Hi everyone. I usually post presets on Monday but I’m traveling to Sacramento today for my Lightroom seminar tomorrow, and things have been pretty crazy around work, so I haven’t had much time to work on some new ones. But I didn’t want to leave you hanging so I’m going to tell you how to get a ton of free presets that you can use on your photos.
See, one of the problems (as an instructor) I always face, is showing off photos that I edit with plug-ins. I can usually assume that if you’re watching a Photoshop tutorial that you have Photoshop 🙂 But I can’t assume that you have the plug-in that I’m using. I always feel like I may be leaving some people out by using a plug-in, but honestly, they’re such an integral part of my photo workflow that I can’t get the job done without them.
Well, I’m really excited to report that onOne Software has released yet another version of their free effects plug-in called Perfect Effects 4 Free. I know you’re probably thinking it’s a very stripped down version of their full plug-in. It’s not. It’s got 70 effects in it, and many of the ones that I use all of the time are in the free version. Plus it’s got the same masking brush that’s been reinvented for their new suite of products – so if you want to paint some detail or some portion of the preset out of a certain area of the photo (I do this all of the time since sometimes the preset affects, say, clouds or people that I don’t want to affect), you can do it right there, without going back to layers, masks and selections in Photoshop.
And on the totally selfish side of things, having this free makes it much easier for me because now I don’t have to worry about whether some one has the same plug-in I’m using. It’s free so everyone has access to it.
Here’s the link to the Perfect Effects 4 Free page. It’s even got a few videos on it that show off some of the new features. Enjoy!
PS: I’ve got a long flight out to Sacramento today so I’ll be working on a post for tomorrow. I’ve been wanting to follow up on my “What I Learned on My First Night Star Photo Shoot” post so look for that in the morning.
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
Matt:
Tried 4 times to install perfect effects 4 free and it didn’t work. Running mountain lion on an imac. Sent email to onone. (Couldn’t find a phone number on their site). Havent heard back yet.
Well, I attempted to load this software and found that I had not problem loading the software. Unfortunately for me, though, the presets never loaded. the .lrtemplate files never loaded for the software. It detected Lightroom 4.2 just fine. I searched my entire hard drive and couldn’t find the files. I’ve contacted their technical support and am hoping to get a response. From everyone else’s post, this is some great software. I will post back my experience. I really hope that I can get this resolved to use the software. Thank you, Matt, for continuing your posts. They are EXTREMELY helpful and educational! I also really enjoy your photography!
Hey Danny – you wont’ find any .lrtemplate files. It’s a plug-in that has presets in it. You jump to it from Lightroom or get to it from within Photoshop. But it’s not actual .lrtemplate files that get installed in LR.
Matt, that is actually a little bit disappointing noting this article from their support: http://www.ononesoftware.com/support/202/
Unless this article is for their non-free version…
Matt, I believe this may be what I was looking for! I stand corrected, sir! http://www.ononesoftware.com/products/lightroom-presets/
Again, you rock!
My husband and I are looking forward to the Lightroom seminar in Sacramento! I am still a newbie at Lightroom, but loving what I can do with it so far. Big Sur is beautiful!
I’m excited about attending your Lightroom training in Sacramento tomorrow- but yes, there might be rain. . .
I have the free Perfect Effects 3 (love it!) I got from attending the CS6 training with Scott K this summer. Does the newer one have a lot more? Should I uninstall the older one first?
I’ve been amazingly impressed with Perfect Photo Suite 7 in the past month. The only problems I’ve had have been user error & each time I contacted customer support not only did they get back to me fast but they were nice!
So I’m sure the free plugin is awesome but seriously anyone who doesn’t own it yet should consider buying the real deal.
I downloaded it during the weekend and played with it a little. I am no expert in Photoshop and usually go to Kelby’s website to watch your videos. As an amature, I am more of a Lightroom person. But this version of Effects just rocks. I reprocessed one of my images of Punch Bowl falls and it came wonderful (at least in IMHO) and in a much less time that it would have taken me in any other way. I cannot wait to reprocess some of my other images. It will become a prat of my workflow, for sure!
here is a link to the photo: https://plus.google.com/u/0/110453493066024590173
Very cool. Great photos.
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one that goes back and re-processes photos. I do it all the time 🙂
I attempted to download the free Perfects Effects 4 from the attached link, upon download I recievied a mesaage that the compressed file was invalid- Help…thanks Jim
Hey there, Jim. I’m the Curriculum & EDU Manager for onOne Software. First off, let me apologize for this issue that you’re experiencing with trying to extract the Perfect Effects 4 Free file.
I’ve seen this issue happen before with some users. If you wouldn’t mind, please open a case with our Tech Support team. They’ll be able to work with you to get an alternate version of the file.
http://www.ononesoftware.com/support/contact-ts.html
Caution: for some reason there is a warning from their download page: “Note: Please do not install this product if you own the Perfect Photo Suite or the full version of Perfect Effects.”
That’s correct, wgchinn. If you have Perfect Photo Suite 7 or Perfect Effects 4 installed, you don’t need to install the free version because you already have all of its content plus a boatload of additional effects.
Hey Matt,
Have a safe flight and I know you’ll knock’em dead in Sacramento! Just wish you’d make it to Denver on of these days! 🙂 I have the complete Suit 7, but I’m sure there are others out there that will get this free download. That’s how I started using onOne, when they first came out with their free programs.
Have a Great time in Sacramento … hopefully, it has stop raining! 🙂
Dennis
Thanks Dennis. I’m hanging around for a few days after to shoot in San Francisco area too. Going to try Big Sur once again – hopefully I’ll get something more than fog 🙂