Jim Zuckermans

PH OTO I N S I G HTS
July 2016

Photographing stars
Salvaging a flower in harsh light
Catchlights
Photo tours
Student showcase

1
 4. Photographing stars
13. Salvaging a midday shot
16. Catchlights
23. Whats wrong with
this picture?
25. Short and sweet
26. Ask Jim
28. Photography tours
On the cover: A wild 30. Student showcase
jaguar in the Pantanal, 35. Back issues
southern Brazil. This page:
A very young wolf pup,
Minnesota

22
M
any of the images you see in this eMagazine and on my website were
taken during my travels as a photography tour operator and also
when Ive traveled independently of a group. I started traveling when
I was twenty years old and I continue to this day. The value of travel goes way be-
yond photography, and even if thats your prime motivation -- as it is mine -- you
cant help but be immersed in an invaluable education that shapes your view of the
world and of yourself. History, culture, language, art, world politics, and geogra-
phy are subjects that while we were in school may have interested you or may have
put you to sleep, but they become very real to you when you travel.

Instead of a foreign land looking like a colorful shape on a map in some distant
part of the world, when you visit and interact with the people who live there, try
to pronounce a few polite words of their language, and talk about their lives, their
government, and their perceptions of the world, you are being educated in a way
that school could never accomplish. When news reports feature a tsunami in
Thailand, a terror attack in Istanbul, a protest in South Africa, a new president in
Indonesia, or an important vote in the United Kingdom, a traveler is able to have
a greater understanding of the significance of these events and to know how they
may impact the world or, in some cases, how your own life is affected

I never think of my travels as vacations. Sure, its time away from home and since
I seek out the most beautiful and exciting places to photograph, I know Ill have a
great time. But every time I board an airplane, I know Im going to continue my
education of the world. When I was very young, I knew that a most painful expe-
rience would be laying on my death bed when I was old and having regrets that I
didnt do something or accomplish something in my life. That has always been my
prime motivation in traveling.

Jim Zuckerman
www.jimzuckerman.com

3
 Shooting
P
hotographing the stars is excit-
ing. Just thinking about whats
out there is a mind-bending ex-
perience, and being able to capture some of
the mystery and the magesty from Earth is
amazing. But . . . its technically challeng-
ing. If you dont know what youre doing,
your pictures will be disappointing. This
article is intended to give you all the infor-
mation you need to take breathtaking pic-
tures of the night sky.
The Milky Way
4
stars
The real prize in capturing the night sky is
the Milky Way, the galaxy in which our Solar
System is located. It consists of between 100
and 400 billion stars, and the glow of light
you see that defines the Milky Way from
Earth is the combined light from the central
mass of those stars. It is visible every night
of the year, but the galactic core -- the bright-
est part that makes the best photographs --
is visible only from February to November.
Look for it in the southern portion of the sky.
The angle of the Milky Way changes depend-
ing on the season. From March to May it
forms a low horizontal arc above the horizon. want to photograph stars when the moon is
From to May to July, the Milky Way appears visible because, again, its light pollution.
diagonal in the night sky, and from July to No-
vember, it is vertical. Weather

Light pollution Obviously the weather plays an important fac-

In order to successfully photograph the night
sky, and in particular to capture the Milky
Way, you must be far away from a large city
because the city lights drown out the stars.
This is called light pollution. In addition, you
must consult a calendar to find out when there
is a new moon. This is the time when we cant
see the moon at all because the shadow of the
Earth makes the lunar surface dark. This hap-
pens once every 28 days, and most calendars
indicate when this occurs. For example, for
July, 2016 the new moon occurs on July 4, and
next month it occurs on August 2. You dont
tor in star photography. The sky must be clear
of clouds. Sometimes there are thin clouds
that drift into your composition at night, and
if they become too dense you cant shoot. The
picture of the red barn in the Palouse area of
Washington State at the top of the next page
shows thin, whispy clouds that still allowed
me to shoot. They do, however, obscure some
of the stars.
Atmospheric haze and smog essentially pre-
vent good star photography. The best view of
the stars is in the desert where the air is very
dry and on the top of a mountain because the

The entire
Milky
Way fills
the night
sky, and
you cant
encom-
pass the
entirety
of it with
a wide
angle lens.
This is
a 7-shot
panorama
done with
a 24mm
focal
length,
each panel
being
vertical. I
stictched
it together
in Photo-
shop.

5
atmosphere between you and the stars is thin-
ner. In areas of high humidity, stars are not as
dramatic simply because of the water vapor in
the air. Dust and wind-blown sand particles
also prevent the night sky from being photo-
graphed well.
Equipment
The two things you need for star photography
are a tripod and a fast wide angle lens. The
importance of a fast lens is twofold. First, with
greater light gathering ability the ISO can be
lower, and second, a shorter exposure is re-
quired to capture stars that are sharp, round
dots of light.
Noise. Digital noise shows up prominently in
dark areas of a picture, and thats why its ideal
to use a fast lens at night. Large and color-
ful granules of noise are never attractive, and
6
a lower ISO means a better quality picture. A
one f/stop increase in light gathering ability
(such as from f//4 to f/2.8) means the differ-
ence between using 3200 ISO and 1600 ISO.
In many cameras, thats significant in terms of
picture quality.
Exposure time. The length of the exposure is
critical because if the shutter is open too long,
the Earths rotation becomes obvious in the
movement of the stars across the sky. Weve
all seen pictures of star trails where the shut-
ter was open for many minutes or even a few
hours and the resulting light streaks fill the
sky. If you want this effect, then you need to
approach star photography from a different
point of view. If you want sharp stars, though,
there is a formula to use:
Take the number 500 and divide it by the fo-
cal length of your lens. This is the maximum
number of seconds the shutter can be open.
For example, if you are using a 16mm lens, 500
divided by 16 is 31 seconds. For practical pur-
poses, simply use 30 seconds.
Ideally, I like to use an exposure below the
maximum to insure that the stars arent oblong.
The beginning of a star streak is a point of light
that appears ever so slightly oblong. So, if the
maximum exposure time is, say, 31 seconds, I
prefer to use 20 seconds. All of the exposures
for the star pictures in this article were taken
with 20 seconds with the exception of the im-
age below, which I shot using 25 seconds. This
turned out to be too long because you can see
the oblong shape of the stars when this image
is magnified to 100%. I took this picture with a
15mm focal length.
White balance
Even though we can tweak the white balance
in post-processing, I like to see the best colors
on the LCD of the camera. Therefore, I suggest
you use daylight white balance for star photos.
ISO
In order to capture as much detail as possible in
the 20 or 30 second exposures youll be using,
the lowest ISO that provides a good exposure
of the sky -- and in particular the Milky Way --
is required. With an f/2.8 lens aperture as the
maximum opening, I found that 1250 to 1600
ISO gave me the ideal exposure. With an f/4
maximum aperture, youd have to double those
numbers to 2500 and 3200 ISO. You can see
why a fast lens is so important.
Rokinon has an inexpensive 24mm lens that
has a maximum aperture of f/1.4. I wish this
lens were a little wider, but with this remark-
able light gathering ability you can use an ISO
7
range of 320 to 400 for the night sky.
Focus
It is impossible to focus on the sky at night.
Dont even try it because youll be frustrated
and get out of focus images. Instead, you must
focus on a point of light that is positioned be-
yond the infinity mark on the lens. You can
use a street lamp, a distant illuminated win-
dow, or a flashlight placed sufficiently far from
the camera. With a wide angle lens 24mm or
wider, simply have a friend hold a flashlight 30
feet from you and focus on the light.
The technique for focusing on a dot of light like
this is to choose for your focus points one point
in the center of the viewfinder. Place that point
on the flashlight with the autofocus turned on
and focus on the light until you hear the beep
which indicates the light is in focus. Make sure
8
your beep funtion is on.
You cant use the moon to focus on because you
must do star photography with a new moon. It
shouldnt be visible anywhere in the sky.
For star photography, it is best to switch to
back button focus. Most photographers focus
by pushing the shutter button halfway down,
and thats fine for most situations. The problem
with this method, though, is this: If you focus
critically on a flashlight, street lamp, etc., and
then you push the shutter to take a picture of
the stars, the camera will try to re-focus because
the shutter button has a dual function. On the
other hand, if you use back button focus, the fo-
cus button and the shutter button are indepen-
dent of each other. This means that after youve
focused on the light and then you compose the
shot, pushing the shutter button to make the
exposure will not cause the camera to re-focus.
Painting with light
Shooting the night sky without any context is
not as interesting, in my opinion, as including a
landscape or man-made structures such as clas-
sic barns, old gas stations, a stand of trees, etc.
If you do, in fact, include foreground objects
they should be illuminated by some kind of ar-
tificial light. Otherwise, they will be too dark to
see any detail. The contrast between the these
objects with the drama of the night sky makes
for stunning pictures.
Painting with light is quite easy, but it requires
some practice. You need a powerful flashlight
that has a focused beam, runs a long time on
its rechargeable batteries, is lightweight, and
has good color. An excellent choice is the Sure-
Fire Nitrolon Tactical Incandescent Flashlight, or
if you want the daylight balanced version, the
SureFire G2-LED Nitrolon Tactical Flashlight.
These units have 80 lumens, run two hours on
just two inexpensive CR123 batteries, and they
throw a clean, powerful beam of light.
Because youre shooting with a large lens aper-
ture, and because the ISO is set to 1250 or 1600,
the exposure you need on subjects -- even if
they are relatively far away -- is quite brief. The
decaying grain storage building on the previous
page was about 300 feet from the camera. The
structure was only dabbed with light for 3 or 4
seconds because thats all that was needed. Its
very, very easy to overexpose areas of the scene,
so experiment with how long the various parts
of the composition should be exposed to the
flashlight. Make sure you keep the light moving
constantly during the exposure otherwise youll
unintentionally blow out areas of the picture.
If you use a tungsten-balanced flashlight, the
painted subjects will have a yellow color bias
which I prefer. This warm color contrasts nice-
9
w

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Carnival in Venice workshop
Outrageous costumes in a medieval envi-
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magical. There is nothing like it anywhere
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Feb. 17 - 23, 2017

Frog & Reptile Workshop

Close-up encounters with poison dart
frogs and exotic reptiles such as chame-
leons, geckos, snakes, and more in St.
Louis, Missouri.

Jan. 14-15, 2017

Home Photoshop workshop

Learn amazing techniques that will give
you unparalleled control over your images
such as replacing the sky, making com-
posites, using layers, being creative with
plugins, and more.

Oct. 29 - 30, 2016

10
ly with the cool, bluish tones of the night sky.
In the case of the old cars and stand of trees on
page 9, I didnt have to use a flashlight at all be-
cause there was a single sodium-type lamp on
top of a telephone pole illuminating the scene.
The light was coming from an angle which
worked out beautifully because of the dramatic
side lighting.
Initially, painting with light and photograph-
ing stars requires a lot of trial and error. Start
off with the settings I recommend in this ar-
ticle -- 20 second exposure, the largest aperture
available to you,1250 to 1600 ISO, and 3 to 4
seconds of light painting. Study the images on
the LCD monitor to determine if: (1) they are
sharp, (2) the stars are well exposed, and (3)
the light painted objects are exposed well with-
out any unattractive hot spots.
The exposure on the column of smoke on the
following page presented a different situation.
A good example of where I had no idea how
to expose elements in a scene with a flashlight
is the night landscape on the next page. This
is Ijen Crater in Indonesia, an active volcano
that spews sulfur dioxide in huge columns of
smoke. Its stunning in the day, and at night the
burning hot gases show up as eerie blue flames
mixed with the dense smoke. This picture was
taken from the rim of the crater, and I used one
of those two million candle power flashlights
for about $30 from Home Depot to illuminate
the smoke. The exposure was 20 seconds for
the stars, and the approximate length of time I
illuminated the column was 10 seconds. There
was no way to take a light reading in this situ-
ation or to predict the number of seconds the
light painting required. It was totally trial and
error. You can see that the flashlight also illu-
minated some of the rocks far below.
Image stacking
There is a unique process whereby you can
eliminate the noise from high ISO images. If
you dont have a fast lens or you want the expo-
sure times to be shorter than 20 seconds, you
can use 3200 or 6400 ISO (or even higher) and
take 10 separate frames from a tripod of, say,
10 seconds each. If you use a 50mm lens to fill
the frame with the galactic core, I recommend
not longer than 6 seconds to make sure the stars
are dots of light. Once you expose all 10 shots,
process the RAW files and place them on your
desktop or in a folder. Then use the following
series of pulldown menu commands:
File > scripts > load files into stack. In the dialog
box that opens, browse for the 10 frames, select
them, and hit OK.
Layer > smart objects > mean
Photoshop assembles all ten images and cor-
rects for two things. First, it aligns the images
correctly. That takes care of the movement of
the stars during the span of the 10 shots (the
entire process of taking 10 frames may take a
total of three minutes or so, and in that time the
stars appear to move).
Second, it eliminates the noise. The reason
this happens is because noise is random. The
granules that comprise the noise in digital files
are not in the exact place in each of the images.
Therefore, when the pictures are stacked and a
final composite is made, the noise disappears
simply because of the randomness of those
granules.
You dont have to stack images if you are happy
with a 20 second exposure and an ISO setting of
1250 or 1600.
11
12
12
 Salvaging images with
HARSH CONTRAST
T
he ever present problem that pho-
tographers face is contrast. Its a
particularly vexing issue because
our eyes see one thing but a camera captures
something different. For example, a bright sun
in a clear blue sky looks beautiful on a brightly
colored flower, but the way the digital sensor
records the image makes the shadows go very
dark or even black and the highlights are too
light and possibly blown out.
The picture of the iris, below, is an example.
Both the flower and the background are es-
sentially middle toned subjects, but the garish
light on this beautiful subject ruins the pic-
ture. This shows that flowers should always
be photographed in diffused light, but the point
Im making is that even a non-contrasty subject
is degraded by an overhead direct sun. To my
eyes, of course, the flower didnt look this bad at
all . . . and thats the challenge for beginning and
even intermediate photographers. The camera
isnt capturing what we see.
I thought I would challenge myself to see if I
could repair the damage from the contrasty
lighting, and the image on page 14 is the result.
To do this, I first had to replace the background
with something complementary and indicative
of the ideal type of light. Therefore, I photo-
graphed a tree in the shade with a telephoto
13
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in this program, the sky is the limit. You can do anything your mind
can imagine. Pretty amazing, indeed!

This eBook explains many of the techniques that Jim uses all the
time. These include replacing the sky, compositing images, add-
ing textures to photos, introducing natural looking streaks of light,
realistic HDR, combining black and white with color, Jims favoritre
plugins, using the blend modes, and more. Use this as an idea book
as well as a reference. If youve limited yourself to Lightrooms abili-
ties, consider expanding your horizons and learn Photoshop. Its
about time.
Click the cover to see inside the ebook

14
lens and made the image so out of focus that
no definition in the leaves could be seen. Then
I used the quick selection tool in Photoshop
(this hides under the magic wand tool). There
was enough contrast between the flower and
the background for this tool to work. I ran
the quick selection tool around the edges of
the flower, and it clung to those edges nicely.
If there werent enough contrast for this tech-
nique to work, I would have used the pen tool.
Once the selection was made, I chose Select
> modify > contract. In the dialog box, I se-
lected one pixel and hit OK. Then I clicked
Select > modify > feather. Again I chose one
pixel and hit OK. This shrunk the selection by
just one pixel so there would be no telltale line
of brightness around the flower when the new
background was added.
I then placed the out of focus foliage in the
clipboard with Edit > copy. Next, I had to select
the background because right now the flower
was selected. To do that, I used Select > inverse.
To paste the soft foliage behind the flower, I
chose Edit > paste special > paste into.
To tone down the highlights on the petals of the
iris, I brought the image back into ACR with
Filter > camera RAW filter. I moved the high-
lights slider to the left and the shadows slider to
the right. I then added some color saturation
using the vibrance slider. In addition, I used the
adjustment brush (this is essentially a burn and
dodge tool in ACR but with the ability to tweak
the color, contrast, clarity, exposure, etc. of the
area that was brushed.
This procedure cant be done with all subjects
taken in harsh sunlight, but it worked very well
here.
15
 CATCHLIGHTS

16
16
P
hotographers are always talking
about catchlights in the eyes of
their subjects. Most insist they are
essential in both human and animal subjects or
else, they say, the eyes appear to be lifeless and
dull. I agree with this; however I have one ca-
veat. A dot of light such as from fill flash out-
doors as seen in the portrait below looks alien-
like. Think about it. The only creatures that
have light emanating from their eyes live on
the planet Zorgon in the 49th sector. Humans
and animals who live on Earth dont have light
coming from their eyes.
There is a better way to deal with this issue.
Look at the picture of the chameleon on the
previous page that I recently photographed in
my semiannual frog and reptile workshop. The
original reflection in the eye showed the two
arcs of light caused by using a ring flash (see
inset). This was obviously unnatural and unat-
tractive so I cloned it out. What I was left with
was a solid black eye that did, in fact, look life-
less. A solid black disc for an eye seemed un-
natural, too. What you see now looks real and
perfectly correct. So, how did I do that?
I copied the catchlight from another picture. I
used the portrait of my great Pyrenees, Princey,
on the followig page. The reflection in his right
eye (our left) reflected the sky and my backyard,
and I pasted that into the eye of the gecko for
a completely natural look. Here are the steps I
used in Photoshop (note that this is why those
of you who use only Lightroom are missig out
on all kinds of creative possibilities).
1. With the lasso tool selected and with the
portrait of Princey magnified to 100%, I made
17
 Become a better photographer with
eBooks
Click on any ebook to see inside

18
18

a rough selection of the reflection in Princeys
eye consisting of both the pupil and the dark
iris.
2. I feathered the edge of the selection two pix-
els using Select > modify > feather.
3. I copied the selection to the clipboard with
Edit > copy.
4. I activated the picture of the chamleon and
pasted the eye reflection into it with Edit > paste.
5. Using the move tool in the tools palette, I
moved the eye reflection, which was now a lay-
er, into the chameleons eye.
6. I sized the reflection with Edit > transform
> scale. A box appeared around the reflection
and, holding down the shift key to maintain the
correct proportions, dragged a corner handle
until it fit perfectly. Hitting the return/enter
key finalized this step.
7. I flattened the layer with Layer > flatten im-
age.
8. Finally, at 100%, I examined the edge of the
reflection and it looked like it needed some
very subtle blending with the new background.
I chose the healing brush and made the brush
very small with the left bracket key on the key-
board. Then I blended the reflection with the
black eye until it was perfect.
In order for this technique to work, you need
to use a reflection in a dark eye. For example,
you couldnt use the reflections in the eyes of
the lion, below, because his pupils are very
small and most of the reflections are in the
irises, which are yellow. This wouldnt work
with the chameleon, obviously, because they
dont have yellow eyes. Closeup portraits of
dogs work best because its easy to take pic-
tures of them and most dogs have dark eyes.
Photograph them in the shade so their pupils
are large. Exceptions would be breeds like
Siberian huskies who often have bright blue
eyes.
19
 LEARNING TO SEE online course

by Jim Zuckerman

The ability to see photographically, to really grasp how your camera and lenses capture a subject or
scene (which is different than how we see with our eyes) underlies successful picture taking. It is the
bottom line that youve been looking for to take that quantum leap forward in your photography.

The great thing about online courses is that they can fit into any schedule. Life gets in the way at
times, and Jim puts no limit on the time you can submit your work for his critiques. CLICK THIS PAGE
to read more about this course.

This picture was captured on Jims Morocco photo tour. This is the blue city of Chefchaouen.

20
 New eBook for beginning photographers
Ive not seen a book on beginning photography
that I thought was clear, concise, and relevant
to taking good pictures, so I wrote one. If you
are insecure about your knowledge of how f/
stops, shutter speeds, and ISO interact, or what
exactly the various exposure modes on a cam-
era are for, this is the eBook for you.
Or if you know someone who just bought a
camera and is having a hard time understand-
ing the manual that came with the camera, the
information in this new publication is essential.
It will take much of the frustration in learning
photography out of the equation. Instruction
manuals for cameras do not teach photography.
All of the basics of photography are covered in-
cluding depth of field, the simple mathemati-
cal relationships between lens apertures and
shutter speeds, the issues surrounding digital
noise, basic fundamentals of composition, the
features you should look for when choosing
your next camera, the different kinds of lenses
and how to use them, how shutter speeds and
lens apertures allow you to express your artistic
vision, and creative considerations that enable
you to start taking photographs rather than
mere snapshots.
21
 THE PANTANAL, BRAZIL
November 2 - 10, 2016

Jaguars in the wild exotic birds caiman capybara

22
 Whats wrong with this picture?

I
n a word, I would say there is nothing wrong with this picture. Some
people -- and this is certainly true of many photo contest judges who
are often very narrow in their thinking -- would say that it was incor-
rect to place the tree in the center of the composition. I disagree. Sometimes a
subject looks great in the center of the frame, and this is particularly true when
it is symmetrical. The central placement underscores the symmetry, gives the
picture balance, and directs our eye to the place in the photograph where it
belongs.

Sure, the Rule of Thirds (it should really be called the Suggestion of Thirds) is
valid in helping people with their compositions. We all agree on that. The pic-
ture on the next page illustrates this principle nicely. The negative space bal-
ances the tree, and the trunks were placed on the right vertical third. But just

23
 because this picture works well doesnt mean that the photograph with the tree
in the center doesnt work. Both can be considered artistic variations of good
compositions.

I am explaining this because during my recent workshop in Minnesota to pho-

tograph wildlife babies, one of the participants asked if it was ok to place an ani-
mal in the middle of the frame. She had been taught that a central placement
was wrong, so I made it very clear that it was perfectly fine. More than that, it
may be the best way to compose the picture.

All of the great artists throughout the centuries have created tremendous works
of art with centrally placed subjects. Van Goghs Sunflowers and virtually all of
the portraits done by Rembrandt and Picasso illustrate this. Dont let people
who have a narrow vision of art and photography inhibit your work.

24
 SHORT AND SWEET
1. When doing macro work, its great to do extreme
closeups of your subjects. However, dont overlook in-
cluding the environment. If the area surrounding your
subject has excellent graphic design, color, or texture,
it may be worth including in the shot.
3. If you frame a background with a tree, both the
foreground and the background should be in focus
-- i.e. you need complete depth of field. This usually
means you need to use a tripod because f/32 reduces
so much light that a slow shutter speed is required. If
either portion of the picture is soft, the photo fails.
2. When shooting straight up in beautiful cathedrals,
like this one in Ljubjiana, Slovenia, pay special atten-
tion to the orientation of the camera. Its very easy to
skew the composition. Make sure the horizontal lines
are parallel with the top and bottom of the frame.
4. When you photograph a person or animal and the
subject is turned away from the camera, it may not be
possible to get both eyes in focus due to limitations in
depth of field. If you have to choose which eye to focus
on, it is correct to focus on the eye closest to the camera.
Out of focus foregrounds are usually not good.
25
 ASK JIM
Every month Jim will answer a question from his online students, from people who participate
in his tours and workshops, or from subscribers to this magazine. If you have a question
youd like Jim to answer, please drop him a note at photos@jimzuckerman.com.

Q: Jim . . . I photographed this landscape in Organ Pipe National Monument in Arizona at sunset. I
know that sunrise and sunset are the best times to shoot landscapes, but sometimes I feel the colors are too
red or too yellow. Do you think that thats the case with this image? Should I reduce the intensity of the
colors, and if so, how do I do that? Larry Clairborne, Albany, New York

A: I do think this image has too much red and yellow in it. Sunrise and sunset lighting is, indeed, beau-
tiful, but depending on the white balance yourre using and your exposure, the colors can either shift in a
direction you dont like or simply turn out too saturated. You can go into the hue/saturation dialog box in
Photoshop (Image > adjustments > hue/saturation) and in the submenu with the tab that reads Master,
choose first red and then yellow. Move the saturation slider to the left with each color and you can tone
down the intensity of these colors to taste.

26
 Photography Tours
2016 - 2017
CHINA AMERICAN SOUTHWEST THE PANTANAL, BRAZIL
Sept. 2016 Oct. 2016 Nov. 2016

CUBA CARNIVAL IN VENICE ICELAND

Nov. 2016 Feb. 2017 Mar. 2017

NEPAL PATAGONIA MOROCCO

Mar. 2017 Apr. 2017 May 2017

NEWFOUNDLAND KAZAKHSTAN EGYPT

Jun. 2017 Aug. 2017 Oct. 2017

For a complete list of all the photo tours/workshops Jim conducts, go to his website: www.jimzuckerman.com.
27
 CHINA PHOTO SAFARI
Sept. 16 - 28, 2016

Unreal landscapes culture Shanghai people

28 29
AMERICAN SOUTHWEST photo tour
October 7 - 16, 2016

29
 Student Showcase
Each month, Jim features one student who took beautiful and inspiring images on one or more of his pho-
tography tours or workshops. Its really fascinating how photographers see and compose such different im-
ages even though we may go to the same places. Everyone gets great photographs on my trips.

Lindley Johnson, Oak Park, Ilinois Morocco photo tour, Balkins photo tour, Photoshop workshop.

2016 Lindley Johnson

30
30
Student Showcase, continued

2016 Lindley Johnson

31
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2016 Lindley Johnson

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 PHOTOSHOP WORKSHOP
in my home
Sat. & Sun., Oct. 29 - 30, 2016
Photoshop is a photographers best friend, and the creative possi-
bilities are absolutely endless. In a personal and homey environ-
ment (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, modi-
fying lighting, replacing backgrounds, using layer masks, blend
modes, adding a moon, and a lot more. I promise to fill your head
with so many great techniques that you wont believe what youll be
able to do. I go over each technique several times to make sure you
understand it and can remember it.
Photoshop instructors approach teaching this program from dif-
ferent 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
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creative ideas that will inspire you to produce amazing images with
the pictures youve already taken.
I live in the Nashville, Tennessee area, and if you fly into the airport
(BNA) I will pick you up. If you drive, Ill give you my address and
you can find my home on Mapquest or with a GPS. 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). All
you need is a laptop and a lot of your pictures. If you dont have
a laptop, I have two Mac Book Pro laptops I can loan out for the
duration of the workshop.
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Jim Zuckermans Jim Zuckermans

PH OTO I N S I G HTS PH OTO I N S I G HTS

January 2015 February 2015

Topaz Glow
A different approach to composition
Photographing puppies
Kaleidoscopic images
Online photo course
Student showcase
Photo tours

White balance
When can highlights be blown
Abstractions in soap
Fisheye lenses
Online photo course
Student showcase
1 Photo tours 1

May 15 Jun 15 Jul.15 Aug.15 Sept.15

Jim Zuckermans

PH OTO I N S I G HTS
June 2015

Realistic HDR
Selective focus
Simulating bokeh
Sepia & Dark Contrast
Online photo courses
Student showcase
Photo tours
1

Oct.15 Nov. 15 Dec. 15 Jan. 16 Feb. 16

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 PHOTO INSIGHTS
published by Jim Zuckerman,
all rights reserved
Jim Zuckerman 2016
email: photos@jimzuckerman.com
mail address: 38
P.O. Box 7, Arrington, TN 37014
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