ON-LINE PHOTO INSTRUCTION-- with detailed critiques of your work
My new 4-week and 8-week courses begin again at Betterphoto.com on Wednesday, March 7, 2012.
To improve your compositional skills, for example, click HERE to check out the outline of the Developing Your Creative Artistic Vision course to see if you feel this subject matter 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 this unique course that will introduce some intriguing techniques that you've probably not tried before -- like 3D, making a sketch, and more. It is very different from my other Photoshop courses, and it's 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.
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ANTICIPATING ACTION How many times have you missed an action shot because you weren't ready for it? Many, I'm sure. I've missed a lot of shots, too, but now I put the odds in my favor by using a few simple techniques.
1. Watch the subject through the viewfinder, not directly with your eyes. This makes a huge difference. If you watch the animal, bird, insect, or person with your eyes, at the moment the action peaks you will be too late. By the time you bring the camera to your eyes, focus, and shoot, the action may very well be over.
In the case of the guanaco, above, I saw that it wanted to jump the fence that borders the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. I was quite close, and with a 200mm lens I watched the animal deliberate until finally it jumped. It happened very fast, and if I not been holding the camera to my eye with my finger on the shutter button, I would have missed the shot.
2. Put the drive function on multiple shots (motor drive), not single shot. When the action starts, take several frames in rapid succession so hopefully you will capture the peak of the action.
3. If the subject is moving across your view, from left to right or right to left, use AI servo or autofocus tracking. If the subject is moving toward the camera quickly, it's more difficult to hold focus. You can try AI servo, but another approach is to pre-focus on a place in front of the subject. Just before it gets there, start shooting and hope you get one or two shots sharp.
4. Set your exposure mode on either:
a. Aperture priority and open the lens to the largest f/stop, or
b. Program mode
These two choices will produce a shutter speed - f/stop combination that will be almost identical. They should be 1/3 f/stop different (because Program mode is designed to give you the fastest shutter speed minus 1/3 f/stop given the light and the ISO). The point of using either of these modes is to give you a fast shutter speed to freeze the action. Of course, if you want to do a creative blur, then your strategy will be different.
The shutter speed you choose to freeze the action should be the reciprocal of the focal length of the lens or faster. For example, if your lens is a 300mm, then the shutter should be 1/300th of a second or faster to guarantee the moving subject will be sharp.
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THE PROBLEM OF CONTRAST
I took the photo above in a 17th century palace last month during my annual Venice photo workshop. Everybody in my group got the same shot. This is a perfect exposure ... except, of course, the windows are completely blown out. I.e., they are grossly overexposed. I knew this was going to happen, but in this case I like the effect. In many, many situations, though, too much contrast is a big problem.
Why did I lose detail in the windows? The reason is simple. Our eye-brain combination can see with an astonishing 30 f/stop range (this number comes from a conversation I had with a German physicist who does research on the human eye). The best digital cameras we use have a dynamic range of 11 or 12 f/stops according to camera manufacturers (dynamic range refers to the ability to see and/or capture detail in a photo in both the highlights and the shadows).
The incredible dynamic range of the human eye compared to the dynamic range of our camera (which is unimpressive by comparison) means that we can see so much more detail than our cameras can capture. It's important that you understand this because this is relevant every time you take a picture.
When we shoot scenes that are very low in contrast, such as the same model I took in the shade, below, digital sensors have no problem capturing detail throughout the image. However, as soon as the contrast is extreme, something has to give. Either you expose correctly for the shadows, as I did in the palace, and allow the highlights to become overexposed -- often with a complete loss of detail as you can see in the large windows -- or you expose correctly for the windows to capture detail in the curtains and the scene outside, but then the model and the interior of the room will be unacceptably dark.
You can compromise between the two extremes, but the results are rarely pleasing.
Here are the solutions photographers use to address this problem of contrast.
1. Accept dark shadows or overexposed highlights as part of the artistry of the picture as I did in the palace shot.
2. Shoot in low contrast situations when possible. You can bring a subject into the shade, for example, instead of shooting them in bright sunlight. You can also photograph on overcast days and when the sun is so low to the horizon that contrast is not a problem.
3. Use an artificial light source (like flash) to brighten the foreground so it is similar in exposure to the background. This is what I did when I photographed the carnival participant, above, with the sunrise sky behind her. Reflectors can work sometimes, too. If you shoot a person in bright sunlight in the middle of the day, though, fill flash may fill in the shadows but the results will never be really attractive .
4. Use the HDR technique. The purpose of taking multiple bracketed exposures and assembling them together into a single perfect image where we can see detail in the bright highlights as well as the dark shadows is HDR, and it is specifically designed to overcome the contrast challenge. The resulting image closely duplicates what we can see with our eyes -- unless you like to enhance the colors and contrast surrealistically as some photographers do.
The image below is an example of what HDR can do. Notice how the very dim interior in this Turkish palace is perfectly balanced with the stained glass windows. Had I taken a single exposure of this, I would have exposed for the mosaics on the walls correctly and let the windows become overexposed. With HDR, though, I was able to balance the extreme contrast between the backlit windows and the patterns on the walls, and this enabled me to capture what I could see with my eyes.
5. Use the fill light slider in Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom. This is a remarkable tool that allows us to lighten shadows in a way that was impossible just a few years ago when we all shot film.
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Capturing a large sun
A large sun is a very dynamic element in a picture. It is obviously unnatural, but it certainly makes a visual statement. This kind of 'literary license' is acceptable by most people even in nature photography, and
in travel, architecture, fashion, sports, and many other types of work, a large sun is used for visual impact.
The longer the telephoto lens, the larger the sun will be. The large sun in the picture above was taken with a 500mm telephoto, while the sun in the Kenyan landscape below was taken with a 500mm lens plus a 1.4x teleconverter giving me 700mm of focal length.
 As the sun gets larger in the frame, it influences the meter significantly. This is especially true the closer it is placed in or near the center of the frame because the meter takes a majority of its information on the light in scene from the center. This is true of all metering modes -- Matrix, partial, center weighted, and spot mode.
The easiest way to determine the exposure when shooting into the sun is to take a picture using one of the exposure modes -- Program, Tv, or Av, and then you can tweak it according to taste in 1/3 f/stop increments using the exposure compensation feature on the camera body. Typically, without any modification, the exposures will be quite dark when shooting this way. Therefore, you can lighten them until you get the kind of detail in the shadows you want.
However, don't go too far or you will blow the sky out completely. When photographers shoot into the sun, they usually want a silhouette. This is what I captured in both the images from East Africa and the one from Burma. Notice the rich, saturated color of the sky and the very dark landscapes. This is typical of shooting into the sun.
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| Self-critique
This picture was taken with film 20 years ago in Burma. The blue and yellow go great together -- they are complementary colors -- and I've always liked this aspect of the image.
There are two things about this that have always bothered me, though. First, I took this in direct sunlight about mid-day, and the contrast was extreme. That's why the woman's face is almost black. By exposing correctly for the bright highlights -- the flowers, mainly -- I had to sacrifice details in the shadows. That's what I explained in the article above concerning contrast and dynamic range. I took this shot before we had the advantage of digital technology and the ability to use RAW files to expand the dynamic range of our original captures. 
The second aspect of this that annoys me is the out of focus flowers in the foreground. A smaller lens aperture should have been used, and today I could easily have raised the ISO until the shutter speed was sufficient and the f/stop was small enough to give me the depth of field necessary. The background flowers aren't sharp, but out of focus backgrounds are often fine. Many times they are desirable. Soft foregrounds, though, are rarely acceptable unless they are a completely diffused haze of color. |
| eBOOKS
Click HERE to read about the contents and to see sample pages.
eBooks are great because they are much less expensive than conventional books, and you can carry them with you on an iPad, iPhone, or laptop. In addition, trees don't have to be cut down to make the paper for the books. The colors in the images are dazzling, too -- much more so than in a conventional print book because the photographs seen on a computer or iPad are illuminated from behind. What a great time it is to be a photographer!
A new ebook on composition is coming next month.
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PHOTOSHOP WORKSHOP in my
HOME Sat. & Sun., May 19, 20, 2012.
Photoshop is a photographer's best friend, and the creative possibilities are absolutely endless. In a personal and 'homey' environment (I have a very cool classroom setup in my home), I start at the beginning -- assuming you know nothing -- but I quickly get into layers, cutting and pasting, plug-ins, using 'grunge' textures, modifying lighting, 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. My approach is to be as expansive in my thinking as possible in creating unique, artistic, and compelling images. 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 in the workshop and I will tell you how to sign up (photos@jimzuckerman.com).
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.
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