon Z7 NEF RAW Image that was taken in a nasty display case under horrible light and quickly turned it into a pretty decent image. It was a little slower than expected on my Windows system, but it's 2.5 years old so perhaps it might be time for me to consider a system upgrade.
This next image was a quicker edit that took advantage of the effects features much in the same way Luminar offers its effects for a workspace. The net result was a big improvement in a hurry:
Here's what's new for 2019:
A New & Faster Editing Workflow –All of the editing modules from previous versions have been combined into the Edit module to create a single place for editing photos. The former editing modules are now available as tabs to allow you to work in each seamlessly without changing the application appearance. These include Develop, Effects, Portrait, and Local Adjustments tabs.
A New Workflow for Layers – ON1 Layers is no longer a separate module. Instead, the power of layers is accessible within the non-destructive workflow in the new Edit module. This allows for creating or editing multi-layered files, including raw files, and keeping non-destructive settings for each photo layer. Customers can also move, size and mask each layer. More importantly, and a new concept, each layer has its own non-destructive settings, all the way back to the original file. What’s most exciting is if you are working with raw files, powerful adjustments like exposure, highlights and shadows can now be processed using the raw data in a layered photo workflow. All without having to change modules or applications.
New Lightroom Photo Settings Migration – New AI-powered algorithms give customers the ability to transfer Lightroom edited photos, keep the non-destructive settings, and move them into ON1 Photo RAW 2019. The updated Lightroom Migration Tool in version 2019 transfers almost every edit you can make in Lightroom including raw processing, crop, retouching and local adjustments along with folders, photos, collections, and metadata.
New Focus Stacking – Automatically blend a series of photos at different focus distances to increase depth-of-field. It’s so fast, you can adjust the focus in real-time, just like changing the focus on your lenses. Think of it like HDR, but for focus instead of exposure.
New Auto-Align Layers – Easily combine multiple photos as layers, then automatically align them based on image content, making it easy to mask and blend them together.
New AI Masking Tool (coming Winter 2019) – This new tool, powered by machine learning, will allow customers to easily identify areas of their photos to create a selection or mask and the AI technology detects your subject matter and automatically creates a beautiful mask.
New Portrait Tab – The new Portrait tab automatically detects faces in your photo allowing you to easily retouch, smooth skin, brighten and sharpen eyes, and whiten teeth.
New Text Tool – The new text tool is perfect for creating posters, postcards, or adding your byline or watermark. Easily control font size, color, position, and more and then save a preset to add the same text overlay to a batch of photos quickly.
New Master Keyword List – Now you can see every keyword you use in a single, searchable list. You can quickly apply, clear, edit, or delete keywords.
Enhanced Local Adjustments – Local adjustments have been enhanced to use the raw processing data. This allows for more highlight and shadow details with more tonal range. This also includes new controls like haze, whites and blacks.
New Layered HDR Workflow – With the powerful new non-destructive layers you can combine other photos, text or alternate exposures with your HDR photos. Use the powerful masking tools to combine multiple HDR renditions even.
New Filter Options in Effects –We have added dedicated film grain, curves and color adjustment filters to Effects. These let you add film grain to color photos and make advanced, targeted color and tone adjustments faster. There’s even a new filter selector that allows you to search for filters, learn what they do and even view a sample before you add them.
New User Interface – The new user interface has a fresh and modern feel. Overall contrast has been reduced to make photos stand out along with a new font to help increase readability. Updated icons, tabs, and sliders will also take up less visual space.
Other Updates – including support for HEIC files, keyboard shortcuts for changing modules, more accent color options, color labels on folders and more.
Additional Camera Support – Added support for the Fujifilm XF10, Fujifilm X-T3, Nikon P1000, Nikon Z7, Panasonic LX100 II, Leica M10-P.
Additional Lens Profiles – Added lens profiles for: Canon EF35mm f/1.4L II USM (750), Chinon Auto Chinon 35mm f/2.8, KMZ Helios-40 85mm f/1.5, Nikon 200-500mm F5.6 174, Panasonic LEICA DG 8-18/F2.8-4.0, Panasonic LEICA DG NOCTICRON 42.5/F1.2, Pentax Pentax SMC Takumar 50mm f/1.4, Sigma Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC HSM, Sony FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS, Sony FE 50mm F1.8, Tamron 14-150mm F/3.5-5.8 DiIII C001, Tamron SP 24-70mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 (A032), Voigtländer Voigtlander Super Wide Heliar III
Probably one of the biggest new features is the built-in support for Focus Stacking, something that usually requires a 3rd party solution to get right. I wasn't able to try it out yet though as I did have images suitable for trying this feature. Here's a sample provided by on1:
Improved HDR support is included as shown in this sample provided to me by on1:
Pano Support
Stitch your images quickly with the built-in support for building panoramic photos as shown with this feature provided by on1 by Hudson Henry...
HEIC File Format Supported
I was really happy to see that HEIC files worked fine on Windows and even with no edits the images looked as good as they do on the iPhone as was the case here...
Conclusion
This is the best version of on1 Photo Raw I've used yet, so I'm looking forward to spending more time getting to know the features better. I wasn't able to deep dive with the new features just yet, but I was happy with the support it offered for my Nikon Z7raw files and Apple iPhone X HEIC files, so new camera or phone users are definitely going to appreciate it.
Where to Try or Buy?
CLICK HERE to learn more, get a free trial or buy today.
SPECIAL OFFER: Use the coupon code Mart20 to save if you decide to purchase.
If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.
If you are like me, you’ve probably been very intrigued by the cool cinemagraphs found on the web (especially on the bing.com home page), but many people like me also haven’t had the time to figure out how to do them! Most things in photography are time consuming enough, and video makes it even worse. As a result, I had little desire to find another way to consume my time.
Well I’m happy to report that after a little research I found out that it is not only easy it’s fun too! Here’s the main window of Flixel’s Cinemagraph Pro 1.5 back when I originally did this article in 2015 (page down for version 2.0):
Basically you import a video, highlight what you want to move and pick start and end points. That’s in – in no time you can have one of these running and they’ll even host the cinemegraph on their web site – for free (size limitations and content restrictions apply).
It took me a bit to get the hang of it, but within a few minutes I had my first cinemgraph of my daughter below:
Yes, we think it is creepy too!
Not only did we think this was creepy, I quickly learned how you must keep things very still or else you get the shifty eyes problem featured here.
What was about this one is that I could export the still image portion and do a quick edit on it in Photoshop then send it back to Cinemagraph Pro. This allowed me to get rid of some unwanted skin blemishes caused by the fact that neither my daughter or I had planned to do this so no real life skin preparations were made!
Without any prep, I tried again:
Ok, cool but crooked as hell so let’s try again
As a second attempt the concept was good but the execution was bad, so I tried again:
Almost awesome
The ottoman was a little more stable this time as a tripod, but still not perfect. I also started noticing that my background was a bit dirty so I figured I needed another try where I actually prepared for a video (imagine that)!
My final attempt (the lead cinemagraph with cognac at the top of this article) included some preparations, but was done in one take. From start to finish I spent about 20 minutes, 16 minutes of which was preparation time getting “the set” ready.
Video Demos
Here's the best Flixels of 2017:
and here's a tutorial that shows how to use the latest 2.0 version for the Mac:
Conclusion
This is a fun and simple process that can be done on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad quickly and easily. While I’m disappointed that no Windows version exists, there is a product called Microsoft Blink (see below) that does cinemagraphs for free!
Click here to save 10% off your order. If you do this properly, then you should see the discount automatically applied as shown below:
This is a limited time offer and prices are subject to change. When this deal expires, please use THIS LINK instead so that I may get credit for the referral – thanks!
App Store
This product is also available on the AppStore:
iPhone
iPad
Cinemagraph Pro+ for OS X
WARNING: No discount, use this link to get a discount
Cinemagraph+ for OS X
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I rarely do unboxing videos, but for this product I created the article entitled First Look - Meural Digital Canvas Photo Frame 2.0where I did just that. The reason for this is that I wanted to have a little more bake time with this newest version of the wildly successful Meural Digital Canvas that I first reviewed in August 2016 before I rendered my final verdict on this newest version.
In the first look article you can get an idea of what you get in the box and the frame itself (the Lenora Black in this case), so in this review I'll focus on other relevant points.
Overview - What is a Digital Canvas?
Simply put, this is a dedicated 1080p video display with a low cost computer built in that allows it to talk to my.meural.com. This means that there's a Meural cloud service that is used to keep the files you upload and the settings you set for all of the frames you own. This allows for easy sharing of data between your computer, apps and the frame itself.
My TV can computer can show photos, why is this better?
While it is true that many smart devices such as modern TV's can show photos, the problem is that this is not their primary purpose so displaying photos typically involves a lot of hassle and it's easy to close the app that is playing the slideshow. As a result, this makes these devices - just like your computer - good for a one off slideshow, but not something that is literally living art in your home.
I've bought small digital frames before and they suck, how is this different?
There's an old saying "you get what you pay for" and sadly most small form factor digital displays are just that. They are a horrifically low quality video display and a terrible software experience making them worse than using your TV or computer for displaying photos and the software is so poorly done that most people are usually turning them off within months of purchasing them.
Great for portraits in offices or homes
What makes Meural different is that this is a high quality display, as the price would suggest, with high quality software with the dedicated purpose of making it easy to display your photos and add more from any location that has internet access.
What's more, you aren't limited to your own photos, so add the subscription service and you can enjoy others high quality art for those times when you want to enjoy art that exceeds your own abilities. To see examples of art you can enjoy on your frame, check out the galleries from artists and partners who have licensed work to Meural for use on your frame.
Setup
Device menu displayed via gesture feature
Setup for this device is much like any other IoT device these days - this frame has its own wifi access point that you connect to from your phone, then use the app to setup the device and get it on your local network. Generally speaking, it works just as easy as any other device of this type (like Nest products), which is to say an average user won't have any trouble setting it up. Some beginners may struggle a bit though.
With that said, one of the setup experiences involves using the gesture support on this frame and that's one of the few areas where I don't have good things to say about this product. Simply put, the gesture feature is terrible.
Frequently I found myself flapping like a bird trying to get the gestures to work with roughly a 5% success rate, but fortunately you can completely ignore this feature after you've set up the frame (and even with setup, it's optional).
Hanging the frame
Hanging the frame requires a drill and a hammer and a little patience with the measurements. It took me about 15 minutes from start to finish to hang the frame. While they include a small level with the frame, I still think it's better a real level for better accuracy. I failed to do so when hanging the frame at my parents house and it ended up being slightly off so it drives me crazy.
If you are mindful when hanging, you can set your frame up where it can change orientation from landscape to portrait, which is handy when you get tired of photos of one orientation and you want to mix them up with those of another. I love this feature, so I always make sure I hang my frames in a way that supports both orientations.
Settings
While Meural is constantly improving the settings experience, as of December 2017 here's what they looked like in the web browser:
App Experience
Here's a demo of what you can do using the app using an iPhone (in this case, the iPhone X) with the phone upright for the first part, and the phone in landscape orientation for the second part:
It should be noted that my mom had a iPhone 4s which wasn't supported since the app requires iOS 10 or later, and her phone only supports up to iOS 9. While it is cool to have apps that take advantage of the latest features, I wasn't too happy about a 4 year old phone being unsupported.
Click here to learn more about the requirements of the app on iOS and click here for Android. While the app has features like being able to switch the images in real time, you can also use the web interface from your computer or phone as another option.
I really wish Meural would be more thoughtful about backwards compatibility for phones or make all of the app features redundant in the web interface so owners with older phones would have more options.
Another frustration point is that the app can only control the frame when you are on the same network, so I can't control the frame on behalf of my parents remotely. Since they are both over 80, this is a real bummer as that could be quite useful.
TIP: The weakest link of any connected device is getting it on a networking and keeping it on the network. The Meural frame is no different, but I do find that it loses its network connection more than other devices. When this happens, the best bet is to just unplug and reconnect the frame to its power source and the connection will restore itself. I suspect this is due to the device failing to send the router a keep alive message, so hopefully this is something they will fix in the future.
Controlling the frame from the app demo
Customization
To me the key differentiator of Meural over the competition is the customization that it supports. In addition to the settings shown earlier, the scheduler allows you to pick which play list you display at each hour of the day plus when your frame sleeps. This is a HUGE benefit over all other solutions I've ever tried, and it's the reason why I proudly own three Meural frames.
Here's an example of how you configure this feature from the web browser (only):
There's a drag and drop interface for choosing which playlist you'd like to display on the frame at any given hour. Once you drop it on the frame you can drag it have it span multiple hours as I've done with the 78 image "portraits" playlist. You can also have it randomly choose play lists for part of the day and fixed playlists for other parts. Finally, you can specify which hours the frame sleeps which is my favorite feature as I don't want my frame running at night.
For simplicity sake, I've only shown two playlists here but it supports as many playlists as you've downloaded to your frame. You can also avoid this altogether and turn on "Playlist Rotation" and "Canvas goes completely dark" (shown earlier) if you want the frame to be more hands off and make those decisions for you.
This is the game changer feature that I can't live without!
Frame & Display Quality Thoughts
The display used in this frame is a good quality 1920 x 1080 (1080p) full HD display that resolves to 100 pixels per inch, and it features a matte finish to avoid reflections. Since it is calibrated nicely from the factory, this results in a very pleasant viewing experience that often times can fool novices into thinking they are looking at a framed print.
For those who do frame prints, the size feels about the same as a 13x19" print, so it's big enough to enjoy but not obnoxiously large. When viewing images in landscape orientation it feels just right for most things, but busy scenes viewed at distances greater than 16 feet can feel a bit on the small side (duh). However, in portrait mode I found that most images felt quite large and enjoyable, but that could also be since I get up close on my portraits so the images are larger than life size.
The frame itself features a nice wooden frame white a white matting that feels very professionally done. As a result, it doesn't feel like a cheap digital frame but instead like a print that you had framed. This is why I think I often get the reaction from guests who so say "I didn't realize that was digital" after they see the image change for the first time.
As previously mentioned, the gesture support is terrible so I consider it a non-feature. In fact, for my parents I had to effectively disable it as they would sometimes accidentally activate it which stressed them out.
I've owned my first version for over a year and heat has never been a problem. It's always cool to the touch, unlike my TV, so that's a good sign that it's using a lot less electricity too. This is one of the big benefits of this solution over a computer or TV used to display your images because I haven't noticed any impact on my electricity bill while running this frame for 16 hours a day for the last 16 months! My room doesn't feel like a sauna either like it does when I'm done watching a long movie.
New for 2.0 - the sleep button
Meural 2.0 Sleep Button
One great new feature for the 2.0 version is the sleep button. This allows you to push a physical button on the side of the frame to put it to sleep. Push it again and you get instant wake up - much like open and closing a Macbook Pro.
But why isn't it 4k?
4k is great, but it also comes at a premium price both in terms of the display cost as well as the the bandwidth and storage needed to transmit photos back and forth. While I'm sure there will be a day in the future when I'm bragging about the 4k Meural, I've found that at this size I don't have any concerns about resolution at normal viewing distances (and I'm a master printer and display expert) . A typical billboard is 15 dots per inch and a magazine which has a closer viewing distance is often 150 dots per inch, so this is a good trade off for price versus performance.
What about Momento?
Yes, I've heard of Momento Smart Frame (B&H & Amazon), but the software is optimized around the mobile photo experience with a lack end to end thought. It's also very cheaply built, so it doesn't have the same quality as a Meural. It's promising given its price point, but at this time I have to say it's poor hardware and software experience by comparison. I've also had a terrible experience trying to reach anyone at this company, so I've been reluctant to invest in one for fear that it would be the same experience as I've had with all of the cheap frames that have disappointed me in the past.
What about the optional subscription service?
I hate subscription services, and that's putting it very politely. This is why I'm happy to report that Meural doesn't require you use their service. What the service provides you is access to their gallery of curated art to display on your frame which for some may be preferable to their own images - especially businesses. However, that's a value added feature and not a required service.
While the galleries from artists and partners offer a lot of great images, some of which I enjoy on my frame despite my photography background, you aren't forced to use it so don't worry. I do recommend you try it out though as I've found some of the images are quite spectacular like the ones from 1x. You could never legally license these photos yourself at this price, so it's a good deal to get this many images at this price.
Conclusion
The Meural frame is the first and only digital frame that I can say that I've truly enjoyed. It has all of the features that I've wished for and its continuous improvement shows a commitment to make it even better for existing owners. My 1.0 frame has all of the software benefits of the 2.0, yet it didn't cost a penny to get those upgrades.
I also have found it to be a profound life changing experience for myself and my family members to enjoy hundreds of digital photos changing on the wall of my home (and my parents). There's no way I could display that many prints, so a lot of touching family photos can be enjoyed at no additional cost. What's more, I have no hesitation to include "bad" photos that I'd never print, but put a smile on our faces nevertheless.
While the first version was good, it felt like a product in progress from a start up. The bones were good and mine still works fine, but this newest version feels a lot more polished. I also had a unit shipped from the East coast to my house and then I shipped it to my parents place in Texas. Despite this the original packaging (shown here) kept the frame safe for thousands of miles of travel.
Simply put, there's no better way to enjoy your investment in photography than to display your photos on a Meural Digital Canvas. As a result, I can easily give it my highest recommendation for anyone who enjoys viewing meaningful photos. It's also a no brainer for my 2017 ronmartblog.com Product of the Year.
For a limited time, Meural is offering $100 off and if you order by December 20th they promise delivery by Christmas (exclusions apply and subject to weather and transportation conditions).
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If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this. While I have purchased a 2.0 frame, I was also provided with one for review purposes. I also am a featured artist for images found in the subscription based service as part of a research experiment for a future idea that I have for this blog.
If you read my blog over the last year or two, you'd know that I was a fan of Perfectly Clear by Athentech because it really was a one-click photo editing tool. With 3.0 the user interface got much better and with version 3.5 it hits a home run!
Built-in RAW Editor means you don't need any other software to edit your photos
The stand-alone features a raw editor that gets the job done, but I'll admit that it's not as good as other products out there. However, if you want a one product photo editing workflow, it gets the job done.
Crop tool works well and offers several different overlays
In the stand-alone version you can easily crop with some great overlay choices including the rule of thirds and the golden ratio.
New Live Presets and Looks Panels
One of the nicest improvements is that you can see what your presets and looks will do before you click them as shown here:
Even better, you can apply a look on top of your preset to get two layers of editing in just two quick clicks. What's more, you can dial down the look directly from the window using the opacity slider.
Version 3.5 Phot Editing Tutorial
Here's a quick video where I show how quickly I can edit 8 photos that come straight out of the camera with no prior edits ...
NOTE: YouTube degrades the quality of the original 4k recording so there are compression artifacts that look bad in dark areas - this does not happen in the real product:
Before & After Images
Here's some before and after edits I did using version 3.0 and in the video above you can watch the video of changes made using the v3.5 update (free to v3.0 owners):
Discount Offer
Existing v3.0 owners get a free upgrade using AppsManager!
LIMITED TIME special offer to save $40 is available when you CLICK HERE or use the coupon code RONMART40
Get my regular 10% discount on version 3.5 when you CLICK HERE.
This product has come such a long way and gets better and better with each version. I was expecting a small update with v3.5, but instead I was extremely impressed with all of the enhancements. For users of Photoshop and Lightroom, you can still integrate it in as the first and/or last step of your photo editing workflow. For those who want a single solution, it is fantastic as a stand-alone solution that allows for blazing fast one click edits of your images.
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I'm pretty busy these days so I don't have time for betas. As a result, I've been rocking along with on1 Photo RAW 2017 not paying much attention to what's coming next. Tonight in advance of the launch I finally kicked the tires and got both surprised and shocked by some of the changes so I thought I'd fill you in on some of the ones that I think are worth your time to check out...
HDR Editor
I was super impressed with how fast and well this feature worked. Honestly, I didn't expect much as I've really been loving Aurora 2018 HDR as I prepare for my upcoming review. However, I really have loved the fine grain control it offers with RAW images and how it it saves the merged file in a special format so that I can make non-destructive re-edits at anytime. This means that the HDR merge is never really final, and I can always go dial back in the dark and bright areas that might get messed up while editing. Check it out...
Sadly, this video doesn't do it justice because it kinda ends up with an image that doesn't look so hot. However, the image shown at the top of the article features one that I processed using HDR only (no presets) for very fast and realistic results.
Pano Feature
Some people love their panos, but I hate them. However, I thought this demo which shows how it not only does a good job creating panos, but it also adds metadata to make Facebook treat it as a spinnable pano too:
Maybe this is old news to you pano experts out there, but if you are like me and wondered how you could do this - this is it! Pretty sweet!
Mask Blur Chisel
I never quite got the hang of the chisel tool in the past, but this video here gave me one of those chimpanzee moments (you know, ooh, ooh) and I immediately wanted to go try it out.
More Cool Videos
Want to see what else is new? Start with the video above, then check out these videos...
I was unhappy with on1 products for a few years, so I stopped covering them on my blog. I was frustrated with them crashing, features I loved being removed, and something that remained being uninteresting to me.
With the 2017 version I got interested again, but I found myself mostly using it for Resize and not much else. However, I've spent some time this evening playing with the new features and rediscovering this product again, and I like what I see.
At a minimum I'd encourage existing on1 fans to check it out as I think it's a worthy upgrade.
For those who have been burned in the past, I'd suggest giving it another go as the setup seems to do a good job of installing things in cleanly without any headaches. When trying out the product, I hit one snag when I selected corrupt iPhone 7 file on my NAS, but other than that it was rock solid. It feels like some of the quality issues that plagued on1 in the past have been sorted, and more compelling features have been brought back to make it something worth considering again.
CLICK HERE to learn more and take it for a spin. If you like it, then try out the MART17 coupon code to get a 20% discount off your order. Contact me if you have any troubles with the special offer.
If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.
Unedited image from a Fujifilm X-E2 converted to a GIF after Plotograph Pro edits on waterfall
If you read my Flixel review, you learned how to take a video and convert it into a moving image called a cinemagraph. It's cool, but it assumes you shot video, so what if you had a still photo that was ripe for animation like the waterfall shot above? This is where Plotagraph Pro enters the picture.
How it works
Plotagraph Pro allows you to create a mask of what you would like to animate and set the speed and technique used to make it come to life. While masking is never fun, I found the tools to be easy enough to use and generally speaking you don't have to be incredibly precise when the viewing area is just on computer monitors (even for my 32" 4k display).
Using one of your still images, you can use the web or desktop app (which seems to leverage the web app) to mark which portions of your UI you wish to animate. Click on the image above to see what the markup looks like.
From there you can accept the defaults, choose a preset or dial in your own animation values before you click play (or export) to let the magic happen. Here's what that UI looks like:
Videos
While you can save your animations in a variety of formats, the highest quality is in video so I've created some that you should VIEW AT FULL SCREEN to see how cool these things can be.
Japanese Stream
This animation only took about 5 minutes to create as the masking was pretty easy. The biggest mistake I made the first go around was getting too close to the rocks or the edge of the water. Cleaning up my mistakes after the first animation was easy and I was pleased with the results.
Waterfall
Feeling confident, I tried to do the waterfall using the automated masking tool and this one was completed in less than a minute. I loved the results, so I moved on to something a little harder.
Japanese Lake
This image took a little more time to mask, but only 5 minutes. However, I admit this one could still use some more work. With that said, after a little trial and error I had this one looking like you see here in about 15 minutes - not bad!
Conclusion
In minutes I was able to take two unedited photos (waterfall and lake) and bring them to life - that's pretty cool especially for sharing with your friends. What's more, if you keep the videos small enough then they'll auto play on Instagram or Facebook so you can have high quality video without requiring your viewers to hit play.
While I did this product a disservice by only showing you examples that animate water, I think you can see how easily it can bring your images to life. While I'm not a fan of its subscription model for pricing, I have arranged a discount. You can limit your cost by only signing up for a month, and you can even CLICK HERE for a FREE DEMO if you just want to check it out!
It should also be noted that you can download your videos, images, etc... so YOU CAN KEEP YOUR CONTENT if you cancel your subscription. Yes, you'll lose access to the software to edit your files, but there's no risk to trying it out. Go play with it for a few months on some of your favorite images and see what you think - I think you'll enjoy it! I thought it was a blast to use so I highly recommend it!
Where to Buy? [DISCOUNT OFFER]
CLICK HERE to learn more or buy today, and use coupon code RONMART to save 10%!
Other articles you may enjoy
If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:
Flixel review - turn videos into moving photos (special offer)
If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.
Created in Aurora HDR 2017 - Copyright Ron Martinsen - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Click to learn more about Aurora HDR
Aurora HDR 2017 Tutorial - Advanced Features
Aurora HDR 2017's improved user interface Click to learn more about Aurora HDR
While I may not be the most dynamic speaker in the world, I got a lot of emails from readers who loved what they learned in my original Aurora HDR video (found later in this article). As a result, I thought I'd cover some of my favorite new features of Aurora HDR 2017 in this new three lessons video created on October 15, 2016:
The files featured in the video were full size, and unless it was otherwise noted the processing occurs in real-time (first lesson only).
While most people bracket using a small range, for fun this tutorial includes an extreme range of three manual exposures that I blended together in Aurora HDR 2017 (see the video for more details):
I took these very long exposures in the evening in Winter 2012, but no product until now has done them justice in an HDR merge. The results you see in this article were done entirely in Aurora with no additional processing of any kind.
My new video focuses on the speed improvements and luminosity masking, as well as some of my favorite new presets. However, I'll be covering some of these other new features in a future video that is part of my full review.
I love this version way more than its predecessor, which I thought was the best HDR editing software on the market, so that's saying a lot!
Special Offer
Click to learn more about Aurora HDR
Click here to learn more, download a free trial or order today.
If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.
Meural Digital Canvas - Show famous art or your own
If you've ever shopped around for digital frames, it's easy to say that you've probably experienced how underwhelming the offerings can be. Generally the digital frames are small, with horrible resolution displays and they usually only allow you to upload your photos via USB or some very bad software.
Wouldn't it be great if you could upload your photos to a digital frame that was housed in a wooden frame with a matte that was suitable for display in a fine home, art gallery or luxury hotel?
Wouldn't it be great if you could not only upload your photos from your computer and have them automatically downloaded to your frame from anywhere in the world with an internet connection?
Wouldn't it be cool if you didn't see the same photos all day long, but could also see the work of others fine art paintings and photos?
Most digital frames suck, does this one?
When the folks from Meural contacted me about reviewing a frame that could do all of this, I was highly suspicious that the quality and user experience would be terrible. I'm a NEC Color Visionary and X-Rite Coloratti Pro with a history of working with display manufacturers. I’ve attended display technology conferences, so I know what good quality displays and accurate color look like. As a result, I'm used to being underwhelmed and very disappointed by bargain displays that look terrible to my eyes.
I'm happy to report that when my frame arrived I was very pleased and my "geek with a new toy" smile hasn't left my face since it's arrival.
For starters they did a fantastic matte finish that avoids reflections without destroying image quality. They also did a good job of calibrating the color from the factor, so the images on the frame were on par with my calibrated NEC PA Series displays.
What I wasn't expecting is that the wood and matte that surrounds the frame is very well done and feels like something I'd get from a high end framing studio. I've spent $450+ on custom frames of this size, and while I wouldn't say that this frame is as good as some of the ones I've purchased - it's very close. Keep in mind though that those were traditional frames that just housed and protected one photo. This is a digital frame that looks great on the wall, even when it is off, and even better when it is displaying lots of my images and fine art.
Using my Meural Canvas
The Canvas List displays all of the canvases that you've registered
I've been using my frame for a couple weeks, and even though I typically wait longer to do a review - I love this product so much I felt compelled to write my review right away. Part of the reason for this is that it not only performed beautifully displaying my images and the art of others, it did so with zero noise and no noticeable heat. This is a HUGE advantage over using a smart TV or building your own PC to display images - both of which I've already done before myself.
Canvas Settings
When I first got my canvas and started using it, I was disappointed that the phone app and gesture based UI had no mechanism for editing important settings like slide duration and off hours. Fortunately all of these settings are easily accessible via the web site and included even more than I could imagine. Rather than spend a lot of time talking about them, here's a screen shot of the behind the scenes controls I have over my canvas:
Canvas Settings
Some images featured here are copyright their respective owners and used under license
In addition to being able to specify exactly what art collections are stored on my canvas, I can control when they are displayed as well as when the frame sleeps thanks to the handy timeline feature. If you’ve ever used other frames or tried to build your own, this is the key thing that the others fail to offer. This is the game changer feature that really sets this frame apart!
My family really loved how we could enjoy our family photos during meal times but then enjoy other art during the day so we didn't get bored seeing the same photos all day long.
Video Demo
*** Note this covers the original frame and UX – all has improved so I’ll be updating this in the near future ***
While recording a video of any video display is the best way to make a display look terrible, I decided it was important to show off some of the features of this frame. Please know that the image quality of this display is outstanding in real life – much like a high quality computer monitor, so don’t be misled by the video quality.
I also show the iOS and web apps that complement this device. It should be noted that while I demo the iOS app, there is also an Android version too.
Technical Specs
If you are a geek like me then you want more technical details about the display specs and the hardware, so I've created this link for you to get that info including a video that shows how they are built.It's fun to watch so check it out!
The highlights are the 27” 1080p IPS Display with Anti-Glare Technology, 1920 x 1080 Full HD Resolution and 8GB of storage.
Conclusion
Yes, you can use your Smart TV (or device connected to your TV), your iPad, an old computer or a new fanless PC to have your own digital slideshow solution. What makes this product unique is that you get a fine art quality frame that just works without any heat or noise issues, and great software and stock that keeps things interesting.
It's nicely designed UI makes it simple to see the photos you want when you want them - including art made by others. The simplicity and quality of this all-in-one solution is what makes it unique. The performance of the 27" 16:19 aspect ratio calibrated color display is what makes it feel like a 23x13" print hanging on the wall.
I expected to be underwhelmed, but I can't say enough about how much I love this frame. In fact, now that I have one I seriously want another one so I can dedicate one to landscape photos and another to portrait photos elsewhere in my house. I want one for my elderly parents house too- that's how much I love this product!
If you've been underwhelmed or disappointed by digital frame offerings in the past, I'm pleased to say that the time has come to finally get one. This is the one I've been waiting for! Even if you don't own a camera - it's useful at displaying lots of great (and currently free) stock art available on the Meural web site, as well as digital art you purchase off the web.
Verdict: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Where to order
Meural has discontinued all discount offers from partners, but you can CLICK HERE to order.
Disclosure
If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this. I was also provided with a review version of this product.
While I enjoy editing photos, the sad reality is that it just takes too long to put my loving touch on every photo. As a result I have hundreds of thousands of photos that have never seen the light of day (much to my wife's chagrin) due to lack of time needed to make them look the way I want them to look before anyone else sees them. This self defeating practice of image hording is common amongst photographers, and despite great products like Lightroom which can greatly decrease the time required to make your images look great – the reality is that it always take longer than we admit to others.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a product that could do a very good job for a majority of our photos with as little as one click?
The day has arrived where you have a new tool to add to your editing arsenal that will make your unedited images look great while still giving your edited images that extra oomph to make them look better. That product is Perfectly Clear and it rocks!
Here's an example of one click awesomeness with the dehaze preset:
Dehaze preset gives images that "wow" look in one click
This preset and the details work well for most images which allows you plow trough tons of old images quickly to make them look great. In fact, Photoshop’s Ctrl+F / Cmd+F features lets you replay back the last filter you ran for zero click editing of images that can use your last preset settings. You can also select multiple photos in Lightroom and send them all at the same time to Perfectly Clear for fast editing. You can control the edit for each photo individually as shown here:
Easily navigate through multiple photos selected at once in Lightroom
The promise of one click greatness has been promised for a long time but before Perfectly Clear I’ve never seen any product deliver on it. What’s more, my images are my art. I want my finishing touches so how could any respectable photographer trust software to do this critical part of the creative process for them?
Here's a great example of a photo that I edited for hours in Photoshop that got even better with a single click of Perfectly Clear (pardon the artifacts caused by animated GIF file format):
Animated Gif / Before & After Beautify Preset (no sharpening) NOTE: Some artifacts caused by 256 color GIF downrez
This is more than just a brightness adjustment, it's more like other products Pro Contrast filter on steroids, plus it does skin softening, teeth whitening, eye enhancement and much more. This taught me to give Perfectly Clear a try every photo I edit before calling it done.
Simply put, this is a game changer so I encourage you to check out my video and try it out. A free trial is available so if you don’t like it then you’ve lost nothing, but I suspect people who take the time to learn it will find they love it – a lot.
Have you tried it before and hated it? Me too - I hated version 1.0!!! It's way better no, so give it a try it again as this latest version is the one that finally got it right – and it is very good!
Video Demonstration on 8 Images
This product works so well so quickly that it is easier to just show you than to write a lot about what it does. If you have a minute at least watch the first couple minutes of this video to see Perfectly Clear in action:
As the demo shows, this is the fastest and easiest way to make your images look great in seconds. I highly recommend you try it out (at least via the Free Trial version).
User Interface
Athentech Imaging Perfectly Clear User Interface
This product is about as simple as it gets. You simply load it from Photoshop or Lightroom and choose a preset. The big squares are the ones provided with the product and the dropdown list below are these plus ones that you have optionally created by making changes on the Adjustment panel shown below:
Adjust Panel
Often times it is one click and you are done as you’ll see in the samples in the next section, but sometimes (as shown in my video) you need to make a few adjustments. You can make your adjustments and be done or you can take a moment to create a new preset with them, but either way you don’t spend much time in this UI.
Simply put, it just works!
More Before and After Samples
Landscape preset is great for sunset shots
Raccoon Eyes Preset
Multiple Adjustments via Perfectly Clear launched from Lightroom from a super sharp Sigma 85mm Art lens shot
Here’s a common example of a shot that looks good straight out of the camera but it jumps off the screen (or print) when you do a one click edit with the details preset:
When I first heard about this product a few years back and tried to play around with it, I thought it was garbage. Its algorithms weren’t as mature as they are today so I felt like I needed more control over what it was doing. The product I’ve been using for the last month has worked on a large number of images I’ve thrown at it so I’ve began to trust it. In some cases it does make a mistake so I’ve learned to turn off settings which appear to have no effect as sometimes they can do something very unexpected (like red eye removal removing red from an area that isn’t an eye). It’s rare, but it does happen.
Aside from this one quirk, I’ve really become addicted to this product for those hundreds of thousands of images that I need to edit but will never get around to with my commercial photography workflow. I still need professional results as the edits represent my work to friends and family, but the ability to get great results quickly is pushing me harder than ever to get more things right in camera to speed up my workflow.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this product as it really has changed my life. I find that I even try it out as a last step on images that I’ve painstakingly edited because it does such a great job at final highlight and shadow detail adjustments. I do often skip the sharpening unless its for a private family photo, but other than that I trust it.
NOTE: In case you saw it already, yes I had a ronmartblog.com EXCLUSIVE flash sale recently that I got in advanced of the Black Friday deal, but the price is the same. If you missed it, now's your chance!
Where to order at a discount
Click here to learn more about Perfectly Clear, try the free demo or purchase your copy today. The Photoshop and Lightroom versions are sold separately so either pick the product you use the most or take advantage of the special bundle pricing for both versions.
Upgrades are also available for users of previous versions.
Special Offer
YOU MUST CLICK HERE to save 10% to get on the special landing page shown below:
If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.
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