PhotoLearning

Now on Google+

2012-01-20T21:00:00.001-05:00

Upcoming Classes I’ll be teaching….

2012-01-10T16:16:00.001-05:00

Beginning Photoshop CS5

Spend six nights in the computer lab learning the basics of how to enhance and manipulate your digital images using Adobe Photoshop image editing software. You'll learn how to select, crop, size, colorize, improve, prepare photos for e-mail, build creative collages, create beautiful edges for your photos and much more. Come and enjoy the creative side of digital photography. You need access to Photoshop CS5 during the week to complete the weekly homework. 3/6-4/10

Location Portraiture: Overcoming Obstacles and Creating Beautiful Images

This is a hands-on class where students will photograph family and individual portraits every week and learn to deal with many different location and lighting challenges.
Students will learn:
· How to locate and evaluate a shooting location and to determine the best ways to use that location.
· How to correctly use reflectors for both subtractive and additive lighting.
· How using off camera flash/softboxes to create directional of light.
· How to overpower the sun with a small flash.
· How to use video light to create stunning images
· How to properly pose individuals and groups to produce the best possible image.
· And much much more……
Each week the class will meet in a different location that offers varied shooting challenges. Students must come to class each week with their camera gear ready to have a super time shooting and learning together. Class locations will be sent to registered participants two weeks before class begins.
4/5-5/10

Advanced Photoshop

Advanced Photoshop is for persons who want to go beyond the basics and learn the creative side of Photoshop. You'll learn photo manipulations, color correction, masking essentials, blurring and averaging, layer essentials, opacity and blend modes, layer effects and styles, adjustment layers, smart objects, templates and collages, working with camera raw, and much more. Prerequisite: You must have a STRONG working knowledge of Photoshop; this is not an introductory course. 4/17-5/22

Round and Round....

2011-11-21T11:05:00.001-05:00

This past Tuesday I had the first meeting with my new Intermediate Photoshop class...they are one lively group of folks...and really excited about leaning some tricks in Photoshop. Their first assignment was to take an image and turn it into a circle....here are a few of the things that have been turned in so far...remember all this images started out as rectangle images....wow..you guys rock..this stuff is so cool. Thanks for working so hard.

Night Photography: In the Eyes of my Students

2011-11-16T15:01:00.004-05:00

The current group of students in my Night Photography class has been such a great joy to work with; they have been so eager to learn and so willing to help each other. I received one of the greatest complements a teacher can ever get from a student. Mark said, "I really wish the class was longer, how about a field trip." Wow...thanks Mark..your words have encouraged me to keep moving forward and sharing with others. Please click on the title of this post and take a moment to enjoy a slideshow of the creative work of my Night Photography students.

Night Photography: In the Eyes of my Students

2011-11-16T15:00:00.000-05:00

The current group of students in my Night Photography class has been such a great joy to work with; they have been so eager to learn and so willing to help each other. I received one of the greatest complements a teacher can ever get from a student. Mark said, "I really wish the class was longer, how about a field trip." Wow...thanks Mark..your words have encouraged me to keep moving forward and sharing with others. Please take a moment to enjoy the creative work of my Night Photography students.

2011-10-27T10:34:00.001-04:00

In last weeks Night Photography class I asked the students to try and capture some unusual images...in other words be creative and original....well a few folks took me to task and created some beautiful images that were out of the ordinary....way to go folks...keep creating and being different.

I'm really proud of the students they are doing so well with their shots...but even more important they are building some amazing friends and having a super time discovering photography after the sun goes down.

David Griffin speaks on how photography connects us....

2011-10-26T09:35:00.001-04:00

Week One - Night Photog Images

2011-10-19T23:51:00.000-04:00

During week one of the Night Photography class we took a look at the history of night photography, surveyed some equipment, and looked extensively into using the histogram to judge exposure instead of the little image on the back of the camera. It's not always easy learning to use the histogram but once you get the hang of it you'll be using it all the time.

Here are a few of the images that the members of the class have sent to me...I think they are doing a super job.

Ed Foley:

Debbie Hendrix:

Kelly Sellers:

Jade Reese:

Elizabeth Hawkins:

Kimmie:

Alice Reed....a pano...very nice thinking:

Night Photography blog by Andy Frazer

2011-10-13T09:23:00.001-04:00

If you are interested in night photography you really need to check out Andy Frazer's site..he is really posting some great information here...in fact today he's providing a scan of a very old book..well worth a look.

Night Photography blog by Andy Frazer:

You can download the entire PDF book here.

DIY Reflector ---

2010-11-19T14:53:00.000-05:00

For sometime now I've been wanting to purchase a Sunbounce reflector...but I just couldn't bring myself to shell out the bucks. Well, today I ran across a site where the writer had posted step by step direction on how to create a DIY version....I know what I'm going to be doing this weekend...this thing looks really easy and fun to put together.....check out the link to his page...

jag's photo blog: DIY Reflector: "DIY Reflector
I have long liked the idea of the California Sunbounce, but it's very expensive, so I decided to have a go at making my own. the frame was to be constructed from PVC tube, and fitted with a two-sided cloth cover, black on one side, and silver on the other.
Here is a brief description of the project:"

Stary Stary Night....

2010-11-13T14:43:00.000-05:00

Dark night up on the Foothills Parkway. The moon was half full and filling the sky with a bit of ambient light, but in spite of that we were still able to capture some beautiful images of the stars over east Tennessee. After spending a bit of time capturing stars we turned to painting a beautiful Porsche Boxer....what a cool feeling painting a Porsche..LOL...we had a super time together.

Night Photography & Airplanes

2010-11-08T10:10:00.002-05:00

This past Thursday evening I had the most amazing experience yet with my Night Photography students. We meet at Island Home Airport and was given total access to a really cool hanger filled with airplanes and equipment. The hanger and plans belong to a wonderful organization called Remote Area Medical, an organization totally committed to helping others. If you don't know about all the different projects this organization is into you really need to check out their website; they are directed to the famous Sam Brock (remember Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom? That's the guy.) These folks are into everything from provided eye and dental care to building runways on mountain tops. If you're looking for an organization to help...this would be an amazing place to start looking. Our hosts for the evening was Judy and Tom Dandridge...these folks went way out of their way to make sure that we had a super experience. Thanks Judy and Tom for giving so much of your time to help us, you guys totally rock!

My colleague Kortney Jarmin and I arrived at the hanger around 5:00 and started setting up lights and getting things ready for the students to arrive. Students began to arrive very early for this shoot, a sign that they were really excited about the possibilities of the evening. Once everyone arrived we talked a bit about the lights we were going to use that evening and about things to watch out for.

I've got to say right up front...this folks are just wonderful. They are not afraid to try new stuff and they are so very eager to learn and help each other. I'm so thankful that I've had the opportunity to make friends with this super group of photographers. I'm looking forward to our next two sessions together...see you on Thursday!

Night Photography in Market Square and Beyond

2010-10-28T12:43:00.001-04:00

Learning to use lighting correctly can be really tricky when your shooting at night under different circumstances...but the students in the Night Photography group have worked really hard and done some very nice work.

Ok, so here's the scene...17 photographer, camera's on tripods and aimed at a dark grave yard...normal night for a photog, wouldn't you say. Well this couple walked by and ask me what we were doing....I couldn't resist...it's Halloween..."Oh hi,we're the with Knoxville Paranormal Society..and we've been told that tonight ghost are supposed to walk these very grounds...so we come to record the event and see what happens." The couple just looked at me with this strange bewilderment and quickly walked past.....but look what we saw that night in the graveyard....never now?!

The Beauty of Twilight

2010-10-28T07:28:00.002-04:00

The group of photogs in the Night Photography class are fired up and producing some beautiful images. The assignment this week was to create an image at Civil Twilight...the images are beginning to roll in...wow...you folks are just amazing I totally love your work. Here are the images that I've received so far.

Darrin Devault @ UT Creates slideshow of Night Photog Class ~ Thanks~

2010-10-26T08:12:00.006-04:00

Students Create Light trails in Night Photography Class

2010-10-25T11:33:00.000-04:00

The imagination of my Thursday Night Photography class is just amazing...we meet in class and chat about some goals for the night and then head for a shooting location. Once we arrive on location I go around from student to student offering assistance and responding to questions. Next Thursday we have a group of models meeting us in the city...we're going to use some really cool lighting to create some more amazing photos...but until those images come avaliable..take a look at what they did last week.

Civil Twilight, The River and Light Trails....

2010-10-22T12:37:00.000-04:00

We had another wonderful time on our 2nd night out shooting. During class time we talked about the best times to shoot...we discussed civil and nautical twilight and how to use them to create beautiful images. One of the problems with shooting at night is lens flair..and so we discussed the importance of using lens hood and other kinds of flags: hats, hands,cards...etc.

Once we finished chatting in class we spent some time on the river and caught some beautiful images. After a little while on the river we headed up on a walkway over the highway and talked about capturing light trails from passing cars. The folks in the class are so excited about photography and learning how to use their camera skills 24/7. Photography happens all the time because light is light...and as my mentor Rob Heyman is constantly telling me, "just find the light and put the person in it."

These first few images are just a few quick snaps I captured hand held at 6400 ISO...wanted the readers to get an idea of what we're doing. Later in the week I'll post the students images as the post them to me...so be sure and come back later in the week.

Night Photography Class is doing some wonderful stuff....

2010-10-21T09:41:00.001-04:00

First Night of Shooting......

2010-10-16T20:30:00.000-04:00

Thursday evening was class one of our new Night Photography class. We spent the first part of the night chatting about the history of night photography, equipment, and all the fun we'd be having over the next few weeks. After our class time we headed to the top of the 11th street garage and learned how to use the histogram to judge the exposure of the image rather than depending on the in camera flash or the image viewer on the back of the camera..here are a few of the shots that the class took on our first night out.

B. Radish

Frank Kehren

Mike Nelson

S Shackelford

Just so you'll know here's a short breakdown of what we'll be doing:

~~ River and Street Photography learning about correct exposure

~~ Photographying models at night using video light, off camera flash, and existing light.

~~ Dramatic photography we'll be shooting a bride and groom and a Sr. in and around a historic DC3 that flew over Normandy during the D-Day invasion. Well use everthing from gelled flash to video light.

~~ Star Trails and Light Painting: this night we'll go high into the mountains were its really dark and shoot the beautiful stars and do so really cool light painting.

~~ We're looking for an old barn to shoot in too...so if you know of an old barn that we could get into one night please let me now.

Beginning Photoshopper goes Creative....

2010-10-16T08:05:00.000-04:00

The beginning Photoshop class is going great. The students are eager to learn and and doing some really creative work. I'm so proud of all their hard work and how quickly they are learning. This week I received a note from Ron Sentell showing me an image that he'd been working on. Super work Ron.

Thanks for teaching me to creatively save memories. Attached is a picture of my dog who was put to sleep last Thursday. Best wishes, Ron Sentell

Mike Nelson Night Photo of Regal

2010-10-15T13:25:00.000-04:00

Last night I mentioned an image that Mike Nelson had made of the Regal theater. His shot is a super example of shooting at civil twilight..that short space of time right after the sun goes down yet just before darkness falls. Take notice of the orange color on the horizon and mix of blue tones in the sky. This is the time of the day when ambient and environmental light seem to balance just right. Nice work Mike!

Raccoon Photo Mentioned in Class

2010-10-15T11:14:00.001-04:00

raccoonssideview1, originally uploaded by Plomomedia.

Last night in our Night Photography class Steve Shackelford mentioned a night photo taken in San Fran of a bunch of raccoons. This morning he sent me a link to the image. I thought the class would enjoy seeing the image too. He also included a link that tells the story of how the image was taken..here's that link: http://bit.ly/JkcgQ

Thanks for the share Steve, you brought a smile to my face. Wouldn't it be great if we could catch something like this when we go out?

The Sins of the McNally Shall be Visited Upon the Father…

2010-02-13T21:44:00.000-05:00

The Sins of the McNally Shall be Visited Upon the Father…

Links of Interest

2009-02-18T10:09:00.000-05:00

Lisa Wade sent me a list of some of her favorite places to get Photoshop add-ons and textures. Check them out I'm sure you'll find some goodies to add to your collection. Thanks Lisa for sharing the wealth.

http://www.textureking.com/

http://flickr.com/groups/textures4layers/

http://flickr.com/groups/textures_only/

http://www.visual-blast.com/photoshop/124-free-photoshop-actions/

http://www.elated.com/actionkits/

http://blog.epicedits.com/

http://www.atncentral.com/index.htm

Topics of Interest

2009-02-17T13:30:00.000-05:00

Advanced Photoshop CS3 Class Interest:

perfect the skills i learned from the first photoshop class
learn more about layering
learn how to switch from black and white/sepia to normal colors
figure out the difference with rgb and srgb and make them the same on my camera and on the computer
Plug-Ins
cloning (erasing certain things in photos)
adjust skin tones.
complex selections
images “pop” without over-doing it
composting
Curves vs. levels
channels
16bit or higher Lab modes.
drawing
file formats
Improve images
Tricks
mask
blending modes
Layers
black & white -- toning
cloning
skin corrections
color balance
portrait treatments

Over the next six weeks we will try to cover most of these topics and a few others that aren't listed here. Photoshop like any other skill will only get better as you practice. It is very important that you spend at least a couple of hours a day working on the techniques we discuss in class.

Sure, its a lot of work building your Photoshop skills, but it a lot of fun at the same time. So jump in there and have a super time learning to make your photos better.

What's do you see?

2008-08-05T11:17:00.001-04:00

It all depends on how we look at thing

Out of this World Training

2008-04-03T11:45:00.001-04:00

Online Photoshop Tutorials, Tips and News. | Planet Photoshop

Welcome To A Whole New Planet

March 28th, 2008 | Corey Barker

Hi everyone and welcome to the all new Planet Photoshop. I am very excited about this new look and I want to give a big shout out to our web designer, Brett Nyquist, for his hard work on making this new site a reality. We have expanded the blog space to bring you even more industry news every day, and of course a new video tutorial every week. The very best part is that it is all absolutely free. For you first-time visitors, I want to welcome you and hope you enjoy. For you loyal ‘Planeteers’ out there, I hope you enjoy this new look and easy-to-navigate content. Notice also that the blog now allows comments. Please feel free to drop me a line. Well, I hope you all have a great Friday and for those of you who will be at Photoshop World in Orlando next week, make sure you stop say Hi! See you then!

Photoshop User TV -- A super place to learn.

2008-04-03T11:37:00.001-04:00

Watch each week as “The Photoshop Guys” (Dave Cross, Matt
Kloskowski, and Scott Kelby) from the National Association of Photoshop
Professionals (NAPP) share
the hottest Adobe Photoshop tutorials, the latest insider tricks, and
the coolest timesaving, job-saving shortcuts to make your time in
Photoshop more productive, more efficient, and more fun.

Now entering its second year as one of the world’s top-ranked video
Podcasts, new 30-minute episodes of NAPP TV are posted each Monday, and
include the latest Photoshop news, step-by-step tutorials, interviews
and tips from the leading Photoshop gurus, and a weekly Photoshop
contest with prizes ranging from Wacom Tablets, to Epson Printers, to
iPods, to full conference passes to Photoshop World. If you’re an Adobe
Photoshop freak, don’t miss a single episode of “The Photoshop Guys” on
Photoshop User TV.

Photoshop User TV

Sharpening

2008-03-20T21:51:00.001-04:00

Photoshop CS3: Output Sharpening | Layers Magazine

All digital images can benefit from some sharpening. Translating the continuous tones of the real world into a mosaic of square pixels will inevitably introduce some softness into an image. With digital captures, this is more noticeable with RAW files because cameras typically apply some amount of in-camera sharpening to JPEG captures but not to RAW captures.

Focus Problems will be a thing of the past....

2008-02-27T08:51:00.001-05:00

Start-up lets you fix focus after snapping the shutter | Underexposed - CNET News.com

Start-up lets you fix focus after snapping the shutter
Posted by Stephen Shankland | Post a comment

It's one of the oldest, most common problems in photography: that picture you thought would be the prize shot is out of focus.

Refocus Imaging, a Silicon Valley start-up, thinks its technology can be used to make cameras that can fix that problem--after you take the photo.

By fitting

Opacity vs Fill

2008-02-20T12:25:00.001-05:00

Dan found a very good article about opacity and fill...check it..thanks Dan!

Opacity vs. Fill

Last updated Apr 8, 2005.

When you have a layer selected,
you'll notice that you have two sliders available for your use at the
top of the Layers palette. One, which you're probably familiar with,
is Opacity and the other, which you might not be familiar with,
is Fill. While opacity adjusts how opaque a layer—and all of
its contents—are, Fill adjusts just the opacity of filled shapes in
the layer. The minor—but important—difference between the two is
while layer effects are effected by layer opacity, fill doesn't effect
them at all. This feature is tremendously useful in many respects. The
following steps will demonstrate this feature so you can have a better
understanding of how it works:

In Photoshop, press
Cmd + N (Mac) or Crtl + N (Windows) to open the New
document window. From the Preset pull-down menu, choose 640
x 480. This auto-fill the new document settings with one that is
640 x 480, RGB, and at 72 dpi. Click OK.
Create a new layer.
Select the Rectangular
Marquee tool and draw a rectangle. Choose a foreground color (in
this example I chose red) and fill the rectangle with that color. An
easy way to do this is to press the keyboard shortcut Option + delete
(Mac) or Alt + backspace (Windows). This will fill your selected
rectangle with the foreground color that you've chosen.

Figure 1
Rectangle With Fill

Deselect your selection
by pressing Cmd + D (Mac) or Ctrl + D (Windows).
Add a Drop Shadow
layer style to the layer you just drew your rectangle in. In the
Layer Style dialog box, leave all the Drop Shadow settings at their
defaults and click OK.

This will add a drop shadow
to the rectangle shape in your image. So far, so good.

Lower the Opacity
of Layer 1 to 50%.

Figure 2
Changing Layer Opacity

Duplicate Layer
1 by dragging the layer to the Create a New Layer icon at the
bottom of the layers palette. This duplicate layer will automatically
be titled Layer 1 copy.
Select the Move
tool and while holding down the Shift key, press the Down
Arrow button on your keyboard about 10 times so that the
duplicated rectangle is beneath the original rectangle in the image.

Figure 3
Duplicating the Rectangle

Select the
Background layer and create a new layer. This new layer will
be created beneath the other two layers in this document that you created
previously.
Select a new foreground
color (in this example, I chose green) and—using your rectangular
marquee tool—draw another rectangle behind both red rectangles in
the image. Once you've drawn this new rectangle, fill it with your foreground
color.

Figure 4
Showing off the Transparency

As you can see, because both
red rectangles are 50% transparent, you can see through them to the
green rectangle in the background. At this point both rectangles look
the same.

Deselect your selection.
Select Layer
1 copy in the layers palette.
At the top of the
layers palette, drag the Opacity slider to 100%, and drag
the Fill slider down to 50%.

Figure 5
Changing the Layers Fill %

As you drag that fill slider
down, you should immediate notice the major difference between opacity
and fill.

Figure 6
Opacity vs. Fill

The rectangle at the top has
50% opacity and 100% fill while the rectangle at the bottom has 100%
opacity and 50% fill. While opacity adjusts the opacity for everything
on a particular layer, fill only adjusts the opacity of fills while
leaving layer styles untouched. In a real-world environment, I find
myself using this feature—to accomplish one particular goal or another—in
nearly every project. As you can see, Fill offers you a great
way of altering the opacity of a layer without effecting layer styles
that you've added.

Julie Poole Creates Cool Logo

2008-02-15T08:23:00.001-05:00

Julie has been working hard at Photoshop, and after this weeks class she took what she learned and created a logo and then turned that into at custom brush. Julie loves shooting photos of animals and their human friends, you can take a look at some of her work by visiting her blog. Super work Julie..you're an inspiration to all of us.

Amazing Photoshop Work

2008-02-09T00:24:00.001-05:00

Photos by Rarindra Prakarsa - photo.net
This is a collection of amazing work by Rarindra Prakarsa Photography. Take a few moments and enjoy the beauty and see just how amazing photoshop is in the hands of a true artist.

Photoshop Technique: Lab Shaprening

2008-02-08T21:29:00.001-05:00

Photoshop Technique: LAB Sharpening

Sharpening is something that almost any image can benefit from. Like saturation, it can easily be ignored or overdone if you’re not careful. When done right, it’s a subtle change that results in a big improvement.

Valentines Card Template

2008-02-06T21:51:00.001-05:00

Pay It Forward Photography Resources » Trisha sent this one in, and its lovely!

We talked a few moments the other night about using templates...here's one just in time for Valentines Day.
Enjoy.

Texture Tutorial ....A Must Read!

2008-02-06T21:48:00.001-05:00

Pay It Forward Photography Resources

Textured images have been around for a long time, it’s very recently that they have gained enormous popularity. Flickr and other photo sharing sites/forums are filled to the brim with textured images….although quite honestly I am seeing that, many times, textures are being used for evil instead of good. So here is the quick and dirty way of making textures work for you…this is a great way to create images that a client will buy that happen to be textured, thus marrying your need to try the coolest and neatest thing out there and enabling you to feel awful proud that hey! your client loved that image of little Suzy that you spent so much time (not!) texturing and making all artsified.

Free Lightroom Plug-Ins

2008-02-03T09:14:00.001-05:00

onOne Software - PhotoPresets with One-Click WOW!

Many photographers are experiencing the power and flexibility of the recently released Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, a breakthrough image management and processing tool designed for photographers. To expand the creative possibilities we are pleased to offer PhotoPresets with One-Click Wow! a dynamite collection of development presets created by renowned Photoshop educator, author and photographer Jack Davis. And the best part is the price, free.

Amazing Photo Software Innovations...A must read article.

2008-02-01T08:03:00.001-05:00

This small image was stretched to produce the large on above..."how'd they do that?" Read the following article..you'll be amazed at what you learn.

Stretching the Truth Just Became Easier (and Cheaper) - New York Times

WHEN Carlo Baldassi came home from vacation and looked at a picture he took of his girlfriend on the Charles Bridge in Prague, he was torn. She looked beautiful, but the proportions of the picture were all wrong. It seemed tight and constrained, and it would not fill his widescreen monitor.

Mr. Baldassi may not have an official title of an artist — he studies
computational neuroscience at the Institute for Scientific Interchange
Foundation in Turin, Italy. But he could fix the problem with some
automatic photo-editing software he was writing with several friends.
With one click, the tool stretched the uninteresting parts of the
landscape — the water and the hills — while leaving the face of his
girlfriend just as it was. The result was, he thought, more open and
panoramic.

Check out the photos..the top is before the application...the bottom is after....just amazing...This article has several links that will lead you the applications being discussed.

Optimize Performance in Photoshop

2008-01-22T12:03:00.001-05:00

In our first class together we spent a little bit of time talking about optimizing Photoshop in order to get the most out of our computers. This link will take you to a very interesting TechNote detailing much of the materials we talked about.

Optimize performance in Photoshop (CS2 on Mac OS)

Top 7 Photoshop Shortcuts

2008-01-22T11:49:00.001-05:00

Tommy Maloney has put together a super list of his fav keyboard shortcuts. Take a look at them. You'll find that the more you use them them more they will be applied to your memory.

Top 7 Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts for Productivity | Photoshop Lab

28 More Exceptionally Useful Photoshop Shortcuts

2008-01-22T11:46:00.001-05:00

The more you use Photoshop the more aware you will become of just how useful shortcuts are. Here's a link to a list of a few that I know you will find helpful.

Creating a splash page for your web site.

2008-01-11T09:21:00.000-05:00