ON-LINE PHOTO INSTRUCTION-- with detailed critiques of your work
My new 4-week courses begin again next week on Wednesday, June 9. To improve your compositional skills, for example, click here to check out the outline course to see if you feel this material is exactly what you need.
I have a new photoshop course called Photoshop: Thinking Outside the
Box.
You can click here to see the outline of the course. It is very different from my other Photoshop courses in the types of techniques I demonstrate, and it's a heck of a lot of fun.
Do you want to make money in photography? Want to feel more confident in using natural light outdoors? Interested in learning more about Photoshop (like putting fireworks in the sky or removing lens flare). Are you insecure about your exposure skills?
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 directly 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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WHAT A DIFFERENCE A SKY MAKES
I just returned from leading a successful photo tour to Ireland and Northern Ireland, U.K., and as I always do on my photo tours, I take people to the most beautiful/interesting/historic/photogenic places possible. Much of the shooting is outdoors, of course -- cemeteries, ancient tombs, landscapes, villages, etc. -- and that means that the weather and the lighting is very important in making pictures look great. If the sky is boring, or white, no matter how beautiful the subject is, the photos will not be impressive. Obviously, we can't sit around and wait for optimum weather and lighting conditions everywhere we go, and that means if the goal is produce the most outstanding images possible, you have to use Photoshop to replace the original mundane sky with something a lot more visually compelling.
Compare the photo below of Moydrum Castle with the image above where I replaced the white sky. The difference is remarkable. The problem with the original photo was that 1) the sky was boring, and 2) it was much lighter than the castle and therefore distracting. If I exposed correctly for the structure, the sky was destined to blow out. Even if I used HDR here, the sky just wasn't that interesting. Therefore, I replaced the sky in Photoshop.
 I am always shooting skies for this purpose. I have all kinds of images of the sky in my photo library -- lightning, rainbows, storm clouds, white clouds with a blue sky, sunset shots, etc. It's absolutely crucial that you match the clouds with the type of lighting you had for the bottom portion of the image or else the composite won't look correct.
Another example is the shot of Celtic Crosses in the Clonmacnoise cemetery, County Offaly, in central Ireland. The white sky made the shot pretty disappointing, but with the addition of the dynamic storm clouds, the picture is suddenly transformed into something powerful. (I shot these storm clouds the morning of the great flood in Nashville, Tennessee. The sky was outrageous, and I keep shooting until the rain came.)
 
The technique for pasting in a new sky is easy. Making it look perfect is another story. That takes some finesse and practice, especially when there is vegetation involved. The basic Photoshop technique, though, is this:
1. Open the photo of the sky and choose Select > all.
2. Copy the image to the 'clipboard', the temporary holding place for one photo at a time by using the command Edit > copy.
3. Open the photo that needs a new sky and select the sky. Most people use the magic wand tool for this, but it doesn't always do a perfect job. There is often a tell-tale light line around objects that needs to be eliminated. To get rid of this line at the edge of your subject, do steps 4 and 5.
4. Use the pull down menu command Select > modify > expand, and choose one pixel in the dialog box that opens. Hit Enter or Return.
5. Choose Select > modify > feather. Choose a one pixel feather, and hit Enter or Return.
6. Finally, use Edit > Paste into. This puts the sky into your photo. The junction of the sky and the subject might need some work to make the composite perfect, and this can be done with the clone tool in most situations.
The photo of the Cliffs of Moher, below, originally had a white sky and that made the image worthless. The clouds I pasted above the landscape were actually in a different part of the sky at the time I shot this.
Notice in all these pictures the landscapes or architecture were shot in diffused lighting, and therefore the clouds I chose had to match the light on the land. If I didn't do that, the pictures wouldn't look right at all.
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Symmetry
When you photograph something symmetrical, it is best to either stand right in the center of the subject to underscore the sense of balance and graphic design, or you should stand significantly off-center to shoot. Don't stand slightly off-center or else it will look like a mistake.
The picture of the ceiling in St. Fin Barre's Cathedral in Cork, Ireland, above, is an example. The reason why the symmetry looks correct in this photo is because I set up my tripod precisely in the middle of the church.
By contrast, I took another picture of the interior from the side of the church and you can see that this angle, also, is valid. What would not be good is if I shot the ceiling from two or three or four feet off-center. Both of these images were done with HDR and I processed them slightly differently to get different color, but the principle I'm talking about here is how to correctly emphasize symmetry.
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Self Critique
I
have a bluebird box that gets used every year, and it's right outside my
office door. While the parent bluebirds were out of the nest looking for food, I snuck a picture of their eggs. I used a ring flash to get even illumination, but the mistake I made was that I used Program exposure mode on the camera. This produced
depth of field that was much too shallow.
Out of focus foregrounds are usually something to avoid. The soft grasses seen in the immediate foreground in this picture are distracting, and in my opinion they are visually annoying. Sometimes out of foregrounds look great, such as when shooting through a field of flowers and the flowers closest to the camera position are so out of focus they look like a hazy blur of color. In this shot, though, I should have used manual exposure mode with the flash on ETTL, and then with an f/32 lens aperture I could have had a lot more depth of field.
My project for next year is to set up the bird house against my office window and remove the back panel. I want to get closeup pictures of the parents feeding the chicks, and I will remember to use as much depth of field as possible.
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PHOTO TOUR to NAMIBIA
October 17 - 31, 2010
Namibia is one of the world's great travel destinations. Nowhere else on Earth can you photograph such spectacular orange sand dunes -- the largest in the world -- and then have close encounters with cheetahs, lions, and leopards (and I mean really close!). We visit two organizations that rehabilitate injured cats as well as protect them from being killed by local farmers. The most remarkable image of a leopard I've ever taken was shot at one of these facilities (see below).
The
photography is unparalleled because unlike everywhere else in Africa,
you can actually shoot predators from a low position -- on the ground -- for
intimate and compelling portraits unobtainable when shooting from a
vehicle. The intimate shot of a wild dog, above, a species more endangered than cheetahs, is an example.
Photographing the primitive Himba people is also an amazing experience. It's like going back in time thousands of years to the stone age. It's a warm and friendly experience, and the images you get will be amazing.
If this trip inspires you, here is
a link (click here) to my website where you can read the itinerary and get pricing information. Visit the photo gallery there for more images. This will be one of the most memorable photo tours you've ever taken. Let me know if you have any questions. My direct email is: photos@jimzuckerman.com.
The photo below of a snarling leopard was taken with a 24mm wide angle lens as I was lying on the ground shooting through a photographer-friendly electric fence. You can't get this kind of shot from a van or land rover in Kenya!
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PHOTO TOUR to
EASTERN EUROPE
August 27 to Sept. 9, 2010
My Heart of Europe trip was very successful in 2008, and I spent this past summer in Europe planning a Heart of Eastern Europe trip. As usual, I find the best vantage points, the most stunning cathedral interiors, and the best locations for twilight photography, and you will return home with images you will cherish. The countries we will visit include The Czech Republic, Slovenia, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, and Austria.
On my trips, I spend a lot of time talking about exposure, composition, Photoshop, and many other aspects of photography. The experience will not only be visually and culturally exciting, but it will be a learning experience as well.
For a full description, pricing, and
more photos, please check out this link on my website here.
The stunning ceiling of the cathedral in the monastery of Melk, Austria, above, is one of the beautiful things you'll see and photograph. With a wide angle lens, it looks truly spectacular. The
photo below was taken of the parliament building in Budapest, Hungary at sunset. We take the time to get the best pictures possible. I have already scouted out great locations, and of course we take advantage of the best lighting.
These are examples of the wonderful subjects you can find everywhere in Eastern Europe. If you have any questions about the trip, my direct email
is: photos@jimzuckerman.com.
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PHOTOSHOP WORKSHOP in my HOME
Sat. & Sun., July 17, 18, 2010
Photoshop is a photographer's best friend, and the creative possibilities are absolutely endless. In this personal and 'homey' environment, I start at the beginning -- assuming you know nothing -- but I quickly get into layers, cutting and pasting, plug-ins, and a lot more. I promise to fill your head with so many cool techniques that you won't believe what you'll be able to do.
Photoshop instructors approach teaching this program from different points of view. In addition to showing you how to use the various tools, pull down menus, layers, and so on, I spend a lot of time giving you creative ideas that will inspire you to produce amazing images with the pictures you've already taken.
A lot of people, once they learn what the tools and commands do, still need help in deciding what images to work with, what composites look good, and how to be artistic within Photoshop. This is one of the main things I address in this workshop.
I live in the Nashville, Tennessee area, and if you fly into the airport (BNA) I will pick you up. If you drive, I'll give you my address and you can find it on Mapquest. For the $450 fee, I include one dinner in my home (prepared by my wife who is an amazing cook and hostess) and two lunches, plus shuttling you back and forth from my home to your nearby hotel.
Contact me if
you would like to participate. All you need is a laptop. If you don't
have one, I have two laptops (they are Macs) I can loan out.
photos@jimzuckerman.com
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MY SEMI-ANNUAL FROG & REPTILE WORKSHOP
September 18, 19, 2010
This is the third year I've conducted a workshop to photograph exotic poison dart frogs (they are not poisonous in captivity) and reptiles. The workshop is held in St. Louis, Missouri, and everyone who has participated has come away with truly remarkable images. It's hard not to -- it's like shooting sitting ducks, but in this case it's sitting frogs, geckos, chameleons, snakes, a juvenile alligator, and more. There are about 50 species of creatures, and the natural backgrounds I set up make the pictures look like they were taken in the wild.
This workshop is really about flash because that's what is required to get the pictures you see here. I give a half hour presentation on using flash for macro photography, and then the rest of the time is spent shooting. The best pictures are taken with either a ring flash or a twin-flash macro setup. If you don't have your own, I have units to loan out for both Nikon and Canon. I explain everything you need to know about exposure, eliminating any unwanted reflections from eyes and shiny amphibian bodies, and I help you get the best macro images ever.
The price of the workshop is $895. This includes the workshop itself and does not include the transportation to St. Louis or lodging/meals. The hotel we use is 5 minutes from the airport, and they have a free shuttle service. On Saturday evening, we drive down to the Gateway Arch to photograph this spectacular structure in the evening light.
Here is a link (click here) to my website with more photos. If this workshop interests you, contact me by email (photos@jimzuckerman.com) and I'll tell you how to sign up.
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