ON-LINE PHOTO INSTRUCTION-- with critiques of your work
My 4- week on-line courses began again on December 3. I have a new 4 week course in Stock Photography that might interest you. As a professional photographer, the best thing I ever did was join a stock photo agency.
Betterphoto.com, the company for whom I teach these on-line courses, is going back to a quarterly schedule. Starting in January, their 8-week courses will repeat every quarter, not every month. Therefore, none of my 8-week courses will be offered in December. They will begin next on January 7th of the New Year.
Do you want to make money in photography? Want to feel more confident in exposure? Learn how to expose correctly when you shoot into the sun like the photo below. Interested in learning more about Photoshop (like putting fireworks in the sky or removing lens flare). Are you insecure about your compositional skills?
I teach several 8-week and 4-week courses on-line for Betterphoto.com
The way the courses work is this. Every Wednesday, you receive a lesson that consists of text and photos, explaining various principles in either photography or digitral manipulation. At the end of each lesson there is an assignment, and you have plenty of time to take pictures and upload them for my critique. You can use photos you did specifically for the assignment or images that you have taken previously.
On-line photo courses are like virtual classrooms but not in real time. Other students can see your pictures, read my critiques, and comment on your work. Similarly, you can comment on the pictures of other students.
One of the wonderful things about these on-line courses is that students participate from all over the world. In a single lesson's uploads, you may see pictures from Bryce Canyon or Brazil, or from Singapore or South Carolina. It's a very simulating environment as well as a learning experience, and it will help you become the photographer or digital artist that you want to be.
On the Betterphoto.com website, you can read the lesson outline of each course and see sample photos. In addition to going to Betterphoto.com, you can also access the courses I teach drectly by going to my website, jimzuckerman.com, and clicking on the link 'Courses'. at the top of the home page.
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10 REASONS WHY PHOTOS ARE NOT SHARP
It is a never ending concern that our pictures be as sharp as possible. Photography has a seemingly endless number of challenges, but sharpness is number one. You matter how incredible your photo opportunity is, if the images don't turn out sharp nothing else matters. The pictures will be worthless. And, too often images are almost sharp. This can really drive you crazy.
Let me list ten reasons why your pictures may not be as sharp as you want and expect. While there are many factors that at times are beyond our control to fix -- like photographing a kid on a skateboard in a park at night with no flash -- there are many situations that can be remedied.
1. As I mentioned in my last newsletter, turn off the image stabilzation feature on your lens when using a tripod. If you don't do this, it is guaranteed to give you unsatisfactory images regarding sharpness.
2. Don't raise the center column of your tripod too high. This is a relatively unstable situation. In essence you will be shooting from a monopod. Instead, extend the legs fully and, if that's not tall enough for you, get another tripod such that when the legs are extended, the camera is at eye level.
3. Use a fast enough shutter speed. The general rule to follow -- when possible -- is to use a shutter speed that is at least the reciprocal of the focal length of the lens. In other words, if you are using a 400mm telephoto, your shutter speed should be 1/400th of a second or faster. Can you get away with a slower shutter? Sometimes yes, but too often the images will not be as sharp as you want.
4. Don't hand hold your pictures when shooting at twilight or night, and don't raise the ISO so high that the increase in digital noise degrades the picture quality. Use a tripod.
5. Don't trust the autofocus mechanism in low light situations. Don't be so dependent on automation that you can't take good pictures without it. Switch to manual focus when necessary. Autofocus works on the basis of color and contrast. If there isn't enough contrast in a scene, it can't work well.
6. When there is more than one plane of focus in front of your subject, like a lion in tall grass (below), the autofocus mechanism can't know which plane should be sharp. Therefore, use manual focus. You have no choice in a situation like this.
7. Don't do macro photography without a tripod. Your pictures will not be sharp and/or your depth of field will be so limited that you won't like the images.
 8. Wind is the enemy of macro photographers. If you shoot closeup to small subjects when there is even a slight breeze, your efforts will be in vain. You won't be able to get sharp pictures. If there is a very slight breeze, your only hope is to wait for a lull in the wind before you shoot. The orchid you see here was taken in a greenhouse -- hence no wind at all. That's why it's tack sharp, and that's why I love shooting in greenhouses. Outdoors, I like to shoot macro subjects before sunrise and after the sun goes down because often if there was any wind during the day, it dies down. There are many days where the air is very still, of course, but if you try doing macro work in the wind, you'll make yourself crazy.
9. When you are forced to shoot in a low light situation without a tripod, hold your breath as you very gently push the shutter button. Don't pounce on the shutter with enthusiasm and end up with a blurred image. Lean against a wall or brace yourself against a rock -- anything you can find -- for stability. That will help you get sharp images.
10. Don't use an ISO that is inappropriately reduced for low lighting situations. We all should be shooting at 100 ISO or thereabouts to minimize digital noise. But ... there is no point in going this low if your pictures won't be sharp. If you are not using a tripod, you have to adjust your ISO until your shutter speed is fast enough to hand hold the camera. Making your pictures noise-free is irrelevant if they will be blurred.
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Self-Critique
I critique a great many photos for my on-line students, and I am always honest but nice. When it comes to critiquing my own work, I don't have to be nice. As a professional photographer, I am competing with the best photographers in the world, and if my images are not as good or better than theirs, I won't do well in the marketplace. Therefore, I must be extremely critical of my work.
The above photo of the statue was taken during my Heart of Europe photo tour last July. It is in Luxembourg City, and we had a beautiful sky to use as a background this particular evening. What defines the success of a silhouette is the graphic form, i.e. the shape, of the subject. If the form is cut off, messy, hard to 'read', or otherwise flawed it won't work as well as it should.
In this case, I made two mistakes. First and most important, the shape of the horse's head has been lost. The lowered part of the head has no definition because of the angle with which I shot this. Second, the back legs are not nicely defined. I also don't like that long thing sticking down just below the horse's chest.
I realized my mistake after I took a couple of shots, and when I changed my shooting angle the definition of the horse and rider looks much better now. I didn't have a sky as dynamic with the other angle, but that can always be addressed in Photoshop. All four legs look good, and we can see the entire definition of the majestic head. I did lose the helmet being extended by the right arm, but that was a price I was willing to pay for the perfect form of the proud horse.
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January FROG AND REPTILE WORKSHOP
There is still space available in the workshop I give twice a year in St. Louis to photograph rare poison dart frogs and exotic reptiles. The people that participated in this workshop last August got incredible pictures. Because we set up several stations with various backgrounds, each person has the opportunity to shoot for two days and get the best macro images imaginable. Before the shooting begins, I discuss principles involved in macro photography and lighting strategies so you know exactly how to get the best shots.
The workshop is held in a hotel near the airport (there is a free shuttle to the hotel), and then in the evening we go downtown to photograph the remarkable St. Louis Arch at twilight.
The cost of the workshop is $890. To read more about this event, and to see more photos that were taken during the workshop, here is a link on my website: http://www.jimzuckermanworkshops.com/-frogs-and-reptile-photo-works/
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PHOTOSHOP WORKSHOP IN MY HOME
The February 7, 8, 2009 Photoshop workshop in my home has been sold out, so I am offering it again on Saturday and Sunday, March 28 and 29. Photographers have never had such a remarkably creative tool to manipulate imagery, and knowing how to use Photoshop is one of the most exciting things you could ever learn in photography. I love working in Photoshop, and it's exciting for me to teach it. I know that learning this program can be intimidating, but it's not hard. Really. There is a lot to remember, but going over each action two or three times is what you need to imprint the information in your brain. I will walk you through many of the most important parts of Photoshop, and you won't believe what you'll be able to do with your pictures.
The fee of $450 will include instruction from 9 to 5 on both days, two lunches and one wonderful dinner provided by my wife (who is an amazing cook). I will provide a list of nearby hotels where you can stay. I will shuttle you back and forth to my home as well as pick you up from the airport if you fly in.
This workshop is for beginners who know nothing (or very little) about Photoshop, but it very quickly gets into intermediate and even advanced techniques. Photoshop can't be taught in a linear fashion, like math. It doesn't work like that. For example, you don't have to know how to use the clone tool -- a basic function of Photoshop -- to do layer masks. Similarly, you can learn how to add what looks like a studio background light using the gradient tool, but not understand how to set up short cuts in the Actions palette.
 In the workshop, I will begin with the tools palette and explain how the most important tools can be used to make incredibly creative images. Even if you know what these tools do, you will learn ways of applying them to various photographic situations that will amaze you. I will then go into layers and layer masks, selections, replacing the sky, adding lighting effects, adding reflections, making silhouettes, an impressive list of awesome plug-ins, the relationship between the cloning tool and the healing brush, cloning from one photo to another, and much more. By doing each of the techniques I discuss as I explain them, you will be able to remember the steps and then this wonderful knowledge will be incorporated into your work flow. 
You will need to bring your own laptop computer, and this will make it easier for you to concentrate on the techniques rather than fiddling with someone else's computer. I will demonstrate more creative ideas in these two days than you can imagine.
If you are interested, contact me at photos@jimzuckerman.com. The airport that you will fly into is Nashville, Tennessee.
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Ruins of Ephesus, Turkey
For other photo tours, speaking engagements, and seminars that I will be giving, please visit my website: jimzuckerman.com and click on the frog photo you see on the home page of the website. One of the exciting new tours I'll be leading next year in July is to Poland.
Also, the Turkey Photo Tour in October is amazing. The variation in subject matter, the incredible history that you can capture, and the wonderful people (who love Americans, by the way) make this one of my favorite travel destinations. We have a fantastic local guide, and one of the options you can do is take a hot air balloon ride over Capadoccia! Don't miss this one.
Head of Medusa, ancient cistern, Istanbul
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Missed a newsletter? You can see all of my past newsletters (starting February, 2008) if you paste this link into your browser:
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs031/1101654139463/archive/1102299763866.html
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