TLR Digital Velvia Panel

Submitted by mitch on Fri, 08/21/2009 - 22:02.

TLR Digital Velvia is a Photoshop action set that make it easy to obtain the rich, saturated colors that people associate with color slide film.

Now there's a new CS4 panel that makes the actions really easy to use: the TLR Digital Velvia Panel. Just select the range of colors you want to adjust, decide whether you want to boost saturation or reduce it, and then pull a slider to select the intensity of the effect. It's definitely a lot easier than selecting from thrty different actions!

Rather than use the Photoshop Hue/Saturation command, which can cause undesirable artifacts, the TLR Digital Velvia action set makes a duplicate of the image, flattens the duplicate, and converts it to L*a*b mode for the color boost. The layer is then copied back to the original image. Your original image remains in RGB.

Below is a Before and two After effects. One that applies a level three saturation boost and another that applies a level 3 reduction.

The settings are sticky. Set them and they'll remain your default until you change them to something else.

I recommend that you dock the panel in Photoshop CS4. That way, it will load automatically when Photoshop starts ands you'll have tone-based selections at the ready!

Installing the panels is easy. Here are the steps:

Download the .ZIP file. It contains the panels and, as a convenience, a copy of the TLRDigitalVelvia action set.
If the TLRDigitalVelvia action set is not yet loaded into Photoshop, then load it.
Unzip the panel and its associated Javascript file. You'll need both files. The .SWF panel uses the Javascript file to call the appropriate Photoshop actions.
The .SWF panel and associated Javascript file go in the Panels subfolder under your Photoshop installation.

If you followed the Photoshop CS4 defaults during installation, you'll find the Panels subfolder in either of these locations:

PC: Program Files\Adobe Photoshop CS4\Plug-Ins\
Mac: Applications\Adobe Photoshop CS4\Plug-Ins\

Once you've copied the files, restart Photoshop CS4. Then go to Window | Extensions and click on the Velvia submenu item.

URL:

http://www.thelightsright.com/files/tools/TLRDigitalVelviaPanel/TLRDigit...

Tool details

Tool type:

Photoshop panel

Compatibility:

Photoshop CS4 and later

Version:

1.0b (dated 22 Aug 2009)

Download size (KB):

768

Author information

Author:

Glenn E. Mitchell II, Ph.D.

Rating:

Panel Mania!

Submitted by Ric Grupe on Fri, 08/21/2009 - 22:30.

Ric Grupe

Much more fun than actions.

Nice to have for when the situation for their need arises. :-)

I was right -- Mitch Doesn't Sleep!!

Submitted by lpacini on Sat, 08/22/2009 - 06:44.

Not only is Ric right - panels are much more fun than actions, actions are out of sight and out of mind! The panels are right there just waiting to be used. It has been a long time since I have used the Velvia actions...frankly I had forgotten about them. Now the panel is right there with the others - where it belongs! Thanks, and KUDOS!

Lauren

I Do Sleep!

Submitted by mitch on Sat, 08/22/2009 - 14:12.

I've gotten the panels to the point where it is almost like a template. I can cut-and-paste from a similar project into a new one.

It takes me about two hours to make a new panel and test it for simple action sets. Then another two hours to take screen shots, package it, FTP it, and write a description.

It will take me much longer to create panels for the sharpening scripts. Their panels will be more complicated and I need to change the function headers for the Javascript files. I expect that could be several days of work.

What I have in mind is a panel like the Adjustments panel in CS4 that will allow you to call many different panels. I'll probably call it something like the Digital Photographer's Toolkit Panel.

Fortunately, it's pretty easy with Flex Builder to take individual panels like the panels I've been developing and mash them together.

What's also neat is the fact that if you don't want to load all of the action sets, you don't have to. For example, if you only use one of the capture sharpening action sets, you can load just that action set. The panel will run just fine. If you try to select a capture sharpener that's not loaded, the panel will just sit there and ignore the request.

I'm still learning about .SWF panels. For example, I added .PNG files today for icons. You can also create subfolders in the Panels folder to keep your panel files organized.

I'll share what I learn. I believe Panels are the best way to access Photoshop actions and scripts in CS4.

I appreciate the enthusiasm for the new panels! :)

Nice job

Submitted by basswork on Sat, 08/22/2009 - 15:09.

I was just playing around and used the reduce amount at -5 on a duplicate layer, then set blend mode to softlight. Very nice snappy effect.

Thanks

Submitted by engineer on Sun, 08/23/2009 - 23:19.

Thanks for the Velvia panel. I like the results your action set produces for some images. The panels really make using actions easy. Like the above poster, I forget what actions are available (senior problem). The panels eliminate that problem.
And the results are really good.

Can't wait for fall in the Smokies so I can try out the action on fall colors.

Les

Website http://www.ncsparks.com