The Digital Photo Guy

Lots to Report Today

First, be sure to check out the details of the 4-hour Photoshop Elements class. This class is for those who don’t want to waste time. In 4 hours, in the comfort of your own home, Rob Sheppard will teach you everything you need to know to immediately start doing useful, creative, fun projects with Photoshop Elements. Take advantages of the Early Bird Special pricing before Sept 30.

Second, Photoshop World in Las Vegas is just around the corner. On Oct 3, 4 and 5, three million crazed PS users will descend on Las Vegas for 72 hours of ’round-the-clock Photoshop (OK, so it’s only 3000). If you’re an old hand, you know how much learning can be crammed into 72 hours. If you’re a noob, you’ll be blown away by how much you learn in 72 hours. If you’d like to connect at PSW, let me know.

Third, for San Diego locals, great news. Deer Park Winery in Escondido has reopened after a hiatus of several years. The winery boasts one of the most complete antique American car collections in the US. Over the next few weeks I’ll be scouting the site for photoshoot classes so if you’d like to join me, send an e-mail. Entry is just $5 and there’s a nice deli on the grounds. The winery is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10AM until 5PM and is located on Old Highway 395 between Welk Resort and Old Castle Road.

Fourth, in case you missed my earlier announcement, 2 more videos have been uploaded to the video area. I’m finding videos easier to produce and pack more information than MMTs so I’ll be doing more videos over the next few months. For the moment, low resolution versions will be on YouTube and high rez versions will be on this site. As I get more proficient, I’ll start differentiating by putting more complete videos on this site and using YouTube for teasers and trailers.

Fifth, I’ve posted a bunch of SoCal events on the Tips & News page so check out what’s happening from Native American Pow Wows to Bates Nut Farm to Art Tours to Canon Events. If you know of any photo ops that may be of interest to others, send me the link and I’ll post them here. Also check out the Fall Photoshoot schedule. Wild Animal Park photoshoots are back starting on September 19.

Sixth, you may recall my post where I mentioned Benjamin Kanarek, a Paris-based fashion photographer. He must have followed my link from my post on his site. The guy actually posted a reply on this site. I was surprised that he took the time to review and comment on my post. Now, if I can only figure out a way to get him to hire me as an assistant on one of his shoots!

Finally, Canon has agreed to give away 1D Mark III dSLRs to my readers (kidding, just checking to see if you’re still awake). This is the year I finally get off my duff and photograph some burrowing owls at Salton Sea. If you’re interested in joining me, let me know and we’ll coordinate. Since I can probably get away easier than most of you, I plan to go out to Salton Sea on a Wed or Thu and have prime locations scouted by the time you arrive on the weekend. This is tentatively scheduled for November.

Rob Sheppard to Teach Photoshop Elements

On Saturday, November 14 from 9AM until 1PM, Rob Sheppard will teach a 4-hour Photoshop Elements class jam-packed with tricks, tips and shortcuts used by professional photographers. Whether you are a complete newbie or an experienced PSE user, you will learn more about Photoshop Elements than you ever imagined possible. After this class you will be able to enhance and edit digital photos faster, easier and more precisely than ever before. Most of the material from this class also applies to Photoshop CSx.

If that’s not enough, you’ll receive 60 days of e-mail support after the class. That’s right, for 60 days, if you encounter a problem and just can’t figure out how to apply Rob’s tips, send me an e-mail and I’ll get you an answer. What class have you ever taken that offers that kind of help?

Anyone with the slightest interest in photography knows the name Rob Sheppard. He’s the editor of Outdoor Photographer magazine and editor/founder of PCPhoto as well as author of over a dozen books on photography. Obviously, it’s not easy to book someone as much in demand as Rob.

The cost is just $59.95 ($49.95 early bird special until Sept 30). Rob’s classes typically range from $150 to $950 so this is a screaming deal. Click HERE to register today. Seating is limited.

Monday Morning Tip

Until I started teaching digital photography, I didn’t realize there are just as many female gearheads as there are male gearheads. (A gearhead lusts for shiny new toys regardless of whether they know how to use it or will ever need it.)  One of the regular questions I see on forums is, “What lens should I buy?” This is usually from someone who hasn’t even learned how to use the current lens(es) they own. Somehow, digital photography has become enamored of the idea that buying a new lens will improve one’s photography. I think this is an extension of the first era of digital photography when everyone was convinced that buying more megapixels would improve one’s photos. Allow me to disabuse you of such silly notions. Buying more lenses means you have less money in your wallet.

Today’s MMT is for the more rational among us who are interested in the art of photography and not in being a one person economic stimulus program for camera companies. As always, the full MMT is in the password protected area of Tips & News.

Rob Sheppard to Teach Photoshop Elements

On Saturday, November 14 from 9AM until 1PM, Rob Sheppard will teach a 4-hour Photoshop Elements class jam-packed with tricks, tips and shortcuts used by professional photographers. Whether you are a complete newbie or an experienced PSE user, you will learn more about Photoshop Elements than you ever imagined possible. After this class you will be able to enhance and edit digital photos faster, easier and more precisely than ever before. Most of the material from this class also applies to Photoshop CSx.

If that’s not enough, you’ll receive 60 days of e-mail support after the class. That’s right, for 60 days, if you encounter a problem and just can’t figure out how to apply Rob’s tips, send me an e-mail and I’ll get you an answer. What class have you ever taken that offers that kind of help?

Anyone with the slightest interest in photography knows the name Rob Sheppard. He’s the editor of Outdoor Photographer magazine and editor/founder of PCPhoto as well as author of over a dozen books on photography.

I literally ran into Rob at the NANPA (North American Nature Photographer’s Association) summit earlier this year and asked him to teach a Photoshop Elements class for my readers. He was enthusiastic but, understandably, his schedule was filled.

Rob is now available to teach that class on November 14 via webinar. Even better, the cost is just $59.95 ($49.95 early bird special until Sept 30). If you had attended Rob’s class at NANPA, you would have paid $155 plus hotel, meals & travel to Albuquerque so this is a screaming deal!

Click below to register today. Seating is limited.

Monday Morning Tip

When I first converted to digital in 1998, almost everyone used JPEG. This was reinforced for me because I was a sports photographer who came home from events with upwards of 1000-1200 frames. All the frames except total disasters were quickly processed for levels and sharpness before resizing and uploading to my web site for people to order. As orders came in, I reprocessed each photo for printing but, during the initial rush, there wasn’t time for messing about with RAW files.

 

Today, one of the most frequent questions I hear is, “Should I shoot in RAW or JPEG?” Even rank newbies are pressured into thinking they should be shooting RAW because “that produces better photos.” Let’s set the record straight. It’s just as easy to capture crappy RAW photos as it is to capture crappy JPEGs.

 

Today’s MMT addresses this question head-on for newbies. This MMT will answer this age-old question once and for all. As always, the MMT is in the Tips & News page of this site.

Quick Tip

One of the trickiest things to do in Photoshop or PSE is selecting hair when you’re trying to knock out a person’s head from a photo. Let’s say you took a family photo at the reunion but Cousin Ernie couldn’t attend. You try to paste Cousin Ernie’s photo from last year into this year’s photo but it’s nearly impossible to get a good selection of Cousin Ernie’s curly blonde hair which was photographed against a white wall.

Whenever you have friends and family together, take several head shots against a contrasting wall. Cousin Ernie’s blonde locks will stand out nicely against a dark wall while Aunt Ruthie’s mousey brown hair contrasts with the standard Navajo White found on most interior walls.

Next time you want to knock out Cousin Ernie from a busy background, use hair from the easy photo. You don’t want to use too much because the light and angle probably won’t match but little wisps here and there will help fill out areas where his hair blends into a white object in the background.

Palomar College – Fall Schedule

Like the rest of the world, Palomar College is feeling the effects of the economy. This fall, they are offering the Digital SLR for New dSLR Owners webinar at a reduced price of just US$69 (Sep 15 & 17) (Nov 3 & 5). This is a live class that takes place on your PC/Mac. All you need is high-speed Internet. You can even include your whole family for the cost of one registration (limited to 1 camera model per registration).

Students DO NOT need to be in San Diego to attend webinars. I have taught students from around the world using webcast. The only requirement is that you have high-speed Internet and understand English.

The next Photoshop Elements Step-by-Step for Digital Photographers class starts Sep 9 and runs through Oct 14. It is 1 hour per week for 6 weeks. In that time, you will learn to use the most useful tools and techniques to enhance and edit your digital photos. Click here for more details and special Economic Stimulus pricing.

The next Wild Animal Park “Hands On” Photoshoot is Sep 19 from 9AM to 1PM. In this very popular workshop, you put into practice the basics you learned in the Digital SLR for New dSLR Owners webinar. In this workshop, I guide you along every step of the way and show you how to apply all the controls and adjustments on your dSLR. Click here for more details and special Economic Stimulus pricing.

Monday Morning Tip

Today’s MMT is a companion to the Developing Good dSLR Habits that I published several weeks ago. I wrote this because many people just don’t seem to ”get it” when it comes to the process of creating a photograph. While I’m glad that over 500 people have downloaded the dSLR Cheat Sheet, it’s not a step-by-step recipe. A large dollop of intelligent thought needs to be added to the Cheat Sheet to make it work.

Back in the ’60s, low cost 35mm cameras were everywhere. The death of photography was predicted by many well known and highly respected writers. Well, we managed to survive that onslaught but we’re now in the midst of a second, even more pernicious technological advance, the digital SLR. Anyone with $500 can now call themselves a photographer. I see people who can barely spell “dSLR” proclaiming themselves ready for NatGeo.

There’s nothing wrong with ambition but it has to be backed up with a modicum of talent and skills. The very first skill is knowing how to control your camera. Have you ever known a skilled contractor who didn’t know how to use his/her tools? How about a skilled cook who can’t control the oven? Photography is no different. You must know how to control your camera before anything else. A close second is learning how to use your PC/Mac including PS/PSE.

Use today’s MMT as a guideline to making better photos, use it in conjuction with the dSLR Cheat Sheet. Photography is a thinking person’s pastime, if you simply want to press a button and record an event, stick with a P&S camera. (End of Rant! LOL)

Quick Tip

Many of you are going to roll your eyes and mutter, “What dummy doesn’t know this!” but, trust me, there are many new dSLR owners (my target audience) who don’t know the viewfinder (VF) can be focused with the diopter adjustment. The diopter adjustment is usually a tiny dial or lever next to the VF.

Canon Diopter Adjustment

Simply turn the dial while peering through the VF to adjust it to your eyesight. Most dSLRs have a wide range of diopter adjustment to accommodate most people but, if you’re blind as a bat, you can also find extra adjustment lenses for most dSLRs. 

San Diego Zoo Photoshoot

On Sunday, August 16, I’m going back to the San Diego Zoo to photograph things that I noticed this past week. I hadn’t been to the zoo in several years and saw many new exhibits that I’d like to photograph now that I have an idea of the conditions. This WILL NOT be a walk through the zoo. I plan to spend 2-3 hours making specific images that I have in mind.

If you’d like to join me, send me an e-mail or leave a comment here. This is not a class but simply an opportunity to practice photography at the zoo.

I Need Victims Models

If you are interested in modeling for my Portrait portfolio, please contact me. I am looking for male and female models of all shapes, sizes, color and age except infants (less than 5 years old). You will receive your choice of 1 each 13×19 poster or a package of 1 each 8×10 plus 2 each 5×7 plus 4 each 4×6 prints. You will be needed for about 2 hours.

I also need some old photos in need of restoration for a new class I’m developing on Photoshop/PSE Restoration techniques.

For both models and restoration, you will need to sign a model release. Thanks.

Advertising

For the past 5 years, I’ve resisted the urge to advertise on my site because I didn’t want readers to think my recommendations were influenced by advertisers.

It’s come to the point where this site needs to pay for itself. In the near future, you will probably start seeing Google adsense words on this site. I know it’s an annoyance to many people but there’s simply no getting around it. Please click on the ads (you don’t have to buy anything) to help me keep this site running. To avoid advertisments, sign up for a class or two.

A special thanks to the hundreds of people who have taken classes with me in the past.

This week’s MMT wraps up Exposure Basics. By now, you should know the three main components of exposure and how to adjust each. Today, the “when” and “why” of changing exposure instead of just accepting the camera’s metered exposure.

As always, the MMT is in the password protected Tips & News page. Register to the right where it says, “Yes! I want immediate access to FREE weekly Monday Morning Tips.” Registration is a 2-step process. After you fill out and send the form, you’ll receive an e-mail verifying that you’ve registered and it wasn’t a vindictive co-worker who’s soing around, signing you up for al sorts of thing you don’t want. After you confirm that you really want to register, you’ll receive a second e-mail with the password.

As to why I ask for registration, it keeps people from “scraping” all the MMTs off my site and reposting on some malicious site to make it seem legit. With registration, if that happens, I have some hope of catching the low-life. (I’m probably just kidding myself!)

Quick Tip

Today’s QT is about using this site. If you look on the right side, you’ll see an area titled, “Tags (Kinda like keywords to search)”. Each of the words and phrases are hot links to articles containing those tags. If you want to find all the articles and MMTs that address Photoshop Elements, you’ll see that it’s in a large font near the middle of the “cloud” of tags. The bigger the font, the more articles there are with that tag.

If you look further down on the right side, you’ll also see Catergories. I hope these are self-explanatory but it’s another way to sort the posts on my site.

Down at the very bottom of the page, you’ll find a Monthly Archive of all my posts.

San Diego Zoo Photoshoot

On Monday, July 26, I’ll be at the San Diego Zoo from about 5PM until about 9PM. If you’d like to join me, send an e-mail and I’ll send you my cell phone number. I’ll be in the main parking lot in my white 24′ Winnebago View RV but I imagine there will be lots of RVs there.

Palomar College – Fall Schedule

Like all businesses, Palomar College is feeling the effects of the economy. This fall, they will only offer my Digital SLR for New dSLR Owners webinar class. Fortunately, for those who want the “Hands-On” Photoshoot workshop orwebinar Photoshop Elements class, I’ll be offerring those through my own site.

Keep an eye out for Wild Animal Park Photoshoot workshops starting around October and Photoshop Elements webinars around September.

You can find a full schedule of my workshops on, are you ready for this, the Workshops page of this site. Former students are eligible for a discount on all future workshops.

 Today we continue our Back to Basics series of MMTs so newbies can get “up-to-speed” quickly without slogging through all the previous MMTs (I recommend you do so as time permits). Two week ago, we covered the fundamentals of ISO, aperture and shutter speed. Now, we’re going to cover, in detail, how to adjust aperture, shutter speed and ISO on most modern dSLRs and you’re going to be surprised at the simplicity of this whole process. If you have enough coordination to read a speed limit sign, check the speedometer and adjust your accelerator to keep your car at a specific speed, you can manually set and adjust your dSLR exposure.

As always, today’s MMT, Exposure Basics 2, is in the Tips & News area and requires a password that is available to registered users. To register, fill out the Subscription form to the right.

While you’re at it, read my post about RSS and set up your own RSS feed so you can automatically be notified whenever any of your favorite sites are updated. To find all the RSS information, click “RSS” in the Tags area to the right. Tags are like searchable key words.

For you “old hands” who may be bored silly by all this, I recommend you read some of the older MMTs to see if anything jumps out that you either didn’t know or want to know more about. I’m always looking for new ideas for future MMTs.

Quick Tip

Under the heading of, “There is nothing new under the sun”, anyone who has half a clue about the basics of Photoshop (or PSE) knows the Gaussian Blur and Selective Sharpening trick to smooth/soften skin in portraits. It’s been around since before dirt was invented.

However, I discovered a new twist that readers may find useful, especially if you shoot RAW (not in the raw). Since Adobe Camera Raw 4.1, there’s been a negative Clarity slider among the adjustments. It took me a while to get my head around Clarity and even longer to figure out an application for negative clarity (yeah, I know I’m dense).

When processing portraits in ACR, set the negative Clarity slider to between -40 to -70 depending on the skin condition. A young child with smooth, soft skin may not need negative Clarity while an adult with early stage sun damage might need -40. A senior with deep wrinkles might go as much as -70.  Next, open the photo in PSCS or PSE and go through the usual selective sharpening to bring back eyes, nostrils, mouth and hair (if desired). Once I figured this out, I Googled (I hate using Google as a verb) for “acr negative clarity for portraits” and discovered that, as usual, I was the last one on the train. A number of people have figured out this trick so you might want to read what they have to say.

By the way, repeat my mantra, “It ain’t a PBJ, don’t slather on the effect.” In other words, be careful how much Clarity you apply (positive or negative). A little bit goes a long way. Too much and the portrait will begin to glow as if radioactive.

Palomar College “Hands-On” Photoshoot at Kit Carson Park

On Saturday, July 25, I’m leading a “Hands-On” Photoshoot class for Palomar College at Kit Carson Park in Escondido. There’s still time to register at the Palomar College Venture site.

If you’ve attended this class previously, you’re welcome to join me for a free refresher. Please understand that current, paid students have priority. If you refer a friend or family member to register for this class, I’ll send you a copy of Scrapbook MAX!, the best, easiest and powerful digital scrapbook program.

Photoshoot at the Zoo

On Monday, July 27, I’ll be photographing at the San Diego Zoo from 5PM until about 9PM. If you’d like to join me, send me an e-mail and we’ll make plans to meet there.

Meetup Idea

If you’re familiar with www.meetup.com, you know that it’s a way for people with common interests in a given locale to meet. I’ve been thinking of starting a Meet Up Group for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements but meeting via webcast. That way, anyone with a high-speed connection can participate. Each month, we can have a web meeting where someone presents a short lesson/tutorial and others can ask questions.

If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll see what it would take to organize it.