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High-Pass Contrast Mask Preset for PhotoTools

by Mike Wong on 01.22.10 in onOne Products • 0 Comments

I created a new preset for PhotoTools 2.5 Professional Edition and it is posted on the onOne Exchange. The preset is called High-Pass Contrast Mask and I created it on the expo floor at Imaging USA in Nashville earlier this month when a PhotoTools 2.5 user asked me if we could get this specific look he was trying to get. He seemed very pleased with the effect so I thought I would post it for everybody else as well. I hope you enjoy it. Here’s a before and after example of the effect on a photo I took of my daughter recently.

PhotoTools Professional Edition Review

by Mike Wong on 02.14.08 in Uncategorized • 0 Comments

PC-Review Online has just posted their review of PhotoTools 1.0 Professional Edition.

Here’s a excerpt from the review.

"I am quite impressed with PhotoTools Pro, the interface is clean and easy to use. It comes with a very wide range of useful effects, the ability to stack effects to create totally new custom effects is really nice. The batch processing capability is great for not only batch applying a stack of effects but for batch processing without applying effects."

"If you own a digital camera or a film or flatbed scanner and you have Adobe Photoshop CS2 or CS3 this is a must have plug-in package. The effects are very nice and most importantly they are practical and useful."

Learn more about PhotoTools Professional Edition.

PhotoTools – Landscape Enhance with Glow

by Mike Wong on 12.07.07 in Photography, Photoshop, Tips & Tricks, Tutorials, onOne Products • 0 Comments

I’ve got a new Preset for PhotoTools Professional Edition that I’d like to share today. I was going through some pictures for a year end project and found this picture that I took in Central Oregon at a place called Black Butte Ranch. It’s a shot of the Three Sisters mountains, part of the Cascade Mountain Range. I love it here. It’s absolutely wonderful and we go every summer. Anyway…the original photo was a bit flat with some room for improvement. PhotoTools to the rescue.

Black-Butte-2007-3951_before.jpg

I started off with an effect to improve the overall tone and then dropped the Kubota Radiant Landscape effect. I could have stopped there but decided to drop the Kubota Soft Glow effect which added a little more to the clouds. At that point, I stopped. Sometimes it’s hard to stop, but that’s the secret, knowing when to stop.

Black-Butte-2007-3951_after.jpg

Here’s the preset if you’d like to download it and use it. You’ll need PhotoTools Professional Edition because of the use of Kevin Kubota’s effects.

All images copyright Mike Wong 2007.

PhotoTools – Black and White Conversion

by Mike Wong on 12.05.07 in Photography, Photoshop, Tips & Tricks, onOne Products • 0 Comments

I was recently going through some pictures that I took throughout 2007 as part of a year-end slide show, semi-movie project that I like to do for my family. While cruising through my Lightroom library, I stumbled upon this picture of my son that I took in October at one of his soccer games.

nathan_20071205_before.jpg

I really liked it for two reasons. First, I really liked the lighting – that late afternoon light in the fall can be really nice. Second, I liked it be because Nathan wasn’t pulling a goofy face which is he prone to do at his age in just about every picture I take of him. The goofy faces are nice, but even a parent wants a straight face sometimes. Anyway, I thought it would make a good black and white photo so I quickly opened it up in Photoshop CS3 and the took it into PhotoTools Professional Edition.

I added two effects that Jack Davis created for PhotoTools. The first was a Black and White effect specifically designed for portraits (effect name: Davis-WOW Portrait-B&W). I then added the Davis-Diffuse Glow effect set to the Substantial Large setting because I really wanted to get a nice glow and blow out some of the highlights on the left side of Nathan’s face so they would blend into the background. I know Jack would disagree with me about blowing out the highlights but I had almost blown them out in the original photo so I figured I might as well go to town and completely blow the highlights and get a cool effect. Finally, I added a small amount of sharpening with Jack’s Davis-Portrait Sharpen effect set to Small. The result…

nathan_20071205_after.jpg

I really like this final result and when I printed it on my Epson R2400, I liked it even better. I can’t wait to get the print home and put it up in my office.

Now if you would like to get this same type of look, you can either repeat those steps in PhotoTools Professional Edition – which will save you about 15 steps in Photoshop, or you can download this preset and import it into PhotoTools Professional Edition and get it with a simple double-click. Hope you enjoy it.

All images copyright Mike Wong 2007.

Photoshop World Recap

by Mike Wong on 09.13.07 in Uncategorized • 0 Comments

Wow. What a whirlwind. I can’t believe that just one week ago, the crew here at onOne were getting setup for the largest Photoshop World ever. And like everything else in Las Vegas, it was indeed a large show. There were more vendors, classes, new instructors and last but not least, attendees this year than I’ve ever seen before.

Before I get into my recap here, I would like to say THANK YOU to everybody who stopped by our booth to say hello, get some additional training on something you bought at the last show or purchased something for the first time. We absolutely love seeing everybody and it’s great to meet so many of you in person.

Here are some pictures just before the show as well as during. As you can see, there were just a few people stopping by our booth to learn about our new product announcements for PhotoTools, PhotoTools Professional Edition and our free presets for Adobe Camera RAW. Of course, giving away an iPhone is of interest to one or two people out there as well. :-)


Here’s our new booth almost done setting up.


The crowd gathering to see Helene Glassman speak and to see if they have the winning iPhone ticket.


Helene Glassman presenting her PhotoFrame techniques.

Thanks again to everybody who stopped by our booth! We sincerely appreciate your support.