Photography – Envato

The Elements of Envato Elements

Maddy Osman — Thu, 02 May 2019 00:00:32 +0000

Envato Elements is the freelance designer’s ideal resource for growing and managing their business. Since its launch in August 2016, new features and resources have been constantly added to the Envato Elements library each week. As of this writing, here’s a snapshot of what’s been happening in some of the most popular categories:

Whether you’re a graphic designer or a web developer (or anything in between), there are over a million reasons (and counting) to look into subscribing to Envato Elements.

If you haven’t yet been properly briefed, here’s a deep dive into the elements of Envato Elements:

Unlimited Downloads

Some stock image resources limit your access to assets you’ve legally purchased, which can be problematic if you’re not very organized and are constantly re-downloading said assets. With a subscription to Envato Elements, there are no download limits—you can access your favorite assets from Envato’s extensive library whenever and wherever you want, as many times as you need them.

There are now over a million items for you to download, with more being added each week. Here’s what we’ve got (as of this writing):

4,300+ Fonts

Finding the perfect font for client design projects can quickly rack up fees and drive project costs sky high. Being able to download and test fonts in your project without having to pay additional costs to do so can simplify the design process considerably.

690,000+ Stock Photos

Search Envato Elements’ massive stock photo collection by tag, orientation, background, and even by the photo’s dominant colors. Your clients will definitely appreciate you having access to options outside of the same tired free stock photos everyone else is using.

175,000+ Videos

If you work with video (and these days, you really should be working with video!), you’ll find everything you need on Envato Elements to help you with your next project. You’ll find not just thousands of stock videos, but also motion graphics, broadcast packages, logo stings, titles, and much more.

90,000+ Audio Tracks

Whether you’re creating a video, recording a podcast, or designing an app, you’ll need access to quality audio. Envato Elements offers the full range, from music tracks, logos and idents to a massive library of 79,000+ sound effects. Need a dinosaur growl? A cocktail shaker? Some vintage funky beats? It’s all there.

1,000+ WordPress Themes & Plugins

Envato knows WordPress. Our ThemeForest market is one of the top collections of premium themes and plugins out there. And now, many of the best premium themes and plugins are available with an Envato Elements subscription.

Not a WordPress fan? There are loads of other CMS templates too, so whether you use Drupal, Joomla, Magento, Shopify or something else, you’re in luck. And there are also separate templates for landing pages, emails, and more.

75,000+ Graphic Assets

Beautifully designed graphics are at the heart of the Envato Elements library, and there are so many different categories that it’s hard to summarize them. You’ll find:

11,000+ vector illustrations
36,000+ graphic templates, e.g. logos, product mockups, print templates, etc.
21,000+ 3D objects
1,000+ add-ons, such as Photoshop actions, Lightroom Presets, brushes, and layer styles
plus thousands of backgrounds, textures, icons, patterns, and more!

11,000+ Presentation Templates

It’s official: public speaking is scary. In surveys, people regularly rank it above all other fears—even death. A good presentation template will help give you some more confidence as you stand up to speak. Whether you use PowerPoint, Keynote, or Google Slides, and whether you’re going for something fun and creative or serious and corporate, you’ll find a template here to wow your audience.

Freebies!

Envato Elements also offers several freebies that allow you to get a taste of the quality of the graphic assets included in a paid Envato Elements membership:

Commercial License

If you plan to use any images for use on business mediums like your website, social media, and promotional materials (and for those of your clients), you’ll need to ensure that those images include the right permissions and that you use proper attribution when necessary.

Being legally compliant with image use can be hard to understand, but DIY Photography put together a nice guide that takes you through the ins and outs of licensing if you’re interested in the details. Regarding graphic assets you download from Envato Elements, a commercial license is included with your subscription.

1,200+ Courses on Tuts+

When it comes to the individual elements of Envato Elements, this one piece makes up over half the value of membership on its own. Envato Tuts+ represents tens of thousands of hours invested into developing resources that empower people to get paid to do what they love.

Existing subscribers are loving these courses:

170+ eBooks

Prefer your knowledge delivered in book form? Great, because Envato Elements can accommodate this preference with ease. Get your knowledge drop in the form of the published works of favorite web design voices behind A List Apart and Smashing Magazine (to name a few). Envato Elements’ eBook library delivers expert information as you need it for various client projects.

What’s Next for Envato Elements?

With thousands of graphic assets being added each week, new courses and ebooks added periodically, and new features being introduced to this extensive bundle on a regular basis, Envato Elements will continue to grow.

The Elements of Elements

The features that make up everything you get with a subscription to Envato Elements support the many different facets of a freelance design business: access to education to build new skills, creative assets to use in projects, and a tool for improving business administration in the background of it all. A subscription to Envato Elements is an affordable luxury for freelancers who want to step up their game, take on exciting new projects, and earn more money while doing what they love.

Ready to explore Envato Elements for yourself? Sign up for a subscription.

How has the use of Envato Elements positively impacted your business? We’d love to hear about it! Tweet @envato, and we’ll share our favorite responses.

Check out Envato Elements reviews & pricing featured on Fitsmallbusiness.com.

The post The Elements of Envato Elements appeared first on Envato.

Twenty20 Joins the Envato Family

Collis Ta'eed — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 19:50:25 +0000

We’re excited today to announce that stock photo subscription service Twenty20 is joining the Envato ecosystem!

For seven years, the team at Twenty20 have been helping leading brands and agencies get a fresh, authentic alternative to traditional stock photos. The library of millions of images is by turns, beautiful, bold, candid, raw, and natural. That’s why creatives from companies like Google, Hulu, Vice, and more have been regular clients of Twenty20 for many years.

Later in 2019, we’ll be making the Twenty20 subscription a part of our market-leading Envato Elements creative subscription – an offering that has just passed 1,000,000 templates, project files, and stock media. Supplementing our signature Envato Elements photo collection with the Twenty20 authentic media library will give Elements subscribers even more ways to get their creative projects done.

Ready to see some photos? Head over to Twenty20’s Discover to explore hundreds of collections of amazing images.

Curated collections are at the heart of Twenty20’s offering.

A sampling of the authentic stock photos available as part of the current Spring collection

Introducing Twenty20 to Envato’s ecosystem also means we’ll be welcoming a whole new cohort of creative photographers to our community. Many of Twenty20’s photographers have joined through their Instagram presence, are users of the Twenty20 iOS app, and shoot both royalty free and editorial photography.

We have an immediate earnings boost for Twenty20 photographers and the prospect of much more to come as they join the cohort of creatives earning from Elements’ subscriber-share revenue model.

“At SmarterTravel we have loved our experience with Twenty20 as one of our main stock photo sites. The selection of diverse, relatable, and inspiring photos is the perfect visual complement to our expert travel content.” ~ SmarterTravel, A Tripadvisor Company

“What I like best about Twenty20 are the photos – since they are user-generated, they feel extremely authentic, they are not primarily staged and they feature real people. This enhances our brand identity making the execution of our marketing channels more relatable. I would highly recommend Twenty20 because their wide range of images appeal to our audience, they continue to increase the supply of photos, and the cost associated with their stock photography is affordable, as compared to other stock photography companies I have worked with.” ~ 24 Hour Home Care

“Great quality photos combined with accurate search. I almost always find the photo I need. I love the inclusion of diverse groups of people without looking hyper staged. They have a great collection of abstract photos – the “Insta” aesthetic translates well to slides and sales enablement.” ~ Coursera

That’s the announcement, now here are the details!

For customers, you’ll be able to log in to Twenty20 as before. We have an updated set of Envato terms and privacy policy to accept, but otherwise, you should see no interruption to the service. As soon as we’ve developed our Envato Elements <> Twenty20 integration, we’ll be back in touch to give you the low-down on how to access not only your regular image library but all the Envato Elements creative assets (at no extra cost – yay!)

For photographers, this month, we’re paying out an additional bonus equivalent to your earnings for March as a “Welcome to the Envato community”. Additionally, next month onward we’re doubling the portion of revenue going to photographers on Twenty20 to create a nice sharp bump in earnings for all of Twenty20’s community!

Next time you log in to Twenty20, and before your first payment, you’ll need to review and accept the updated set of Envato terms and privacy policy, and update your details so that we can process payments. You should see no other interruption to your service.

Aside from doubling the commissions for photographers, we’re aiming to bring a lot more customer dollars into Twenty20. Envato Elements has well over a hundred thousand subscribers and we expect they will bring a dramatic increase in downloads (and a corresponding surge in earnings!) This will happen once we merge the subscription access later in 2019.

Finally, the Twenty20 team in Los Angeles is continuing on with Envato, and we’re excited to welcome some fresh faces to our growing company.

We hope you’re as excited as us to see Twenty20 joining Envato!

Curious to hear more about Envato’s vision and performance? Read our 2018 Public Impact Report

The post Twenty20 Joins the Envato Family appeared first on Envato.

Trend Predictions 2019: From Graphic Design to Web Design

Andrew Blackman — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 21:00:05 +0000

Out with the old, in with the new.

Well, not quite yet—there’s still a week or two left before the fireworks go off and we all start making those beautiful, optimistic resolutions that shine as bright as a Roman candle before fizzling in the February gloom. But still, it’s a good time to look back on 2018 and peer forward into 2019 to spot some trends coming our way. So we asked our experts across the company what trends they expect to see in the coming year

Here’s what to watch out for in 2019:

Design & Illustration

Pantone recently set some new design trends in motion with its selection of Living Coral as the Pantone Color of the Year 2019. But design, of course, is about much more than colour. Over on Envato Tuts+, designer Grace Fussell took us through some other trends to watch out for in 2019, from nautical stripes to chiselled serif typefaces. Here are a couple more design trends you can expect to see next year.

#1: Brand Customisation

"A strong trend I expect to see more of over the next year is brand customisation and personalisation. Think custom cut fonts and illustration styles all to yourself that set brands apart and elevate them above the norm."

Steven Scott

Envato Designer

For example, why not use one of these unique fonts, or take them as inspiration for designing your own?

#2: Abstract, Colourful Patterns

"Perhaps influenced by the resurgence of 80s style, abstract and colourful patterns will be popping up in design. Think Memphis Group patterns and colour schemes."

Sharon Milne

Tuts+ Design & Illustration Editor

Learn more about the Memphis style and how to use abstract colour in your designs:

#3: Depth and Layers

"I see that people are playing with dimension and layering again. Different to the super flat style a while back."

Kate McInnes

Quality Media Specialist

Web Design

WordPress just shook up the web design world with its launch of Gutenberg, a completely new way for people to create posts and pages on WordPress sites. Here are some of the broader changes that our experts expect as a result of that change, along with some other exciting new trends and technologies now coming to the fore.

#4: The Rise of the Page Builders

"I think we’ll see even more minimal/clean SVG types and performance-focused themes which utilise Gutenberg. Modern development techniques like WP Rig and Mythic will definitely help in theme development, which is getting more and more complicated nowadays."

Kailoon Chan

Senior Reviewer, ThemeForest

Kailoon also thinks themes could now provide a fully fledged page builder based on Gutenberg, including header/footer customisation. It’s going to be a year for content-creation tools as well, he says, with users flocking to plugins like Elementor and WP Page Builder, which provide pre-designed templates, elements, add-ons, etc.

#5: New Features, New Layout Boundaries

"Competition in the design application space has never been fiercer! Sketch, Adobe XD, Figma, Invision Studio and others are all upping their game and smashing out features to make UI and UX design better."

Ian Yates

Tuts+ Web Design Editor

Why not start off 2019 by getting up to speed with those new and improved apps?

In terms of actual design for the web, expect layout boundaries to be pushed further. It’s taking time to shake off old habits, but CSS Grid and Flexbox now enjoy enough browser support for designers to use them with confidence.

#6: Voice Assistants

"The use of voice assistants will continue to increase in 2019. They will remain a predominantly non-visual medium, so finding the right balance between visual cues and providing context and direction with words in the user interface will be crucial."

Lauren Macnab

Digital Content Strategist

Video

In the video world, too, a big player made a major move in 2018. This time it was Adobe, with its launch of a brand new editing app called Adobe Rush. See what our experts see on the horizon in 2019.

#7: Rush, Particle Animation, and More

"Adobe has a new NLE on the scene, Rush, which works with Premiere templates: a boon for video makers who don’t need a full-fledged production suite. Particle animation, enabled by ever-more-powerful graphics cards, will trickle down to all kinds of video projects and programs. Instagram-esque presets and quick-changing picture styles will remain popular, too."

Jackson Couse

Tuts+ Video Editor

#8: A Plethora of New Templates

"Adobe’s development of the Essential Graphics panel and Motion Graphics Template format has forever altered the video industry. Users of the once graphics-stunted Premiere Pro have been given a brand new arsenal, allowing Premiere editors to add robust, professional animated graphics into their video projects with just a few clicks."

Tyson Frantz

Senior VideoHive Reviewer

What that means is that After Effects template authors now have an entirely new audience in which to create content, and Premiere editors have a burgeoning ecosystem of gorgeous graphics to choose from.

As more and more video editors flock to the graphics template market, 2019 could very well signal the largest period of growth for the Premiere template category.

How many templates can you handle?

This is just a tiny sample of the 50,000+ After Effects templates on VideoHive.

The newer Premiere Pro category has more than 1,500 items, with more being added all the time.

Audio

What will people be listening to in 2019? We can’t predict the chart-topping albums, the breakout acts or the celebrity feuds coming our way next year, but we do know a thing or two about stock audio. Here’s what to expect.

#9: Upbeat, Energetic Audio

"2019 is looking like another exciting year ahead, where upbeat and energetic vibes will dominate stock audio demand. Regardless of styles, from epic to inspirational, tracks that convey confidence and healthy energy will always be go-to winners, especially those with subtle but memorable leads, making room for great stories and narratives to happen."

Adrien Gardiner

Audio Content Specialist

Here are a few excellent examples that made waves throughout 2018:

Code

The launch of WordPress Gutenberg will affect more than just web design. There’s a whole ecosystem of plugins and extensions that can now take advantage of WordPress’s new capabilities. Read on to find out how that will play out in 2019.

#10: An Explosion of Block Plugins

"In 2019, I predict we’ll see an explosion of Block Plugins for the new WordPress Editor (Gutenberg). We should see phase two of the Gutenberg project moving on from the editor to improve other areas of WordPress (like widgets and menus). I also predict that page builders like Elementor will continue to improve at an amazing pace and the eco-system around them (templates, add-ons, etc.) will continue to grow as well!"

Aaron Rutley

Product Manager

Photography

Expect 2019 to usher in a new aesthetic in photography. Some of the most popular trends have now run their course, and we could be all set for a year in which the photos we use more accurately reflect the real world around us.

#11: Ditch the Special Effects

"For 2019, the current demand for authenticity is expected to maintain its growth. The heavy vignetting, retro filtering, desaturation and added lens flares/effects will start looking old (and not in the way it was intended). This is a great opportunity to embrace diversity and inclusion, while producing natural-looking, credible images that customers can actually relate to."

Gaby Jalbert

Photo Content Specialist

Another photography trend to watch out for is drone photography, as the technology keeps evolving and becoming more accessible every year. Drone shots are now widely used in movies and advertisements, as well as on YouTube and social media. This fresh perspective on life should retain a strong presence for years to come.

A Quick Look Back at 2018

In 2018, Envato announced a new addition to the family: Placeit. If you haven’t tried it yet, you really should. The site lets you create logos, mockups, flyers, T-shirt designs and a whole lot more—all from your internet browser.

We also covered a lot of ground in other areas this year. A few highlights from the blog and elsewhere:

Video arrived on Envato Elements, and we took you through how to make a launch video using assets from the site.
Later in the year, audio followed suit as Envato Elements gave you access to thousands of music tracks and sound effects.
We ran some guides for web designers, showing you how to use Elementor to speed up your project, the rules of designing UX for millennials, why voice UI is a big deal, and more.
If you’re a graphic designer, we had you covered too. Elements continued to expand its huge library, and we discussed things like how ubiquity can be a liability for a brand, what you need to know about millennial pink, and how Comic Sans became the world’s most divisive font.
And we must be getting old, because we also got all nostalgic on you and started spinning yarns about the old days in a Sydney garage and reflecting on how you handle all that growth without losing your core values.

Plenty more cool stuff also happened, of course, and you can read about it all in our Year End Review.

Over to You...

As the inimitable Yogi Berra once said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”

Our experts are immersed in their respective fields every day and have drawn on a wealth of experience to tell us what to look out for in 2019, but they could be sideswiped by a major product launch or an unexpected cultural shift.

What do you think? Will these predictions will come true, or do you have your own ideas about what’s coming in 2019? Jump over to the Envato forums and have your say.

Want more? Read the Envato Year End Review:

In the course of 2018, we processed a lot of data about what people are searching for and buying. In our Year End Review, we crunch those numbers to reveal some interesting insights about what happened this year and what to expect in 2019.

The post Trend Predictions 2019: From Graphic Design to Web Design appeared first on Envato.

Lightroom Presets and Photoshop Actions are a bit like magic. They can help get a heap of work done in a very short span of time, but as with any shortcut, they’re only able to improve upon the quality that’s already there. What this means is that you need great starting material, to get amazing results. High resolution images with good composition are mandatory. If you feel you need to brush up on your photography skills, we strongly recommend our excellent courses over at Tuts+.

These tools are meant for both hobbyists and professionals alike and can help achieve a certain look in no time. As with any tool, it’s not perfect out of the box (although they do work exactly as advertised). You’ll need to make sure your images are a good fit for the preset & actions you’re looking to use, to ensure the best results. Once that’s a given, all you need to do is press play (for actions) or apply the preset. If you’re happy with the result, proceed to share your creations on your social media profile of choice! If you feel you like the effect, but it’s too strong, or slightly off, you can always choose to manually tweak the images to perfection and beyond.

Having said that, here are our top 15 Lightroom Presets and Photoshop Actions, to help you add some amazing visual spice to your images:

1. 10 Moody Presets 4 by KiraSnapshots

Add a hint of contrast and make your pictures pop, with this set of presets. The presets also help really set the mood of pictures that would otherwise appear rather bland and boring.

2. Skin Retouch Pro Premium Action by psxpert

While nothing substitutes hands-on retouching for skin blemishes, this action can certainly help speed up your workflow. It manages to take care of a big part of the work involved, so you can focus on finer details. It works best with high resolution images.

3. Lilac - 17 Toning Lightroom Presets by Presetrain

Lilac provides 17 high-quality toning presets for summer/nature portraits with lots of greenery/flowers and adds a moody cold toning (especially to greens). Designed for natural light portraits, Lilac presets are also great for beauty, fashion & fine art photography.

4. Glamour Effects Action by Kitket

A very useful action pack, with quite a few different effects and color variations. If you’re looking for a strong contrast with faded shadows and a smoothness you only see in fashion fotography, this one’s for you!

5. 20 Cinematic Luxe Hollywood Lightroom Presets by HubaFilter

Cinematic Luxe Hollywood Lightroom presets were designed to speed up your lightroom workflow and bring high quality cinematic looks to your photography. You will be able to achieve consistency within your work, creating a style and a cohesive look to all your images, all while streamlining your editing.

6. Celebrity Lightroom Presets by h_s

A pack of professional Lightroom Presets perfect for new and old photographers and graphic designers. All presets have been created with precise calibration & adjustments, paired with a meticulous arrangement, in order to bring that exquisite satin look that’s really popular with celebrities lately.

7. 10 Pro Portrait Presets by Zakaria1854

This pack contains a preset for every taste and use case. Careful tweaking is required, to avoid highlights being blown out or shadow detail being lost… but even so you’re sure to benefit from having a good preset to start from, for any particular look you’re after.

8. Retouching Action by FabioDesign_Lab

9. Twinkle Gif Animation Photoshop Action by walllow

This one is quite an exciting one: it’s a creative multi-functional Photoshop Action allowing you to convert your images into moving artwork within moments. Comes with a handy video tutorial to help you get up and running in no time.

10. 30 Pro Portrait Lr Preset by FabioDesign_Lab

A one-click solution to apply 30 Pro Portrait LR Presets and effects on your photos. They’re incredibly easy to use, enabling a non-destructive workflow, while also saving your precious time and money.

11. 15 Portrait Adjustment Lighhtroom Presets by h_s

This pack contains 15 .lrtemplate files, providing amazing results with with portrait photography. Smart adjustments. Supports: DNG, TIFF, JPG, RAW & PSD. The presets were tested in Lightroom 4.0 to CC.

12. 20 Portrait Glamour Action by Kitket

Use this actions and save heaps of time while getting a professional result. The action leaves editable layers for further customization and offers effects for: HDR, sharpen, noise, gradient, contrast, colorful, solid color, portrait, glamour effect.

13. 25 Pretty Portraits Lightroom Presets

25 Pretty Portraits Lightroom Presets allows you to produce your own signature style and create clean and professional edits in a single click! Give your photos a great and unique look without learning a countless photo editing techniques. Now you can fix colors, soften skin, sharpen details and much more, just in a few minutes. Turn your best photos into perfect with Pretty Portraits Collection for Lightroom.

14. 25+ Professional Beauty Preset by Kitket

This pack adds a unique twist to the usual beauty-preset approach, by offering discrete pastel color presets to give your images that warm, unique feel.

15. Peony Photoshop Toning Action by Presetrain

This action can provide rich natural toning for portrait, fashion and fine art photography. Tired of dull greens and floral arrangements? Give it a try and watch it add volume and color depth, with a special color shift tune-up specifically created for greenery and flowers.

Comes with Soft and Regular variants, for added control with high contrast or underexposed images.

This selection is but a tiny fraction of the incredible selection of high quality presets you can purchase on GraphicRiver. If you need even more awesome LR Presets, check out the selection you get, as part of your subscription over at Envato Elements.

55 Must-Have Creative Photoshop Actions

From art effects to animation.

What Are Photoshop Actions, and Why Should You Use Them?

Did you know that you don’t have to actually be an expert to look like an expert in Photoshop? Photoshop Actions are a great way to automate amazing looking text and image effects. In this article, we’ll run you through what you can do with them, and how to use them.

Create Artwork With Photoshop Actions: 1 Photo, 14 Ways

With one click, Photoshop actions transform an ordinary photo into a work of art; watch the transformation process in a video highlighting some of our favorite Photoshop actions.

The post Best Fashion Photography Filters, Presets & Actions for Lightroom & Photoshop appeared first on Envato.

The 20 Best Lightroom Presets You Need to Know About

Brenda Stokes Barron — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 01:13:37 +0000

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a popular photo manipulation tool, valued for its non-destructive editing as well as the organization and storage space it offers. Whether you love retouching or prefer the image capturing process, Lightroom makes this time-costly work much more bearable.

A great feature exists in this program. When you’re done editing, you can save the position of the sliders and load them next time you’re retouching a picture. If you’ve ever used a filter to make an image black and white, you’ve used something similar to Lightroom presets.

There are many presets available online, ranging from free to very expensive. With all these resources at your fingertips, you should definitely try a few and see how much time they can save you.

230 Pro Lightroom Presets by Dibyendu_dib

Whether you’re a nature, vintage, or portrait photographer, this compilation has something to serve your needs. It’s very economical for the price, so if you can’t afford the more expensive mega-sets, this should be your go-to.

50 Premium Lightroom Presets / Vol.1 by Prismarama

Though it costs more for less compared to the set above, these presets are bright and dramatic. If you want professional enhancements that have an immediate effect on the image compared to more simple presets, this is the perfect pack.

42 Magazine Profiles - Lightroom Presets by ArcticBlue

Ever wanted to snap pics that look like they belong in a magazine shoot? This collection imitates the editing styles of Vogue, Glamour, Esquire, and other popular publications. And at such a low price, you won’t need a fashion magazine’s budget to find your own style.

FoodKit - 42 Food Presets for Lightroom & ACR by Presetrain

If food photography is your element, FoodKit allows you to make small artistic and enhancement changes so images are always clean and fresh. These tools enhance colors, reduce artifacts, and make your photographs look practically edible.

15 Soft HDR Lightroom Presets by LrFlare-LRF

With its realistic effects, HDR photography feels more visceral and hits home harder. These soft and natural presets will help you achieve that effect, of seeing through the photographer’s eyes rather than their camera lens. However, they require pictures with normal exposure to work effectively.

Beautiful Presets for Professional and New Photographers

Retouching is itself an art requiring inspiration, and a slider preset is no replacement for a talented photographer and editor. Presets and brushes are just meant to make the process a bit easier. But these helpful tools have plenty of use regardless.

If you’re feeling uninspired, they can give you an idea of where to begin. If you already know the tone you want, one click can get everything set up and ready to be tweaked. You might even get editing ideas that you didn’t have before.

The best case scenario with Lightroom presets is that you find the perfect one, spend ten minutes tweaking the sliders, and are done — instead of spending an hour just trying to figure out what you’re going for. Time-savers and inspiration-gifters, Lightroom presets are not an asset to be ignored.

50 Premium Hubaset Lightroom Presets by HubaFilter

HDR, pastels, landscapes or cinematic themes; this has it all. If you’re after a versatile preset pack that contains just about everything you might need, this is the one to go with. These presets are special in that they don’t affect white balance, so if you have decent WB, you can achieve nearly the same gorgeous effect as the preview image.

Portrait Pack 14 Professional Lightroom Presets by h_s

If there’s any field of photography where careful editing matters most, it’s portrait photography. It’s essential that the enhancements you make leave the model looking natural and beautiful, not fake and overexposed. These enhancements create stunning effects that enhance lighting and center focus on the subject.

Sunny Landscape Lightroom Presets by Riddy

Nature photographers know that, though the wilds are a brilliant place on their own, it takes some special editing to draw out the hidden colors nestled in the sky and foliage. Sunny Landscapes can make an ordinary image amazing. The sun will seem brighter, the lighting prettier, and the backdrop striking. If you want every detail of your pictures to look breathtaking, these presets accomplish just that.

The Visual Artist Night Color Preset Series by thevisualartist

Night photos in particular present a unique and difficult task for post-processing. This set can help bring out the lighting in underexposed images, as well as change the color balance in artistic ways. Try it if you struggle with getting those night pics looking just right.

50 Premium Wedding Lightroom Presets by beart-presets

Wedding and portrait photographers will love this set of subtle presets. Tasteful sepias and beige tints mix with gorgeous color- and light-enhancers that make the photos appear just as bright and sunny as they were in the lucky couples’ minds.

Moody Tones - Lightroom Presets by Nick-Asphodel

Otherworldly, colorful, and striking, Moody Tones can make your photos seem like they were taken in another reality. If you want highly stylized images with brighter tones and rich colors, these presets achieve that effect splendidly.

20 Lightroom Presets "Golden Hour" by Slava_Smelovsky

Golden Hour uses artistic editing to create stunning landscapes, especially for those taken in the sunset hours. Lighting is enhanced, colors are brightened and saturated, and your sunset snaps will look better than ever.

420 Crisp Impact Lightroom Presets by voxcolor

Crisp Impact makes images sharper by muting the color palette and making them more realistic. With 420 different presets and 5 levels of strength for each one, you have a near-limitless amount of options for making those pictures stand out.

DSL Black & White Presets by Kitket

When used correctly, black and white photography can make a powerful statement. But there’s more to it than lazily pasting any default filter on. DSL enhances the lighting and softens in such a way that creates a stunning effect.

Natural Pencil (Lightroom Presets) by GrDezign

If you’ve ever wanted to turn a photograph into a professional-looking sketch, these presets will do just that. You can tweak and adjust settings until it’s just right, and anyone who sees your pictures might not be able to tell the difference.

Coated Matte Lightroom Presets by ArcticBlue

Great for landscapes and portraits, Coated Matte stylishly edits images to appear brighter and more colorful. If you love taking aesthetic city life pictures, these presets might help you achieve the effect you’re going for.

15 Balinese Pastel Premium Presets For Lightroom by HubaFilter

Interested in drawing out those gorgeous lighter colors? This collection makes photos look like they came out of a dream by focusing on the more subtle hues, and drawing attention to the brighter colors on the subject. Pictures take on an almost vintage and fantasy-like effect.

Sandman - 20 Cinematic Presets for Lightroom & ACR by Presetrain

Sandman’s cinematic and moody effects can make photos seem just a bit brighter and more atmospheric. Presets come with variations more suited to different lighting conditions, so even your over- or under-exposed images can be made beautiful.

Perfect Skin Presets by nostromo

These portrait presets have the most dramatic effect on the oranges, browns, and tans of skin color, where the results are more noticeable. You can brighten, soften, de-saturate, and color tint skin to perfection.

Lovely Baby - Lightroom Presets by iconFactory

When parents go in for their first photoshoot, they want the baby to come out looking like the little angel they are. These artistic presets soften, brighten, and color enhance in subtle but elegant ways.

15 Lightroom Preset Collections for Enhancing Your Photography

By making use of Presets in Lightroom, you can accomplish the oft-repeated tasks of applying effects to your shots quickly and efficiently.

The latest from the Envato Blog

10 Best WordPress Themes for 2019

10 Best Logo Reveal Templates for 2019

Master These Awesome New Skills in September 2019

The post The 20 Best Lightroom Presets You Need to Know About appeared first on Envato.

Update Your Stock Photography Library With These Stunning, Authentic Images

Dom Hennequin — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 22:41:56 +0000

Authentic stock photography is the trend of 2018

In the world of stock photography, there once was a time where the staged photograph was the apple of every digital creative’s eye. Where the image of a businessman on a white background looked slick. Where a story about technology required a matrix style image of an animated head surrounded by 1s and 0s. And, of course, where a group high-five looked normal.

Now, today, many digital creatives are wanting something different.

“Authenticity” is now the word of the day, and people are looking for high quality photography that speaks true to how people and places look and feel.

So, with that in mind, here’s a curated list we’ve put together of some of the best authentic stock photography of 2018.

A group of friends is enjoying the amusement park by Rawpixel

Milky Way, yellow glowing tent and mountains by den-belitsky

Woman hands holding sparklers by arthurhidden

Ribeira Sacra by luisvilanova

A man cooks cooking deep fryers in a kitchen fire by koldunov

Conversation at meeting by Pressmaster

Portrait of beautiful woman with sparkles on her face by heckmannoleg

Father playing with little boy, summer day by halfpoint

Aerial view of brand new road through autumn forest by stevanovicigor

Waterfall by Gi05

If you liked that, you'll love this

Connectivity: Authentic Stock Photos about Family and Relationships

“Invisible threads are the strongest ties.” – Friedrich Nietzsch Connection adds a richness and sense of meaning and fulfillment to our lives. It can be found

November 1, 2017

Create Artwork With Photoshop Actions: 1 Photo, 14 Ways

With one click, Photoshop actions transform an ordinary photo into a work of art; watch the transformation process in a video highlighting some of our favorite Photoshop actions.

October 30, 2017

Blockbuster Movie Posters Created with Bold & Powerful Photoshop Text Effects

See how different designers use bold and powerful Photoshop layer styles to create blockbuster movie posters

October 28, 2017

The post Update Your Stock Photography Library With These Stunning, Authentic Images appeared first on Envato.

The Top Design Trends of 2017, and Envato’s 2018 Predictions

Brittany Jezouit — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 05:45:20 +0000

It’s been a big year.

To recap, we’ve put together this list – curated by the team at Envato – of our top ten trends of the year, and predictions for what will be popular in 2018. Of course, there’s a lot more that happened in 2017 than what’s in this top ten.

A few honorable mentions for trends this year:

On WordPress and web development, we saw a focus on accessible design, simpler and more functional landing pages, an obsession with cryptocurrency, and the growth of ecommerce websites.
In the business world, we saw the rise of more video on platforms like LinkedIn, the continued dominance of subscription services, and more remote-friendly career paths.
In video & audio, trends included cinema-style logo reveals, Taylor Swift-inspired lyric videos, all things Cyberpunk, made-for-Youtube music, flashy Eurovision inspiration, and stock audio genres like boom-bap, tropical house, and electro swing.
Meanwhile, designers made custom illustrations, debated the pros and cons of Figma, designed for the growing ebook market, switched to iPads, snuck 3D renders into their 2D design work, made everything into marble, and avoided Helvetica this year.
On the Envato Blog, we analyzed the history of video game design, asked whether or not Gutenberg would change WordPress, and developed a love/hate relationship with trendy flat lay photography. Envato staff shared their expertise on everything from SEO tips for keyword research, authentic photography, and the potential legal consequences of ‘borrowing’ content.
We also highlighted our favorite and most creative items created by Envato’s community, including music-inspired fonts, stunning landscape photography, motion graphic collaborations, and a turtle-centric design challenge.

Here’s the list of our top ten trends of 2017:

#1: Geometric shapes

"Geometric and polygon art was big in 2017. Backgrounds, textures, and more, all with regular lines and repeating patterns."

David Appleyard

Editor, Envato Tuts+

From zig-zig geo patterns to retro triangles and designs, we saw geometric patterns everywhere this year. It’s also a simple style to try some DIY design – you can learn about it in 60 seconds, or try your hand at creating your own simple geometric pattern.

#2: All tropical everything

"2017 had us dreaming of luxurious holidays, complete with lush palm trees, exotic fruit and beautiful wildlife. It was a real feast for the eyes."

Kate McInnes

Quality Media Specialist, Envato

Kate’s honorable mention in design trends: fidget spinners, which got so big this year that they made it into the stock graphics & photography scene.

#3: Fast typography in video

"One of the biggest trends of this year is fast typography. In an era where we’re constantly overwhelmed by the amount of information being thrown at us, the popularity of templates that help deliver messages in fast, visually engaging ways has risen.

Dom Hennequin

Community & Blog Editor, Envato

Fast typography templates:

Stomp – Typographic Intro by Mnemonick

Rhythmic Typography by blinque

Rhythmic Opener by levmotion

Urban Opener // Dynamic Open by makcinema

#4: Color fonts

"Color fonts are poised to take over the graphic design world in 2018... this unashamedly in-your-face trend promises to put the fun back into typography."

Grace Fussell

Writer, Tuts+

The Fiesta Color font (pictured below – available to download on Envato Elements or DIY with this tutorial) highlights a new trend of colorful, custom fonts. We think this trend will continue into 2018.

#5: Future bass

"THE dominant 2017 audio trend on AudioJungle was Future Bass. While there've been a few noteworthy emergences, such as the SynthWave renaissance we're seeing, it's the contagious sub-lines, the slick sidechaining, and the catchy chopped vocals that have made Future Bass the big consistent winner this year, which is still non-stop exploding.

AudioJungle review team

Envato

Future Bass tracks:

That Future Bass by TheQLon

Future Bass by Alexiaction

The Future Bass by OddVision

What’s next in audio trends for 2018? The reviewers said that “we may expect to see a continued and rising interest in ’80s Synthwave (à la Blade Runner, Stranger Things), Hybrid HipHop tracks (sporty stuff!) and we also have the more subtle Chill-Step showing strong signs of proliferation.”

#6: Simplicity in email design

"I think email will become sharper, smarter and more simplified... there will still be GIF's, but they'll be subtle and interactive at times. Text and content will be more concise, and I think emails will be created based on that premise. I imagine we'll actually see more text-dominant emails with text links, and less overwhelming imagery."

Monica McCormick

Email Marketing Specialist, Envato

#7: Return of the 90's (and 80's)

"2017 was big on bringing back loads of 90's design, especially early 90's American pop influenced design. We're seeing more nods to the 80's creeping in. 2018 could see us rehashing more 80's & 90's pop designs, as well as grunge, earthy tones being used in creative ways."

Sharon Milne

Editor, Envato Tuts+

#8: 2D + 3D design

"We're going to see a lot more of 3D and faux 3d effects, abstract & geometrical elements flowing into the designs to help enhance the visual impact of landing pages, hero sections and newsletters. This will naturally also expand into print and out-of-home advertising platforms. With the evolution of screen technology in recent years, motion graphics will be taking advantage of this design language and have a particularly strong presence in 2018."

Calin Teodorescu

Social Media, Envato

Can you tell the difference between stock photos and 3D designs?

Check out our side-by-side comparisons: How 3D Renders Are Being Used for 2D Artwork.

#9: More microinteractions

"These small “product-related moments” add magic to sites, delighting and surprising users, while at the same time engaging users and enhancing user experience."

Jenni McKinnon

Freelance writer, Envato

A microinteraction is a small moment that accomplishes a single task. We’ve seen them everywhere from social media sites to our WordPress themes on Themeforest, and it’s a design detail that will only grow in popularity.

#10: Print isn't dead

"Designers feel strongly and positively about print, and print remains crucial to how professional graphic designers make a living. Print lends itself to certain audiences and offerings where communication needs to be retained, contemplated, touched or trusted."

Eric Schwartz

Content Insights Manager, Envato

According to a study done by Graphic Design USA (GDUSA), 97% of graphic designers work on print design projects, compared to 36% who work on TV, film, or video projects. The top print project types include brochures, marketing materials, cards, and direct mail.

Agree or disagree? Let us know what your favorite trends of 2017 were, and what you predict will be big in 2018.

NOW READ: More of our wrap-ups of 2017

The post The Top Design Trends of 2017, and Envato’s 2018 Predictions appeared first on Envato.

Nature: The Best Photography from Parks, Mountains, and More

Jamie Frankenberg — Sun, 10 Dec 2017 22:42:51 +0000

Font: AutoRich Monoline Script

“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” Henry David Thoreau

Our beautiful planet is a source of inspiration for artists, writers, and creators, and a home for all living things. Respecting the power Mother Earth yields and honoring all of the natural wonders and exquisite beauty she provides, we curated a photo collected around the theme of Nature.

Victoria Falls Aerial by edan3

The beautiful Bruarfoss waterfall by elxeneize

Moraine lake by Galyna_Andrushko

Himalaya Mountain Peaks from Cho La pass, Inspirational Autumn L by blas

Sunrise landscape of foggy and cloudy mountain valley by Pilat666

American Bald Eagles by lowthian

Alps by ivankmit

Roe-deer in the morning mist by johan10

beautiful huanglong autumn scenery in China by chuyu2014

Waterfall of Krka National Park, Croatia by nblxer

Beautiful waterfalls by viki2win

Jungle Canopy by macropixel