Notice: LucisArt will soon be discontinued to make way for LucisArt Pro, which promises advanced features and greater functionality. The new version should be available in July or August and will retail for $595. If you wish to purchase the current version which retails for $169 ($144 with the coupon code) you must do so by May 8th at 5:00 PM EST. The current version is the one I use and all of the samples below were created with it. If you've been holding off on purchasing LucisArt, don't delay any longer. Once the cutoff date passes, it will not be offered again. More details can be found on the LucisArt website.

I don't use very many third party Photoshop filters because my style and workflow just don't require them. However, there is one filter that I just couldn't live without. It's called LucisArt and it's been my secret weapon for almost as long as this site's been up. I use it to some degree in most of my images. Some rely heavily on it while I use it as a final touch on others. It's the perfect compliment to the dynamic lighting techniques presented in my videos and it helps give my images that extra "something".

So why am I telling you this? Several reasons, really. For one, the secret's already out. LucisArt is becoming more and more popular every day. Secondly, it's impossible to fully describe my post processing techniques without including it in the discussion. Thirdly, I've received a lot of support from the photoblog community and I want to give something back. To that end, I've spoken with the owner of the company and secured a coupon code that will get you $25 off the purchase price. The code is ARH3001.

LucisArt is very simple to use and is available for both Windows and Mac's. A standalone version is available that provides enhanced functionality but I've been very happy with the plugin. LucisArt provides eight different effects. The ones I use most often are "Sculpture" and "Exposure". I like those two so much that I haven't really explored the other six in much detail.

It's difficult to describe just what LucisArt does so I've provided some samples here to give you a little taste. I use a number of different processing techniques but LucisArt was the core component of these effects. There are also user galleries and samples on the company's website that will provide more examples.

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