With your support, 2011 will go down as a year to remember for all of us at onOne.  Rest assured though, all of us are working hard to make 2012 even more exciting for you and your photography.  But for now, we would like to wish you a very special holiday filled with good times with family and friends.

In order to allow our customer care staff an opportunity to spend time with their family during this Holiday week, we will have limited support hours through January 2, 2012. For a list of days and times where we will have live support from our Portland, Oregon office, please read this Support article.

Today, more so than any other day in the year, I am especially thankful for the obvious things like my family, friends and good health. But I am also sincerely grateful for all of you out there in the extended onOne family. If you have ever purchased one of our products, ever downloaded a trial version, ever watched a webinar, read a newsletter or for even just reading this blog - Thank You. I really mean it.

Over the past 6 and a half years, I've seen the onOne Community grow beyond anything I imagined when we first started. For that, I thank you.

Please know that every day, and especially this day, I am, along with the rest of us here at onOne, extremely thankful for your support. I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Users of PhotoTools 2.6 can't wait to get their hands on Perfect Effects 3 so they can not only get the live preview of each effect on their own image, but also the ability to edit pretty much every aspect of each effect to their own liking.

Users of Mask Pro 4 are really excited about the new features and algorithm updates in Perfect Mask 5 that will make it easier for them to remove and replace backgrounds.

Wedding and portrait photographers have been floored by Perfect Portrait 1 not only by how easy it is to use, but by the quality of the results. We've gone to great lengths to make sure we keep skin pores and texture in tact so as not to produce that overly smooth mannequin look.

Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to write down all of the great comments we've received so far to share with you, but I can point you to two articles written in the last couple of days by some photographers who have seen the Perfect Photo Suite 6 in an early pre-announcement demonstration.

Andy Kruczek, a commercial photographer from the U.K. who does a lot of photo compositing and enhancing,  got a sneak preview and here's a quote from his review.

"This, it’s fair to say, is not a simple upgrade. Many of the component parts of the Suite have undergone a total rewrite, new features have been added by the bucketload and the look and feel is now slicker and much more modern. The new features and layout make for an incredibly powerful set of tools. So powerful in fact, that I found myself questioning the need for Photoshop at all."

[ Source ]

Colby Brown, a professional landscape, travel and humanitarian photographer who teaches photography workshops and has been an instructor for National Geographic, wrote this post on Wednesday of this week.

"With this latest upgrade, I truly feel like onOne Software has taken post processing to the next level. As a partner of onOne Software, I was given the opportunity to check out PPS6 (Perfect Photo Suite 6) last week and I can honestly tell you that I was blown away by what I saw. I am so excited about many of the new features that I have already began to re-imagine my workflow when it comes to processing my images."

[ Source ]

I just wanted to share this with you in case you too are excited about the new Perfect Photo Suite but wanted to hear from a couple of photographers who have had a chance to see it in action. We'll be shipping Perfect Photo Suite 6 in late October so we'll keep the early feedback and sneak peeks coming until then.

If you'd like to see the Perfect Photo Suite 6 before it begins shipping, sign up for one of our Webinars as we'll be demonstrating it next week.

I'm very excited to share with you today our announcement of the new Perfect Photo Suite 6. This is a really big update to the Suite and has been in the works for quite some time and we're finally ready to give you a sneak peek at this update which will begin shipping (or downloading) in late October 2011.

What's New in Perfect Photo Suite 6

As your workflow has changed, so have our products. We have heard over and over again for the past couple of years that more of your workflow is centered around Lightroom and Aperture. Also, that because you're spending most of your time in these types of apps, you're going less and less to Photoshop. Not that Photoshop is any less of a product - because it's not - but because you want as few distractions as possible in your workflow and let's be honest, there's a whole lot in Photoshop that most photographers have never and will never use.

For that reason and others, one of the biggest changes to Perfect Photo Suite 6 is that in addition to functioning as a plug-in for Photoshop (because lots of people still work there everyday), all of our products that are part of Suite 6, will now function as standalone applications as well as plug-ins. This means you can use our products as plug-ins to Lightroom or Aperture and not have to have Photoshop as the host application.

The Perfect Photo Suite 6 introduces four new products - Perfect Portrait 1, Perfect Layers 2, Perfect Effects 3 and Perfect Mask 5. Perfect Resize 7, FocalPoint 2 and PhotoFrame 4.6 remain in the Suite but have not undergone any significant updates with one exception that I'll get to in a moment.

Perfect Portrait 1

Perfect Portrait 1 is a brand new product that we built from scratch to address the needs of portrait photographers who need to make their clients look their best. We developed an algorithm that will automatically locate a face (or multiple faces for a group shot) and automatically apply blemish removal and skin smoothing. Not only that, but we also identify facial features such as eyes, teeth and lips and give you simple to use tools to enhance those features.

It's really pretty amazing and I think if you spend any amount of time retouching portraits with other tools, you're going to love this new product. Check out the video below or read more on the Perfect Portrait product page.

Perfect Portrait is available for pre-order today for only $99.95 or can be purchased as part of the new Perfect Photo Suite 6.

Perfect Effects 3

Perfect Effects 3 is the replacement for PhotoTools 2.6. Why replace PhotoTools? Well, we know that a lot of you love this product  - it's our second most popular individual product behind Perfect Resize - but we had to completely rebuild it from the ground up in order to give you the experience and control you have been asking for.

Specifically, with Perfect Effects 3 you can now get a live preview of each effect on your image before you apply it. No more canned previews based on images that we've chosen. Nope, you now get live previews based on your image - and the cool thing is that as you stack more and more effects on your image, all of the previews update along with you. Also, we've built our very own effects engine so now, you can modify any of the preset effects that we will ship the product with. Much more than a simple fade slider like in PhotoTools, you get complete control over each effect and how it blends with the underlying effects!

Check out this preview video or read the full product description on our Perfect Effects product page. Perfect Effects 3 is available for pre-order today for only $99.95 or is part of the Perfect Photo Suite 6. Registered users of PhotoTools 2.6 or earlier can upgrade to Perfect Effects 3 for only $69.95.

Perfect Layers 2

Perfect Layers 2 is now the heart and soul of the Perfect Photo Suite 6. It is still available individually, but when you get the Perfect Photo Suite 6, that's where Perfect Layers 2 really shines. Perfect Layers 2 now has a built-in file browser which makes finding and opening your images quick and simple. Perfect Layers 2 also includes a touch up brush that you can use to remove minor blemishes on portraits, dust spots from your camera's sensor or just about anything else like unwanted power lines in a landscape shot.

But the biggest change comes when you use Perfect Layers as part of the Perfect Photo Suite. You get a new module selector at the top of the interface which lets you seamlessly move between each of the products in the Suite. For example, you can open an image and do a portrait retouch using Perfect Portrait and then move over to the new Perfect Mask to remove a background and then go to Perfect Effects to stylize it and then move over to Perfect Resize to create a gallery wrap out of it. All from one interface without having to open and close the image several times.

Check out this sneak peek video or read more on our product page. Perfect Layers 2 is a free update to all Perfect Layers 1.0 owners. Owners of Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 can purchase Perfect Layers separately or as part of the integrated Perfect Photo Suite 6 by upgrading to version 6 of the Suite.

Perfect Mask 5

Last but not least, we've got a major update to Mask Pro 4 with the new Perfect Mask 5 product release. Perfect Mask 5 is the next generation of Mask Pro, the leading software for background replacement. Perfect Mask takes the core strengths of Mask Pro to another level, by automating many common masking tasks with incredible accuracy.

Perfect Mask's new masking technology makes selecting subjects and isolating backgrounds surprisingly easy. With Automatic Background Removal, an initial mask is made on your image and can then be fine-tuned using the Erase and Refine Tools. With these new features, you can create high quality masks in just a few clicks. You'll be amazed at how well this works even when masking tough subjects like hair and glass on complex backgrounds.

Check out this sneak peek video or read more on the Perfect Mask 5 product page. Perfect Mask 5 is available for pre-order today for only $99.95 or as part of the Perfect Photo Suite 6. Mask Pro 4 owners can upgrade to Perfect Mask 5 for only $69.95.

 Perfect Resize 7, FocalPoint 2 & PhotoFrame 4.6

For the other products, Perfect Resize 7, FocalPoint 2 and PhotoFrame 4.6, these products have not undergone major updates at this time. The biggest change for these apps is that they are more tightly integrated into the Perfect Photo Suite 6 via the new module selector functionality that Perfect Layers 2 brings to the update.

Availability

All of these new products are available for pre-order beginning today but will not ship until late October 2011. We really wanted to show the products off to you now and if you're at Photoshop World Las Vegas this week, stop by our booth and you can see the products in action for yourself!

Otherwise, you can either pre-order today and we'll send you a serial number now and then the download links in October.

The Perfect Photo Suite 6 will have a new, lower, everyday price of $299.95. Perfect Portrait, Perfect Effects, Perfect Mask, FocalPoint and PhotoFrame will have new, lower, everyday prices of $99.95 each. Perfect Resize 7 starts at $99.95 for the Standard Edition and $199.95 for the Professional Edition. For information on upgrades from earlier versions of each product, please visit our Upgrades page for more details.

As promised, here are the download links for DSLR Camera Remote Classic Server version 1.4.2 that adds back support for those older cameras. Please note, this update also includes a couple of bug fixes so if you were using DSLR Camera Remote Server version 1.4.1, check your auto-update to get this free server update.

DSLR Camera Remote Server Classic 1.4.2 download for Mac OS X

DSLR Camera Remote Server Classic 1.4.2 download for Windows

Here's a description of the workshop from Seth & Greg.

Learn or improve your studio and location lighting with Greg Gorman, and Seth Resnick for a special one week All shooting and creative workshop in spectacular Mendocino, CA
.

World renowned photographer Greg Gorman invites you to join him at the Greg Gorman Digital Workshop in Mendocino, California where Greg shares his knowledge of digital photography in the intimate setting of his home and studio on the Pacific North Coast. Greg's special guest is Seth Resnick who is returning for a third time.

This workshop is ideal for any photographer looking to enhance his/her camera, lighting, color management, image editing and fine art printing making skills. The locations are beyond spectacular with shooting on the rugged coast, amazing sand dunes, the redwood forests, and vineyards.

The workshop provides two professional models from New York and Los Angeles and one on one instruction from Seth and Greg.

<- end description from Seth & Greg ->

The cost of the workshop is normally $4,250 but if you use the discount code D65 you can save $750 to bring the cost of the 6 day workshop to $3,500. I've talked to several photographers who have been to this workshop in the past and I'm told it's well worth it.

For more information, you can visit Greg's web site at http://www.gormanworkshops.com/Directory.html

This series gives us an opportunity to share some amazing work put together by YOU! We want to showcase the power of your imagination by providing a before/after slider, so you can see just how meaningful it is to infuse a bit of yourself into your images. Along with that, we'd love to share the presets you used to create these images.

If you'd like to be considered, or have someone in mind, for this series, please email a sample of lo-res JPEG images (900px) to Brian Matiash.

And with that, I'd like to introduce Canadian photographer, Heath O'Fee. Heath has been a long-time user of our products and his imagination knows no bounds with its uses, as is more than visible here. We hope you enjoy!

And now... Heath O'Fee

Hi everyone, my name is Heath O’Fee and I’m a photographer based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I’m absolutely thrilled to be writing a post for onOne, but before we get into the nitty gritty, I figured I should give you a brief introduction.

Photography was never really a strong passion of mine growing up, but I do have vivid memories of posing for family portraits while my dad fiddled around with his Canon FT-b, making sure all the settings were correct. As I got older, I found a heightened appreciation for this art form, and began experimenting with my 35mm point and shoot. As time went on, I decided it was time to try my hand at a single lens reflex camera, so naturally, I stole borrowed my dad’s Canon. Armed with a handful of film canisters, and two lenses (50mm and 200mm), I began my real journey into the world of photography.

Fast forward to today, and I’m posting new images to my blog on a daily basis and shooting with much more advanced digital gear. While the tools of the trade and the medium through which I can share my work have changed substantially, the underlying goal hasn’t changed that much (even if it’s taken me a while to realize it). Every time I press the shutter button, I’m trying to capture something that makes me feel. Whether shooting landscapes, urbex, or portraits for a client, at the end of the day, if the frame doesn’t make me feel, it doesn’t make the cut.

And that brings us to the purpose of this post. I wanted to share with you how I use the onOne suite of plugins to bring to life the feeling and vision I have when on the scene. What better way to start than with an image taken earlier this summer at Lake Minnewanka in the beautiful Canadian Rockies.

The evening I took this shot was amazing. The sun was just beginning its dip below the horizon, and the light was starting to turn that amazing golden colour we all love. My vision for processing was to make the scene as true to what my eye saw when I was there as possible. No amount of stylization could ever outdo the natural beauty of this lake on that night. So, I manually blended two exposures to even out the sky with the rest of the frame using layers in Photoshop and then sent the image to onOne’s Phototools. I used a few of my favourite landscape effects to enhance the amazing natural beauty, and created a custom preset so I could re-use the same effect on future images. None of the individual effects were used in high quantities, as I didn’t want to ‘overdo’ the processing of this image. You can download the preset for yourself here.

This next image is from Joshua Tree National Park in southern California. I took a weeklong trip to Palm Springs earlier this year and had a great day and a half exploring the park. On the day this was shot, the weather wasn’t particularly great. While it looks absolutely beautiful, it was quite cold and there was a biting wind that cut right to ones bones. As soon as I started processing this image, I knew I wanted to bring that cold desolate feeling I had when on the scene to life.

I sent this single image straight into Phototools and had a good idea of what effects I was going to use to realize my vision. After a hefty dose of desaturation using ‘Wow Landscape B&W’ at about 60% opacity, I used ‘Blue Dawn Leonidas’ (one of my personal faves) to help emphasize the feeling of chill and cold in the image. Again, I created a custom preset so I could re-create this feeling on future images. After exporting back to Photoshop, I opted to use a hint of FocalPoint 2 to really draw the viewers eye to that Joshua tree. FocalPoint is a very powerful tool and can really add that extra bit of depth and interest to an image…just make sure to use it in moderation.

Now for a bit of a change of pace. This image is from an engagement shoot I did a few weeks back…and that reflection of the groom-to-be in fiancée’s sunglasses was too good to resist. These two were an absolute joy to shoot, and the entire session was an absolute blast. For portrait work, I have a custom black and white Phototools preset that I use as my go-to portrait B&W conversion. It’s a simple mix of a couple portrait retouching effects and the ‘Convert to B&W IR…’ set to ‘light’. Nothing crazy, but it’s definitely a fave of mine. Again, you can download the preset here (make sure you adjust the ‘Magic Eye Fixer’ portion of the preset as it’s a paint-in effect):

While on my trip to Palm Springs, I spent a good chunk of time exploring the Salton Sea area. This manmade saltwater lake was once a thriving resort location in the desert, but has been slowly abandoned over the last 30 or 40 years. Left behind are a great number of abandoned buildings and beaches just begging to be photographed.

Three key words can be used to describe my vision for what turned out to be an entire series of images from this location: hot, dry, vintage. I worked through a number of effects in various combinations in Phototools before landing on the correct recipe for this series, but when I finally got it, I knew what I had was perfect. I won’t go into great detail about the individual effects used since you can download the preset here, but I will tell you that I couldn’t have made this image appear as I felt on the scene without Phototools.

This has to be one of my all-time favourite images. This was shot late last year in my hometown of Calgary, Alberta while on the rooftop of my friends’ apartment building. I was shooting with a rented copy of the Canon 17mm tilt-shift lens, and I was having a great time experimenting with both the tilt and shift capabilities. The sun had just vanished below the horizon, but was still throwing some amazing, warm orange light onto the building. Warm and cool colours were fighting for the spotlight on the scene, so I knew that would be the angle in post processing.

For this image, I sent 5 exposures to Photomatix Pro for tonemapping into an HDR file. I then sent the tonemapped image straight to Phototools for some contrast adjustment and to emphasize the contrasting cool and warm tones. Unfortunately, I didn’t save a preset of the effects used on this image, but I’m almost positive I applied both ‘Golden Hour Enhancer’ and ‘Cyberpunk’ selectively to enhance the warm and cool tones respectively. (Golden Hour Enhancer has to be one of my most often used and favourite presets!)

I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief peek into my processing workflow using the onOne Perfect Photo Suite. Stylization is an extremely important part of taking my images from what’s captured on the sensor to the finished product. So much of this art is about conveying to the viewer what we as the photographer were feeling when creating the image. Each person has his or her own unique vision, and that’s what makes this craft so enjoyable. We get to share exactly how we see this beautiful world. And that is a beautiful thing.

We're also working on adding Canon T3i and Nikon D5100 support. We're in the final stages of testing for those cameras and hope to submit the update to the iTunes store in the next week. We've also got a couple of bug fixes (pixelated JPG preview for Nikon cameras for one) that are making their way into this free update.

Also, if you're using the Video Start/Stop feature, we're adding an option to not copy the video to the computer and just keep the video on the memory card. This will make using this feature a lot easier.

Finally, for the Video Start/Stop feature, we're making this part of the app so getting this functionality will no longer require an in-app purchase.

Again, the sale runs through the end of July for DSLR Camera Remote Pro.

I was now able to walk around the studio and change light intensities and camera settings constantly firing off test shots and reviewing each without having to run either back to the camera or to the laptop itself - this is sheer genius !!

Thank you Richard for the great review!