ON-LINE PHOTO INSTRUCTION-- with critiques of your work
My new 4-week on-line courses begins again today, March 4. 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 this year, the 8-week courses will repeat every quarter, not every month. The next series of 8-week courses therefore will start on Wednesday, April 8.
Do you want to make money in photography? Want to feel more confident in exposure? 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. The way the courses work is this. Every Wednesday, you receive a lesson that consists of text and photos, explaining various principles in photography, marketing your work, digital manipulation, or whatever subject you are studying. 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. It is a unique and wonderful learning experience.
One of the great 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 stimulating environment, and it will help you become the photographer or digital artist that you would like to be.
On the Betterphoto.com website, you can read the lesson outline of each course and see sample photos. In addition, you can also access the courses I teach drectly by going to my website, jimzuckerman.com, and clicking on the link 'On-line Photo Courses'. at the top of the home page.
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PRECONCEIVING IMAGES WHEN YOU TRAVEL
One of the things that I do to get great pictures -- and to arrange for great photo opportunities for my tour groups -- is to make a list of ideas for photos before I arrive. For example, I just returned from leading a photo workshop in Venice, Italy during carnival. It was an incredible experience for everyone, and one of the reasons we got such outstanding pictures is because of the situations I set up.
One of my ideas was to photograph one or two costumed people in a gondola. I know that carnival participants who spend enormous amounts of money and time on their costumes are extremely proud of them, and they are almost always willing to pose for photographers. I met some of these people and arranged several shoots with them, one of which was in a gondola. I hired the gondolas based upon the look of the gondolier (and his willingness to sign a model release for me and my group), and I chose what I thought was the perfect place to shoot. 
I wanted small arched bridges with nothing distracting in the background, and I preconceived several angles as well. I wanted to shoot from the bridge looking down on the gondola and I wanted to shoot from inside the gondola itself. You can see both types of shots above and to the right. All of the people in my group did this (we took turns inside the gondola), and the models were incredibly patient. Every pose they assumed was fantastic.
I also saw in my mind a shoot on St. George Island which is situated across from San Marco Square. I arranged to photograph several models there at twilight where I demonstrated the use of on and off-camera flash. The photo below is a digital composite where I inserted the moon and I used HDR on the background. The model we had, though, was awesome. She twirled over and over again while we photographed her at the ideal time of twilight.
Another preconceived image I had was to shoot a costumed model in a medieval palace. I didn't have any contacts to get this done, but over the course of several days I asked many people about this and I finally found the perfect location. The photo below is of my wife (who made the costume she's wearing) in a 17th century palace. It was an incredibly exciting shoot, and my entire group loved the experience.
This kind of preconception has guided me in getting striking images all over the world. I do a lot of on-line research to help me in getting ideas for great pictures and I study a lot of travel magazines as well to see what photo editors think are good images.
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I will be repeating this photo tour in 2010. The costumes will be different, I'm sure, but the photography will be equally as incredible. If you might be interested, here is a link to the tour information: VENICE 2010.
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SELF-CRITIQUE
This is a Photoshop composite. The costumed carnival participant wanted a picture of himself wearing a lion mask in front of the famous Lion of Venice statue adjacent to St. Mark's Cathedral. The problem was that depth of field issues in the low light of dawn made it impossible to do it well. If I used a small lens aperture so both foreground and background were sharp, the shutter speed would be too slow. No one can stand perfectly still over the course of one full second or more. In addition, to get the composition you see here I would have needed a medium telephoto lens. This would have reduced the DOF and made this image virtually impossible. Therefore, I had to use Photoshop.
The question is -- does this look photographically incorrect? If you understand my points in the above paragraph, this picture is almost impossible to do with one click. In this very dim lighting (you can tell it's dim because a light is on the statue), this kind of extensive DOF would never happen. Knowing this, does the photo now seem less successful to you?
In my opinion it works. The colors are good together, the juxtaposition of the two elements looks good as well, and the combination of the masked individual and the background symbolizes Venice nicely. I have no problem suspending reality if and only if the image makes sense artistically. The lighting has to match and the cut and paste technique has to be done perfectly as well, of course.
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New Photoshop DVD announced
I'm proud of my first instructional DVD on Photoshop. Learn how to use Photoshop's tools creatively and be a Photoshop Guru.
Whether you have been using Photoshop for years or just learning for
the first time, you will quickly discover new applications to create
stunning images. "Be a Photoshop Guru" introduces the most important
tools in Photoshop and then gives you very creative ways of applying
them for amazing results. This program doesn't just simply show what
the tools do, it shows you how to use them in your photography!
You can purchase the DVD from Amazon.com or, if you would like an autographed copy from me, you can have that from purchasing it from me directly. The price is the same either way. Here is the sales page on my website: jimzuckermanworkshop.com.
(In the photo above, there wasn't a maple tree behind the model. I added that from another image, and then I had to re-create the reflection. This is explained in detail on the DVD in addition to many other very cool techniques. The running time is 168 minutes).
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MAY 2,3 PHOTOSHOP WORKSHOP IN MY HOME
Two people from my March 28, 29 Photoshop workshop have transferred to the May 2,3, so I have two openings at the end of this month. If this would fit your schedule and you'd like to make it, let me know. The May workshop also has just two spaces left. The next workshop will be held at the beginning of July.
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 also 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 (you can download many demo versions of plug-ins using your wireless capability because I have Wi Fi), 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 (BNA).
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2009 PHOTO TOURS
Turkey in Oct. -- a few spaces available
2010 PHOTO TOURS
Carnival in Venice
Heart of Eastern Europe (dates to be announced)
Ireland (dates to be announced)
Ethiopia exploratory (dates to be announced)
Shoes for sale, Istanbul
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.
Spice market, Istanbul
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Missed a newsletter? You can see all of my past newsletters (starting with the February, 2008 issue) if you paste this link into your browser:
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs031/1101654139463/archive/1102299763866.html
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