Intermediate Photoshop Rescheduled

The seminar on Intermediate Photoshop techniques at the Hershey Library scheduled for May 16 has been rescheduled for October 24th. Another reminder and outline of the program will be sent in early September.

Stuck at home? Of course you are. With the shut down in place many find themselves surprisingly busy, and others find themselves with free time. If you have free time I suggest you take advantage and learn some things you always told yourself you wanted to know more about.

If you are a photographer you might want to simply reread the instruction manual for your camera, flash or other tool to discover something you didn’t realize it could do. If you are into Photoshop, revisit some older images and see if there are other or better ways you could process them. Maybe just a different crop or a change in the mood or tone. Experiment with a technique you had trouble mastering. Play.

Have as much fun as you can until we can all be together again.

 

Intermediate Photoshop Seminar

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My website has been updated. Most notable is a significant update to the pdf download “Lightroom Overview” which has been expanded. In addition there are two new articles on digital basics, “Light”, and “Aperture, Depth of Field and Diffraction”. Most of my articles are refined and revised on a regular basis. Most of them have been updated recently.

A new seminar has been scheduled for Saturday, May 16^th, 2020 at the Hershey Library. This seminar will target intermediate Photoshop users and will address image modifications using layers and masks.

Photoshop Screen Views – Navigation

Happy 2020. When you open Photoshop the Standard Screen Mode view includes the equivalent to the “consolidate all to tabs” arrangement. If you have multiple images open you can see them as tabs just below the options bar. The icon at the very bottom of the tool bar as well as the “F” key on the keyboard allow you to cycle through three different screen modes. You can also choose screen modes from the View menu. The screen can be less than the full size of the monitor in this mode.

The second screen mode is Full Screen with Menu Bar, and is my favorite working space. Any open images in tabs other than the working image are hidden and the info at the bottom of the screen also disappears. The screen maximizes on the monitor and if the rulers are off, only the menu bar and the tool options appear above the image. This is a nice clean space to work in without distractions.

October 26 Class Cancelled

The Bad News – The class on basic photography (II) has been cancelled. We just did not get a sufficient number of signups to make the class worth the use of the space at the library. Perhaps we will try again.

The Good News – The updated website and new portfolios have been published. The site is now tablet friendly and will even work on your phone if you are into that kind of pain.

Plans for a class in the spring include an intermediate to advanced Lightroom class and an intermediate to advanced Photoshop class. On the Learning Page at the bottom right is a red box for emailing me.  Please let me know if you think you might be interested in one of those classes. The library promotions go out well in advance.

A challenge to all is to learn to see like the camera sees. The camera does not respond to light the way the human eye does. Learning the limitations of the camera as well as the possibilities will help you move your photography to greater success.

While capture is one aspect of photography, post processing is another, and control over the final image is what you should strive for. Letting the camera decide how your pictures will look is not the road to good images.  You can’t buy great images, you need to learn how to see them, and then how to process them to get what you want from the capture.

“The eye should learn to listen before it looks.”
― Robert Frank

Intermediate Digital Photography Seminar – Digital Photography II

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Saturday, October 26^th at 9:30 a.m. at the Hershey Library.

Something as simple as how you have your camera set (read: picture styles, picture control, creative style). While image style settings in the camera will produce a variety of modifications to your jpg files, they do not affect your raw files. This is why that crisp, punchy jpg on the back of the camera doesn’t appear when you open the raw file to process in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw. If you use the camera makers proprietary software it may apply some settings to emulate the image style, and Adobe software can emulate some of that as well, but not to the same degree.

Digital Photography II – October 26th

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Upcoming seminar – basic to intermediate digital photography. Some from the first seminar have requested the conversation continue.

Understanding digital photography is a bit more complex than you might think. Among other things you may be in charge of your images in ways you never considered. Knowing how to use the camera settings and tools is a step in the right direction.

Primary among good digital capture is understanding the difference between raw and jpg capture. Do you know how the jpg style settings in your camera can influence how you expose a raw file? What does the histogram actually represent and how can you use it to get the best capture in terms of exposure?

Essentials – Photography and Processing

The Hershey Library program on Digital Photography and Processing Essentials is this coming Saturday, April 6th starting at 9:30 a.m. You can sign up at the library or simply come to the door.

Essentials includes setting up your camera for the best capture, setting up Lightroom and ACR for best processing, and more.