Two Florida East Coast Workshops Announced!

Over the last month, as many of you know, I have been forced to postpone several workshops due to the Coronavirus. Most recently my Palouse and Olympic Peninsula workshops have been rescheduled. So I am in the process of moving and adding a few workshops. Some of my “sold out” workshops now have spots available because of all of this change.

I will be conducting a 5 day East Coast Florida workshop directly after my Death Valley NP workshop in February of 2021. I have also added a three day post processing session for those folks wanting to brush up their Photoshop skills, see below.

Florida-East-Coast.jpg

Florida East Coast Bird Photography Workshop —February 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 2021 -$1799.00/Limit 10

Join me for five days of bird photography on the Florida East Coast. There are tons of great birding spots in Florida and we will hit quite a few of them, Exact locations will of course be determined by the birds—after all they are in charge! Daily schedule will be an early morning shoot followed by a break then head back out for a late afternoon shoot. A detailed file will be sent with hotel, gear and clothing recommendations. Our base will be Vero Beach Florida. We will squeeze in informal image reviews and post processing sessions.

In-the-field instruction includes:

Image composition and image design

Birds in flight and how to capture them successfully

Sharpness and hand holding techniques will all be covered

Learn to see situations before they unfold

Exposure, how to read your histogram effectively

Camera settings for birds, including f-stops, shutter speeds, focus modes and much more

Gear, including tripod, head etc…

Creative bird photography including pleasing blurs, silhouettes and more

*This workshop is based out of Vero Beach Florida, ground transportation, meals and lodging not included

Florida East Coast Photo Editing Workshop —February 21, 22, 23, 2021 - $999.00/Limit 10

3 days of intense Photoshop, Lightroom, plug-ins and photo editing, image review. Whether you are looking to enter a photo contest, put together a portfolio, add some pop to you photos than this photo editing workshop is for you. I will be covering the “normal” editing and also some “creative” editing for your photos. If you do not know how to work with layers and masks effectively, I can teach you. I can also show you many techniques that I have developed over the years. In addition to photo editing we will discuss composition and image design. I will help you set up your workflow so that you can start editing like a pro.

At the end of our three day session I have set aside 2 hours for clients image review. All are encouraged to bring some of their favorite images to share with me and the group. You could also bring images that you want some help with, it’s up to you. This is not a critique session—but rather an image review and learning session.

PLEASE KNOW THAT WHEN I SPEAK OF LIGHTROOM, I AM ALSO SPEAKING ABOUT ADOBE CAMERA RAW.

*Critiques will only be offered if asked.

To sign up for Either of these workshops CLICK HERE and scroll to the workshop.

Both workshops need a minimum of 8.

Homebound

Many of us are stuck at home right now and I wanted to share a few ideas to help pass the time. These have all been published in previous eBooks but I thought I would share them again.

_65C0997.jpg

Rain-X

What is Rain-X and how can you use it to create some interesting images for macro photography?

Rain-X is a glass cleaner that repels water when applied to a glass surface. Most folks use it on their car windshields to bead the water. I use it to create fun images of water droplets that contain refracted image of a flower within.

I first tried this technique several years ago and while I like the look of some of the images I still find it to be a bit of a novelty BUT still a lot of fun to play around with on a rainy day. You never know what you’ll come up with!

Equipment

First of all you will need a rectangular sheet of clear glass, two side supports to hold the glass up off of the floor approximately one foot, spray bottle filled with water, flower/flowers, small vase (you don’t want the vase to show up in your images -so the smaller the better) and camera gear.

Setup

The setup is easy; position the supports to hold the glass. I use buckets since they are light weight and inexpensive. Place the glass on top of the buckets, with the buckets on each side of the long edge of the glass. On the clear glass spray the Rain-X and allow it to dry, After the Rain-X dries use a spray bottle filled with tap water and spray water on top of the glass. The water will bead up and create several water drops. Be careful not to spray too much as the water drops will run together forming one giant water drop instead of several small drops. Place the vase approximately 6 inches underneath the center of the glass and put your flower/flowers in the vase. Next put your camera and macro lens on a tripod and set it up so that it is parallel to the glass.

Being parallel to the glass will put all of the drops on the same plane of focus allowing for greater depth of field. I like to use an aperture of f/8 for this type of set-up for macro photography. If you use a wide aperture many of the drops will not be in focus. If you stop down too much then the flower/flowers that you placed under the glass will appear much more in focus and become a distraction. The image of the flower or flowers that you placed below the glass will be refracted by each water droplet.

Lightpad Photography

_65C9671Everglades-2013bluefinal.jpg
lightpad.jpg

A great way to illuminate a subject from behind is to use a lightpad.  A lightpad is essentially a light box; if you have a lightbox from the film days it will work too.  There are many different models of lightpads on the market though I do prefer the 12” X 9” ArtOGraph Lightpad that is illustrated above to both an old light box and to other models of lightpads.  Why? The quality of the light is better.  Some models of lightpads have dim, uneven lighting with a yellow color cast.  When using a lightpad I often rely on reflectors to illuminate the subject from above. Flash or other lighting can be used as well.   

To create the Hydrangea image above I started with an older flower blossom and took each delicate petal off of the stem and placed them onto the lightpad; I didn't spend a lot of time placing them as I didn't want the image design to look too contrived. Next I chose an aperture of f/13 and used mirror lock-up and a remote release. Wanting to create a very high-key look I exposed to the far right of the histogram while checking carefully not to get any blinkies (highlight alerts) on my petals of the flower.  Lots of blinkies on the background are fine so that the background would be rendered bright white. I was set up carefully on a tripod while making sure that the plane of the Hydrangea petals and the plane of the lightpad were parallel to the plane of the camera’s sensor.  Doing so ensures creating an image that will be sharp from edge to edge. The image was processed using Nik Color Efex Pro’s Cross Balance Filter-Tungsten to Daylight at a reduced opacity.

Blank Canvas Twirl

twirl.jpg

To create the image above, I began with a blank canvas. You could, however, begin with a traditional image and skip the first paragraph below.

If you’d like to experiment or practice with a blank canvas hit File > New. Set the width and height to 400 pixels each with Background Contents set to a White. Now to go to Filter > Render > Clouds and then to Filter > Pixelate > Mezzotint (with Type set to Short Lines) and then hit OK. Now hit Filter > Blur > Radial Blur with the Amount set to 100 and the Blur Method set to Zoom. Then hit Crtl F to repeat this step.

Now duplicate the image twice (Ctrl J, Ctrl J). While working on the top layer (Layer 1 copy) go to Filter > Distort > Twirl and set the angle to +75%. On the bottom layer do the same thing except move the slider in the opposite direction to -75%. Now set Blending mode for the top layer to Lighten. You can then colorize each layer

individually by going to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation.When each dialogue opens be sure to check “colorize” if you started with a blank canvas. Now tweak the colors of each level to taste.

Happy Spring!

Many folks are experiencing cabin fever, I know I sure am. With spring upon us, go outside and soak up as much sun as you can. Enjoy some photography in your yard —grasses make good subjects as do many weeds and leaves. You could also do some light yard work or read a book on a blanket in your front yard. Stay as positive as you can and remember how blessed we really are.

A few flower images to brighten your day. Be well.

Denise