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Author Topic: Guy Gowan processing  (Read 4794 times)

john beardsworth

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Re: Guy Gowan processing
« Reply #20 on: April 28, 2019, 05:24:08 pm »

I don't think Lightroom was ever free. The closest to that was the public beta before release.

That's correct. From early in Jan 2006 to about November.
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fdisilvestro

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Re: Guy Gowan processing
« Reply #21 on: April 28, 2019, 08:00:24 pm »

Dismissing LR and then using ACR for raw conversions does not make too much sense to me. The conversion engine is the same.

rdonson

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Re: Guy Gowan processing
« Reply #22 on: April 28, 2019, 09:21:54 pm »

I followed Gowan a long time ago for a while.  These days I don't think he has much to offer.  For me I think I'm much better off with Lr CC Classic, etc and PS and spending time and $ with Aaron Nace on PHLEARN honing PS skills.   
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Regards,
Ron

Cornfield

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Re: Guy Gowan processing
« Reply #23 on: April 29, 2019, 05:04:15 am »

These days I don't think he has much to offer.

rdonson, you have summed up the conclusion I have arrived at that. 

Also poor when someone offering a service does not reply to an email question about membership.
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AS1

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Re: Guy Gowan processing
« Reply #24 on: April 09, 2020, 12:28:42 pm »

(Late to this topic I know but here goes..)
I subscribed to his workflows for a year. You get access to his processing tools which are elaborate actions he has created from his huge knowledge of PS and pre press workflow. Essentially he uses Camera Raw or now C1 I think, to process a raw file with pretty much no adjustments made to it. You then run his action in PS to "process" the file. The results are very good; he does know what he's doing BUT with a decent understanding of LR or C1 I think you can achieve the same results. (He does have a good ability to extract detail in shadows, and seems to have a focus on wedding photographers struggling in bad / harsh light to control contrast).
His sharpening workflow is very good, but again if you understand the controls in LR I think you can achieve as good results in most cases. I found his sharpening was better than I could get in LR when sharpening very high res images from a camera I had used hi-rez (sensor shift) to create the image.
The down side to his whole approach is that he insists on mocking and deriding everything he dislikes. His tutorials are rambling, labored and bloated with his sneering and disgust at Adobe (and others) for how bad they are, how poor the processing or sharpening is,  etc. In a way it's sad and a bit painful to watch; he's unable to simply say "This is my process..." he has to always put down the other ways of processing to justify his method! Also, as time has rolled along digital cameras have improved so much and digital processing has improved so much (LR & C1) that much of what he advocates is just overkill and out dated in my opinion.
Also based on my experience his whole operation seems a bit disorganized in terms of getting his webcasts up and running on time, and accessing tutorials on his website etc.
Alan.
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earlybird

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Re: Guy Gowan processing
« Reply #25 on: April 10, 2020, 10:47:47 pm »

Has any one ever found a tutorial that teaches how to make your own action that replicates Mr. Gowan's shadow action?

I'd like to learn a little more about what appears to be a complicated layering and masking approach, but I don't want to spend $145 to do so.

Despite Mr. Gowan's repeated suggestion that you should learn to know what you are doing rather than just using store bought solutions, the only concept that seems to be illustrated in the preview videos is that you can press play on one of his Photoshop Actions and find something to talk about while you wait for the list of commands to run its course.

It seems like someone somewhere would be sharing information about the details of, and reasoning behind, a similar list of commands.

Thank you.
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StoryinPictures

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Re: Guy Gowan processing
« Reply #26 on: April 11, 2020, 02:20:48 pm »

I have seen some good results from shadow lifting actions in PS, but nothing I didn’t think could be accomplished with the highlight, shadow, white and black sliders in the HDR panel in Capture One combined with the exposure slider.  This basic feature set is quite well developed in Capture One (more so with the addition of white and black in version 20).

This is before taking advantage of Capture One’s layers with luminosity masking features or luma curves.
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vikcious

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Re: Guy Gowan processing
« Reply #27 on: April 24, 2020, 04:47:03 am »

I have seen some good results from shadow lifting actions in PS, but nothing I didn’t think could be accomplished with the highlight, shadow, white and black sliders in the HDR panel in Capture One combined with the exposure slider.  This basic feature set is quite well developed in Capture One (more so with the addition of white and black in version 20).

This is before taking advantage of Capture One’s layers with luminosity masking features or luma curves.

I second your opinion with the exception of the tool references.
Guy Gowan technique to me equals equalizing tones and exposure for the sake of producing lifeless and expressionless yet clinic shots. Aside, I've always been skeptical about people trying to over-complicate simple tasks by adding their own "flavors" behind hidden action buttons and then selling it for the Holy Grail of...
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