ON-LINE PHOTO INSTRUCTION-- with detailed critiques of your work
My new 4-week and 8-week courses began again last Wednesday at Betterphoto.com, and it's still not too late to sign up. 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 (include 3-D), 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 'Online Courses'.
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EXPOSURE MODES: WHICH ONE SHOULD YOU BE USING?
There are four exposure mode choices: shutter priority, aperture priority, program mode, and manual. Let's examine what they are designed to do, and then we can decide which exposure mode choice is best for a given situation.
Shutter priority. In this mode, you choose the shutter and the camera chooses the lens aperture. This mode is used when you specifically want a certain shutter speed. For example, if you are photographing playful puppies, you need a fast shutter speed, say 1/125 or faster if the light permits. This would be a situation where you'd use shutter priority because you can specifically select a fast shutter speed.
If you shoot moving water and want to blur it, you can also use shutter priority. In this case, you can specifically choose a slow shutter speed. With the waterfall below I shot in Croatia, I chose .8 seconds.
When depth of field is important, you can use aperture priority. This is very useful for landscape work, for example, as in the photo of a castle in Poland below. I wanted to make sure that the immediate foreground was as sharp as the background, and the only way to do that was to use a small lens aperture -- f/22 in this case. The danger, though, in using aperture priority is that the shutter speed becomes slower. If you are using a tripod and the subject isn't moving, there is no problem at all. However, if you are hand holding the camera and using aperture priority, you must watch what is happening to the shutter speed. If it gets to be too slow to hand hold the camera and still expect sharp pictures, you won't be able to get as much depth of field as you want. First and foremost, you must have sharp pictures. Extensive depth of field becomes irrelevant if the entire photo is blurred due to a slow shutter. The general guideline is that 1/60th of a second is the slowest shutter speed you can use in most
situations when hand holding the
camera. Slower than that means a
blurred picture. Can you sometimes
get away with 1/45th or even 1/30th?
Yes, but not often. Does image
stabilization help? Yes, it does.
Nevertheless, the ideal situation is
to shoot at 1/60th of a second or faster.
If you are using a telephoto lens, then the shutter needs to be even faster (for example, with a 300mm lens, the shutter should be 1/300th of a second or faster). When I shot the
flamingos at Lake Nakuru in Kenya (below right), I used a 500mm lens, and my shutter speed had to be 1/500th of a second to insure that the images were tack sharp.
Program mode is designed to take your mind off of the camera. It allows you to concentrate on the subject.
For example, if you are shooting action like the leopard below, you just don't have time to fiddle around with the settings on the camera. Milliseconds can mean getting the picture or missing it. Program mode chooses both the shutter speed and lens aperture, freeing you to keep the subject in focus and shoot fast. When hand holding the camera, I use Program mode about 85% of the time. I know this surprises many people, but my rationale is that this mode is biased to giving you the fastest shutter speed possible, given the light and the ISO setting, minus 1/3 f/stop. Program mode, therefore, is similar to using shutter priority at almost the fastest speed.
Some photographers like to use manual exposure mode because they think this gives them greater creativity. I disagree. They still base the shutter speed and aperture settings on the meter reading. so what's the difference if the camera selects the designated f/stop and shutter speed or if you do it yourself manually? There is no difference except the camera can do it faster, thus saving critical moments that will allow you to shoot faster and capture a fleeting moment that may never happen again.
I use manual exposure mode for specific types of shots, For example, when I conduct my frog and reptile workshop (the next one will be in March, 2011) in St. Louis, I demonstrate how macro flash can be used with manual mode along with f/32 for perfect exposures and complete depth of field.
I also use manual mode when I use the HDR technique (such as the incredible St. Mary's cathedral in Krakow, Poland below where I took 3 exposures and put them together using Photomatix), when I shoot lightning, when I shoot water drops, and when I shoot the moon. In other words, for special situations.
The exposure modes you choose depend on your shooting style and your subject matter. As I said, for myself, I use Program mode most of the time unless:
1. I am using a tripod, then I use aperture priority
2. I want a specific shutter speed, then I use shutter priority
3. I want the fastest shutter speed possible, given the light and the ISO, then I use aperture priority and select the largest lens aperture. This forces the shutter to be as fast as possible
4. I am shooting something unusual, like lightning, and then I use manual
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PHOTOGRAPHING SYMMETRYSymmetrical subjects should be photographed in one of two ways. Either you should be standing directly in front of the subject such that the camera position is dead center, or you can shoot from a position that is significantly off-center. If you are slightly off-center, the picture won't look right.
The Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary is a good example of a perfectly symmetrical subject. I positioned myself across the river precisely such that I was dead center (the actual reflection in the water wasn't as attractive as I wanted, so I used Flood to make a more artistic image), and as a result the image looks perfectly balanced.
Doors and windows are another good example of subjects that require you to be precisely in the center when you take the picture. If you are even a few inches off, the horizontal lines will no longer be parallel
with the top and bottom of the frame, and the image will look askew.
This concept applies nomatter what the subject is, as long as it is symmetrical. The bizarre artistic deign in 15th century human bones, below, in a church in the Czech Republic is another example, as is the ornate door at the University of Wroclaw in Poland. I was careful to place myself dead center in both cases.
 It is fine to be decidedly off-center. In other words, if you are positioned well off dead center it is obvious that this is what you intended for compositional purposes. There is no mistaking the fact that this was an artistic choice and not a mistake. The angled shot of the red-framed window in the village of Cicmany in Slovakia is an example.
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Self Critique
This is my dog Rexie when he was 8 weeks old. My wife made me promise that if we got a dog, he would never be allowed on the bed. Well, we had Rexie for one day and she fell in love with him and he has been allowed on the bed ever since. He is now 100 pounds and takes up the whole bed, but that's besides the point! This picture was taken the first time he had bed privileges, and you can see that he's very happy about this.
I love the adorable expression I captured on Rexie's face, but the image has two things wrong with it. First, the cyan color in the upper left corner is annoying (this is my wife's blouse), and second, the graphic line of the pillow in the upper right section, plus the juxtaposition of two types of fabric, are distracting. That one element pulls our eyes away from Rexie, and that's not how a successful picture is supposed to work. Our attention should stay directed on the subject.
In the photo below I corrected both of those problems using Photoshop, and you can see the difference. The lessons here are that graphic lines in the picture that are not part of the subject are usually distracting, and bits of bright color in the background can also take our attention away from the subject.
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PHOTOSHOP TIP
When you paste one photo into another, feather the edge of the object you are pasting with one pixel. In CS5, the command is Select > modify > feather. When the dialog box opens, choose 1 pixel as the feather radius.
This softens the edge of the subject ever so slightly, so when it is combined with the new background it looks like it belongs there. If you don't do this, the edge will be too sharp, and upon close examination (such as if you make a large print) it won't look real.
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PHOTOSHOP WORKSHOP in my HOME
Sat. & Sun., Dec. 4 & 5, 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. I will do my best to inspire you with all the great things Photoshop can do. 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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NEW PHOTO TOURS/WORKSHOPS FOR 2011
I am now offering some new photo tours for the first time. A brief description follows, and if you would like more information about them, you can either drop me a note (photos@jimzuckerman.com) or you can visit my website: jimzuckerman.com.
A note about my photo tours. The entire emphasis is on getting great pictures of great subjects. You will expend a lot of energy in that pursuit, and you may be exhausted when
you get home, but you'll take the best pictures of your life.
Lecture/Photo shoot in Montreal, Canada Oct 1 - 5, 2010 For details and pricing, please contact Diane Dupuis-Kallos at
ddkphotos@yahoo.ca
 
Costa Rica hummingbirds, March 16 - 22, 2011.
Capturing exotic hummingbirds in flight is one of the most exciting photographic endeavors I've pursued. Once you know how to do it, it's easy -- easier than you
would think. I provide the entire setup on this photo workshop -- the flash units,
the backgrounds, the locations, and the instruction. All you have to do is sit comfortably in a chairand take outstanding images. This week-long workshop will be tremendously rewarding in the experience of being so close to these stunning jewels, and you will cherish the images. Also included is a visit to a reptile zoo where we set up
natural looking backgrounds so you can photograph some of Costa Rica's
fascinating frogs, snakes, and other interesting creatures.
There are two instructors on this workshop, myself and Adam Jones, a fantastic
photographer and teacher in his own right.
 
ETHIOPIA, JAN. 17 to FEB. 5, 2011. (two spaces left). This photo tour includes
both the Christian north of the country with its unique rock-cut churches and amazing religious art as well as the tribal south. Some of the most amazing tribes in Africa inhabit this region, including the Surma, Mursi, and Hamer. The first few nights in Lalibela will be in a hotel, but in the tribal south we sleep in a mobile tented camp because there are no lodges available in the primitive areas we visit. The photography is unparalleled.
 
INDONESIA, JULY 24 - 29, 2011. My wife is from Indonesia, and I have been there 20 times. It's a fantastic photo destination, and this tour includes exotic Bali, two active volcanic areas, an unbelievable fashion show, and 1000-year old Hindu and Buddhist ruins. In Bali, we photograph the amazing stylized dancing this island is famous for, a bat cave used as a temple, sculpted rice terraces, and we will have a private model shoot of Balinese dancers. On Java, we will photograph a Javanese bride.
As an aside, the shopping in Bali is amazing. My wife, whose bargaining skills can only be described as brutal, will help get the best prices on anything you want to buy.
 
VERMONT, OCT. 2 - 8, 2011. (4 spaces left) Autumn in Vermont is so beautiful that I remember the first time I photographed it. I was glad when it was night because I couldn't take any more beauty! I was visually overloaded. On this photo workshop, we visit classic New England churches, cemeteries, covered bridges, quaint villages, round barns, and all of this is set in the most glorious natural color imaginable. Bring more flash cards than you think you'll need because this is a photographer's paradise.
 
TURKEY, Oct 18 - 30, 2011. Turkey is a fantastic photographic destination with tremendously varied subject matter. From ancient ruins
to stunning mosques, from exotic dancers to dramatic landscapes, Turkey
is a place I am always happy to return to. Our local guide is fantastic. He
is extremely knowledgeable about Turkish history and he loves sharing
his insights with us. Our hotel in Istanbul gives us the best view of the
Blue Mosque you've ever seen, and the people of Turkey are incredibly
friendly and a joy to be with.
 
NAMIBIA, November 6 - 22, 2011. Namibia is a photographer's
dream come true. It has the largest sand dunes in the world, great wildlife,
and primitive tribes right out of the pages of National Geographic. Some
of my favorite pictures from Africa were taken here. We visit the primitive
Himba people as well as the Bushmen and photograph them in their
natural environment. The stark beauty of the Namib desert creates some
of the most compelling landscape images you'll ever make. We also
visit some unique wildlife rescue facilities that afford amazing opportunities to get face to face with cheetahs, lions, leopards, wild dogs,
and other coveted species. This is a trip not to be missed.
 
SPAIN & PORTUGAL, dates announced in next newsletter
 
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For a listing of other photo tours and workshops I'm leading,
please use this link: http://www.jimzuckermanworkshops.com/
To see the body of my photographic work, use this link: jimzuckerman.com
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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
For AOL users have difficulty at times seeing the pictures in my newsletters, this feature is especially helpful.
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