ON-LINE PHOTO INSTRUCTION-- with critiques of your work
My new 4-week and 8-week on-line courses begin again on Wednesday, April 8. 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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MY THREE FAVORITE PHOTOSHOP PLUG-INS
Plug-in filters for Photoshop significantly expand your creativity. I have some favorites that I'd like to share with you. You can download a 15 or 30 trial from the websites I provide to see if you like them.
First and foremost is Flood made by flamingpear.com. It puts the most realistic reflections into any picture, and it's not expensive at all. I would have to say this is my favorite plug-in. I've sold many, many pictures with this one amazing tool and I've produced some of my favorite images.
 The dialog box is intuitive and easy to use, and if you can't decide how to set the sliders, there is a die (singular of dice) that you can click again and again until you like what you see. By establishing the water line, you can do some very creative things. In the photo of the gull, for example, I made it look like the bird was just taking off from the water. In actuality, the bird was in flight about 30 feet above the ground.
In the photo of Glacier Bay, Alaska (below), I didn't like the messy foreground with small pieces of ice floating on the water. By using Flood, I made the surface of the water seem clean and pristine.
If you like turning photos into
what looks like paintings, the new Topaz filter 'Simplify' does exactly what the old Buzz filter did (http://toolfarm.stores.yahoo.net/tolaphpl.html). It blends the colors of a photo such that detail is lost in a very artistic way. With one slider, you control how much detail you retain.
The photo below of a 1951 Mercury was superimposed in front of palm trees and then Simplifier was applied. Notice the painterly quality of this. I retained all the necessary detail, but the blend of colors makes this almost look like a watercolor painting. With this kind of abstraction, your cut and paste technique doesn't have to be perfect because flaws will most likely be obliterated.
The Venetian carnival photo below was also done with Simplify. If you click on it and enlarge it, you can see the way the earth-toned colors in the background have been smoothed together, and even though the facial detail of the costumed couple has been lost, especially in the eyes, the image still works very well.
 Another favorite filter is Snap Art made by Alien Skin software (http://www.alienskin.com/). It is actually dozens of filters in one, because within each of the major categories there are many filters and each one can be tweaked considerably. In the category 'Pencil Sketch', I created this unique image of an African lion.
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Using the category 'Impasto', I applied an artistic interpretation to a tall ship. Notice how both of these images look nothing like photographs.
When you choose images to be manipulated this way, what makes or breaks the final result is the graphic design and the excellence of the original. I look for strong graphics, clean and unobtrusive backgrounds, compelling subjects, and good color.
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SELF-CRITIQUE
'The Bean' in Millenium Park in downtown Chicago is an intriguing subject to photograph. I photographed it at dawn specifically to avoid getting a lot of people reflected in the contoured surfaces. At dawn, like twilight, there is a mixture of cobalt blue with the golden color of tungsten lights. I feel that this lighting is what makes this picture work so well.
The other aspect of this picture that I like a lot is the fact that I used an extreme wide angle lens -- a 14mm. I think the exaggerated perspective added an eerieness to the alien-like subject that holds one's attention. Notice that I did not clip the top of the Bean when I composed it. It's usually not a good idea to clip the tips of things. I do feel that the cement grid is a little too purple, though, and this should be toned down.
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Two New Photoshop DVDs announced
I'm proud of my first twoinstructional DVD on Photoshop. In the first one, 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!
(In the photo of the woman and the tree, 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).
In the second DVD, the one with the knights on the cover (they were photographed at a local Renaissance Faire and then combined with the foggy forest background -- and the sword was purchased on-line and cut and pasted into the picture), I share many of my favorite and most useful creative techniques with you. Photoshop is the best friend a photographer has today. This DVD shows you that the sky is the limit in terms of what you can do with your images. Running time is 173 minutes.
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 at a discounted price. Here is the sales page on my website: jimzuckermanworkshop.com.
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July 11, 12 PHOTOSHOP WORKSHOP IN MY HOME
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 includes instruction from 9 to 5 on both days, two lunches and one wonderful dinner provided by my wife who is an amazing cook -- the workshop participants who enjoy this meal always want to extend the workshop so she can give them cooking lessons!. 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 -- Feb. 8 - 14
Heart of Eastern Europe (dates to be announced)
Ireland -- May 20 - 31
Ethiopia exploratory (dates to be announced)
Antarctica -- January 3 - 24 (contact me for pricing and the itinerary)
Ceiling detail, Blue Mosque, 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.
Ancient Byzantine cistern, 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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I now publish a blog on my website that you may find interesting and informative. On jimzuckerman.com, click the link at the top 'photo blog'.
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