Jim Zuckerman’s
PH OTO I N S I G HTS June 2020
Shooting into the light Restoring old photographs Compositing fireworks Photo tours Student showcase Ask Jim Subject index 1
On the cover: Early morning fog at the Taj Mahal. On this page: Torres del Paine in Patagonia, Chile.
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4. 9. 13. 22. 24. 25. 26. 28. 34. 39.
Shooting into the light Restoring old photographs Compositing fireworks What’s wrong with this picture? Short and Sweet Ask Jim Photo tours Student showcase Back issues Subject index for Photo Insights
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any clients who have taken my photo tours have asked me whether or not they should bring a monopod on the trip either in lieu of or in addition to a tripod.
I own a monopod and have for years, but for the life of me, I can’t remember one time I used it. I tried it in a boat on my Pantanal trip in Brazil where our main subjects are jaguars and exotic birds, thinking it would take the weight of my Canon 500mm f/4 telephoto lens off my arms and shoulders, but I found it too inhibiting. I am still able to handhold the big lens and, as tiring as it is, I prefer the freedom of movement essential with fast moving birds. I also tried it in a Land Rover in Africa where I used the seat and sometimes the floor of the vehicle to support the monopod. Again, though, I found it too awkward and quite inhibiting to use. There are only two scenarios when I think a monopod works. For shooting sporting events from the sidelines -- such as a football game or soccer match --a monopod is easy to carry up and down the field while using a heavy lens. There is no setup time (such as spreading the legs of a tripod), and you are ready to shoot in an instant. It takes the burden of the lens off your upper body, stabilizes the lens itself to a large degree and, in my opinion, this is the only way to shoot sports when using a heavy lens. The other scenario is if you just can’t handle the weight of a large and heavy lens, yet you want to use one for frame-filling compositions especially of wildlife and birds, then your only option is to use a monopod. Even if it’s a bit awkward in the confined space of a safari vehicle, a boat, a wooden boardwalk in a nature reserve, or a van, you have no choice. It will enable you to use slower shutter speeds, but don’t think it replaces a tripod for those times when you need a truly slow shutter. Using a monopod with a long lens, I still wouldn’t shoot slower than 1/125th of a second. With focal lengths of 500mm or more, I wouldn’t use less than 1/250th or else you risk getting pictures that are almost sharp. Jim Zuckerman photos@jimzuckerman.com www.jimzuckerman.com 3
Shooting into the Light S
trong light sources make dynamic elements in a photograph. Including the sun or any strong artificial light in a composition adds a focal point and, if done well, doesn’t compete with the subject but rather embellishes it. The challenge with including a bold light source in a picture is exposure. Don’t use the histogram to ascertain whether or not it’s correct. The reason I say that is photographers are taught to avoid a ‘spike on the right’ when looking at the graphic that comprises
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the histogram. This indicates some of the areas in the image are blown out, meaning they are solid white with no texture or detail. In most cases, though, bright lights like the sun and intense artificial lights photograph white with no detail. We expect this and accept it. In fact, when you look at the sun, a street lamp at night, a security light, or car headlights, all of these appear to our eyes as brilliant white areas of a composition with very little or no detail at all. The photographs then, in essence, capture what we are seeing.
In these instances, the spike on the right side of the histogram indicates there is an error in the exposure when, in fact, there isn’t. This is why I say don’t rely on the histogram to judge exposures when shooting into bright lights. The graph will be confusing. Considering the exposure When does a bright light not interfere with the exposure? Knowing this should eliminate a lot of your confusion regarding these kinds of tricky exposure situtions. 1. The source of light is partially blocked by an element in the frame. The landscape shot of Bryce Canyon on the previous page is an example. I used the tree branch to reduce the illumination from the sun, thus it played a very small role in the exposure
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evaluation by the built-in camera meter.
with a lens aperture of f/11 or smaller.
2. A wide angle lens is used; consequently, the sun appears very small in the frame. The photos of Bryce Canyon (page 4) and the town of Alesund, Norway, (page 5) are examples.
4. If the subject blocks the light source altogether, as the snowy owl does on the next page. The bright light, in these instances, has little relevance to the exposure.
3. The sun or bright light source is composed away from the center of the frame. The shot at dawn in Venice, Italy, during carnival on page 5 and the ice formation in Iceland, below, are examples. Meters take most of their information to determine a correct exposure from the center of the frame. The further the bright light source is placed from the center, the less it influences the exposure reading.
5. The sun is very close to the horizon and becomes diminished by the atmosphere. It has little affect on the exposure, especially when it is composed near the outer edges of the frame.
Note: To make a star effect of a point source of light, use a wide angle lens in combination
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So, when does the bright light source have a large impact on the exposure? a. When you use a telephoto lens and the sun or other bright light source is large in the frame, even if it’s off-center. The shot of the wildebeest at sunrise on the next page is an example. I
took this with a 640mm focal length (400mm plus the 1.6 crop factor in the Canon 7D Mark II) which is why the sun is so large. b. When the sun or any bright light is composed in the center of the frame. c. When shooting at night and an artificial light source is anywhere near the center portion of
the frame. The subtlety of detail in the shadows can be lost if the picture is underexposured by even a small amout (like one f/stop or less). The bright light can cause this underexposure, and even with the manipulation of the shadows slider in ACR or Lightroom you may not be able to recover the detail without introducing a lot of noise. The ruins of Karnak, below, shows an instance where noise is an important issue.
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All of the exposure modes in the camera -- spot, evaluative (for Canon) or matrix (for Nikon), average, center weighted, dynamic range optimizer (Sony), etc., will have problems in producing an accurate exposure in each of these situations. Therefore, you have to oversee the exposure and tweak it to your taste once the initial reading has been made.
With a very bright light source that takes up a large portion of the frame such as the fire above, captured during the summer solstice celebration in Vilnius, Lithuania, the amount of exposure compensation needed to make a correctly exposed photo is significant. To avoid underexposure, I had to open the lens 2-1/3 f/stops from the camera’s reading.
The procedure I use is to use (in Canon) the evaluative metering mode because for most situations, this is the most accurate. The camera takes most of its exposure information from the center, but contributing to the calculation are peripheral zones. I take a test shot, noting where I placed the light source in the frame, and then -- based on what I see on the LCD screen (not the histogram as I’ve already noted), I then use the exposure compensation feature to fine tune the exposure in 1/3 f/stop increments.
To arrive at the correct exposure, you may need to take two or three test shots. With scenes that are very contrasty like the one above, it’s a balancing act between retaining detail in the shadows and holding on to detail in the highlights. In this case, I sacrified detail in the fire so there was a good exposure on the crowd of people. There is even a little detail in the dark sky. §
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RESTORING OLD PHOTOGRAPHS
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veryone knows that if their house was burning, besides saving family and pets, the next thing we’d save are family photographs. That’s how much we treasure them. Restoring old photos is a way to preserve priceless memories and, at the same time, hone your Photoshop skills.
repairs depend on the type of damage there is. The 1958 family picture below (I am on the far right at 10 years old with my two younger sisters, two older cousins, and my mother) is a
The degree to which old photos are damaged varies widely. They can be discolored, torn, water damaged, scratched, faded, and defaced. They can also have pieces of the image itself missing if the emulsion has chipped away. This is the most difficult scenario to deal with. The tools and techniques needed to do the
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AUSTRIA & the DOLOMITES Sept. 25 to Oct. 4, 2021
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typical, unattractive, discolored print. It is low in quality, and the original negative has been lost. Here are the steps I used to make this better: 1. My sister photographed the 4 x 6 inch print with her iPhone and sent me the file which was about 30 megs. Obviously, it would be better to shoot the print with a better camera and macro lens, but that’s all she had to work with. The most important things are to 1) photograph the print in diffused light, and 2) make sure the back of the camera is parallel with the print to maintain complete edge to edge sharpness. 2. The most obvious problem with this 62year old picture is the discoloration. There are many ways to alter color in Photoshop, and in this instance I used the pulldown menu command, Image > adjustments > hue/saturation. I identified the color shift had gone toward too much red, so in the dialog box I pulled the submenu down (it’s the tab that says ‘master’) and chose red. I then moved the saturation slider to the left to desaturate just the red color. That took care of the heavy red tint, but all of the other colors were faded as well. Before I dealt with that, I repaired some scratches and blemishes. 3. Using the clone tool and the spot healing brush, I removed scratches and white specks that had occurred in the emulsion of the print. This is very easy to do, although it was time consuming. 4. I then brought the image into ACR (Filter > camera raw filter) and added sharpening and clarity.
5. The original colors of the clothing were lost when the print faded and discolored. To add color that made sense to me, I selected various areas in the print, one by one, with the magic wand tool or the lasso tool, feathered the edge of each selection by one pixel (Select > modify > feather), and then I opened the hue/saturation dialog box. By moving the hue slider in either direction, I was able to introduce various colors into the selection. Then I desaturated the colors so they didn’t look so unnaturally bright. 6. To add additional color to hair, in the trees, and on the hills, I used the brush tool on a lowered opacity. At 15%, I was able to add just a hint of color. The brush tool takes its color from the foreground color box. For example, to bring back my mother’s red hair, I chose a dark orange color by simply clicking in the foreground color box and making the selection with the color picker. With the lowered opacity of the brush tool, I was able to make it look like I remembered. 7. I used the pulldown menu command Image > adjustments > levels to adjust the contrast. In the dialog box that opened, I moved the left-hand slider to the right which darkened the shadows. This added a bit more ‘punch’, i.e. contrast. 8. Finally, the original print was photographed in such a way that the horizontal and vertical edges didn’t align with the edges of the frame in the camera. This occurred because my sister, who photographed the print, didn’t hold her camera dead-center above the print with the back of the camera parallel to the plane of the print. Therefore, I chose Select > all and then Edit > transform > distort. The box that formed around the image gave me handles, and I then dragged the various handles to square-up the image. I could have made this image black and white. That would have been a lot easier and faster, but 11
that’s not what I wanted. If original color can’t be recovered, then you have to essentially paint the color back into the picture. The photo below is another family portrait. It was taken in 1934 when my mother was 12. She is in the back row, third from the right. For the restoration, I brought the image into ACR and applied clarity and contrast. This addressed the fading problem. To repair the carpet, I used the clone tool and the content aware feature in Photoshop. The most challenging area was the overexposed portion in the bottom-center of the print. I cloned the correctly exposed portions of the carpet from the left side to cover up the overexposure. I also used the clone tool to eliminate the white border around the print. In essence, I extended the image to cover that border. This gave a little ‘breathing room’ on either side of the group.
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The last thing that needed to be done was to square-up the image. Just like with the previous restoration, I chose Select > all and then Edit > transform > distort. Grabbing the upper right handle, I made the right side of the image parallel with the frame. I then did the same thing by moving the lower right corner down so the bottom edge was now perfectly horizontal. §
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Compositing Fireworks
uly fourth and the celebration of America’s founding is just a month away. Many of you have photographed fireworks in the past, but I wanted to go over the settings I recommend for shooting them, and then I’ll explain how to [easily] add them to a twilight or night shot you already have in your files. Camera settings In determining the settings on your camera, there are two considerations: 1) exposure, and 2) the length of the streaks in the fireworks bursts. My best images come from using a
shutter speed of 1.6 seconds, and the aperture that gives me optimal exposures is f/14 at 100 ISO. At the end of the show, the finale lasts several seconds and you might want to use a much longer shutter speed to compound the action. This won’t change the exposure, but when two or more bursts overlap, the light accumulates as in a double or triple exposure. The solution, then, is to shoot at f/20. More challenging, though, is focus. You can’t reliably focus on fireworks. Therefore, before it gets dark, focus on something far away. If you use a wide angle lens (I recommend a 1635mm or equivalent), simply focus on a distant
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NAMIBIA PHOTO TOUR May 22 - June 1, 2021
Monster dunes Wildlife Walvis Bay cruise Dead trees Milky Way
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PREMIIUM PORTFOLIO REVIEWS by Jim Zuckerman
Starting June 1, Jim will be offering professional reviews of your portfolio. Choose 20 images, and Jim will select the 10 he wants to review with you on a on-to-one basis. You will share computer screens with Jim, and based on his 50+ years in photography, he will give you constructive comments that will go a long way to helping you significantly improve your shooting. In addtion, he will demonstrate to you how to use Photoshop to enhance and embellish each image. See how he uses his artistic and technical skills to transform your original photographs into visuals that exceed your expections. He is known for being able to fix photographic problems, and you’ll see this demonstrated right on your own computer screen. Jim will cover topics like lens choice, camera settings, depth of field, exposure, composition, graphic design, and the all-important subject of whether a background is complementary or distracting. All levels of photographic expertise, from beginners to advanced, are welcome. Jim is still offering this one hour portfolio review with a $50 discount. Contact him at photos@jimzuckerman.com if you would like to take advantage of the reduced price. Click on the montage above for more information.
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building, shoreline, landscape, or tree that is 40 feet or beyond. Then switch the camera to manual focus (turn AF off) so the lens doesn’t try to refocus on anything. This insures all your pictures will be sharp. If you inadvertently disturb the focusing ring -- or even think you might have bumped it -- you’ll have to set the focus again.
Open the image that will receive the new layer. It should be dark twilight scene or it can be a night scene. City skylines are ideal for this. Choose the pulldown menu command Edit > paste. This creates layer 1 which you can see in the layers palette, below.
Making a composite It’s obviously impossible to make a precise selection of a fireworks burst in Photoshop. Fortunately, you don’t have to do that. Fireworks shows are always done when the sky is black. Open a fireworks shot in Photoshop and choose the lasso tool. Make a rough selection around the burst that includes some of the black sky. Copy this to the clipboard with Edit > copy (or Command/Ctrl C).
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Now, click on the submenu tab labeled ‘Normal’ (red arrow in the screen capture above) to access the list of blend modes. Choose the blend mode ‘lighten’. The black sky in the floating layer disappears and you are left with
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UPCOMING PHOTO WORKSHOPS Photoshop Workshop The setting is in my home, and in this two day workshop you’ll learn enough to be truly dangerous in Photoshop! How to replace a sky, how to fix all kinds of photographic problems in your pictures, how to handle blown highlights, how to be incredibly creative . . . and more.
July 11-12, 2020
Snowy owls workshop Stunning pictures of snowy owls in flight. Up close and personal encounters with owls in the wild. Based near Toronto, Canada.
January 18 - 22, 2021
Carnival in Venice Workshop Outrageous costumes in a medieval environment! Venice is great to visit and photograph any time, but during Carnival it’s magical. There is nothing like it anywhere in the world. Exotic masks, stunning colors, classic images.
Feb. 5 - 12, 2021
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just the streaks of fireworks and perhaps even smoke that could have been part of the explosion. The fire streaks are perfectly separated from their original backgound. At this point, if you need to resize the fireworks image, choose Edit > transform > scale (the keyboard shortcut is Command/Ctrl T) and drag one of the corners to make the fireworks larger or smaller. If you are making the layer larger, don’t go beyond about 20% enlargement or you’ll start losing resolution. To move the fireworks in place, choose the move tool in the tools palette to do this. If you are compositing fireworks shot against a black sky with a cityscape or street scene also taken with a black sky, you can skip the blend mode step. §
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Expand your photographic artistry with
eBooks
Click on any ebook to see inside
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eBooks continued Click on any ebook to see inside
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W i l d l i f e Babies Workshop August 20 - 24, 2020
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What’s wrong with this picture?
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photographed this clash of colors in an ultra modern phone booth in the Amsterdam airport. I like everything about it except for one thing -- the white instruction placard is visually annoying. Our attention is drawn to the lightest part of an image first, and it returns there again and again. If the light part of a photo isn’t part of the subject, it’s most likely distracting. Our attention should be focused on the subject. To a smaller degree, but still important, the black sticker in the upper left corner of this image is also distracting. The picture on the next page shows what a big difference it is when the distracting elements are removed. Now the background is entirely complimentary.
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Notice I replaced the white placard not with a solid color, but instead with a gradient of green. I thought that was more visually pleasing than a solid color. To do that, I used the pen tool in Photoshop to make a precise selection of the area in question. I then selected the eyedropper tool in the tools palette and took a color sample from a light green area. This put the sampled color in the foreground color box seen at the bottom of the tools palette. Then, holding down the option key (alt key on a PC), I took another color sample, this time in a darker green area of the image. This placed the darker green color in the background color box, also seen in the tools palette. Finally, I chose the gradient tool and dragged the cursor from the top of the selection to the bottom. That covered the white placard with a gradient of green. ยง 23
SHORT AND SWEET 1.
2. When photographing near salt water, take extreme
During long exposures, try zooming your lens to create streaks of light and color. You need at least 1/3 second exposure for enough time to twist the zoom ring. Start moving the ring before you trip the shutter. This guarantees the zoom movement will occur throughout the entire exposure.
precautions to prevent even one drop of water from touching your camera and lens. Salt water kills electronics instantly. Use an Aquatech housing, wrap your camera in plastic, use a Ziplock bag -- anything to protect your expensive gear.
3.
4. Photographing a subject like a black leopard kitten
The Pieta by Michelangelo is now protected by glass, but as you can see, photographing through clean glass isn’t a problem. Just be cognizant of reflections in the glass from lights in the room that may be behind you. Sometimes they can’t be avoided, and you need Photoshop to eliminate the unwanted hotspots.
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where it’s composed in the center of the frame makes exposure challenging. With any of the exposure modes, the results will typically be too light. Therefore, use the LCD screen to judge the exposure (not the histogram) and then tweak it using exposure compensation. §
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 you’d like Jim to answer, please drop him a note at photos@jimzuckerman.com.
Q: Jim . . .How do I decide what shutter speed to use when trying to artistically blur moving subjects? It
seems like I never get it right. I took this picture at a football game with a shutter speed of .5 seconds, and to me, it’s too blurred. I’ve lost most of the detail. Donald Parsons, Atlanta, Georgia
A:
I agree with you this picture is too blurred. The answer to your question is very simple: trial and error. Unfortunately, there isn’t a simple formula whereby you can know how much blur you’ll get. The blur is dependent on: 1) the focal length of the lens (telephotos show more blur than wide angles at any given shutter speed), 2) the speed of movement of the subject(s), and 3) the shutter speed. Plus, you may not know what you want until you see the results. Therefore, it’s just a matter of experimentation.
© Donald Parsons 2020
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Partial list of Photography Tours 2020 - 2022 BABIES WORKSHOP Aug.. 2020
CARNIVAL IN VENICE Feb. 2021
HOLLAND/BELGIUM Apr. 2021
LAVENDER FIELDS (France) June/July 2021
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MOROCCO Oct. 2020
POLAR BEARS Nov. 2020
ETHIOPIA Mar. 2021
SPAIN/PORTUGAL Apr. 2021
BIRDS & BATS Apr/May 2021
NAMIBIA May/June 2021
ICELAND July 2021
WHITE HORSES Apr. 2022
For a complete list of all the photo tours/workshops Jim conducts, go to his website: www.jimzuckerman.com.
Frog & Reptile Workshop October 10 - 11, 2020
At least 40 species of tiny, exotic poison dart frogs, reptiles, and more. This is a macro workshop.
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Student Showcase Each month, Jim features one student who took beautiful and inspiring images on one or more of his photography tours or workshops. It’s really fascinating how photographers see and compose such different images even though we may go to the same places. Everyone gets great photographs on Jim’s trips.
Diana Russler, New York, New York Kenya photo safari, Frog and Reptile workshop, Venice work-
shop, India photo tour
© 2020 Diana Russler
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Student Showcase, continued
Š 2020 Diana Russler
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Student Showcase, continued
Š 2020 Diana Russler
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Student Showcase, continued
Š 2020 Diana Russler
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POLAR BEARS from Ground Level! November 5 - 12, 2020
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PHOTOSHOP WORKSHOP in my home
Sat. & Sun., July 11-12, 2020
Photoshop is a photographer’s best friend, and the creative possibilities are absolutely endless. In a personal and ‘homey’ environment (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, 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 won’t believe what you’ll be able to do. I go over each technique several times to make sure you understand and can remember it. Photoshop instructors approach teaching this program from different 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, pulldown menus, layers, and so on, I spend a lot of time giving you
creative ideas that will inspire you to produce amazing images with the pictures you’ve already taken. I live in the Nashville, Tennessee area, and if you fly into the airport (airport code BNA) I will pick you up. If you drive, I’ll 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 don’t have a laptop, I have two Mac Book Pro laptops I can loan out for the duration of the workshop. §
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PH OTO I N S I G HTS January 2015
• Topaz Glow • A different approach to composition • Photographing puppies • Kaleidoscopic images • Online photo course • Student showcase • Photo tours
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Subject index for past Photo Insight issues 1/3 focus law Jul. ‘15 3D sphere Mar. ‘16 90 degree finder Mar. ‘13 Abstracts in soap Feb. ‘15 Abstracts, Shooting Mar ‘19 Aerial photography Jun. ‘13 African safari May ‘16 Airplane windows Mar. ‘16 Alien landscapes Jan. ‘13 Anatomy of 8 photographs Jan. ‘16 Angled perspectives Jan. ‘19 Aperture vs. shutter speed May ‘14 Aperture priority Sept. ‘14 Aurora Borealis Apr. ‘17 Auto white balance Dec. ‘13 Autofocus, when it fails Apr. ‘15 Autofocus failure Aug. ‘15 Autofocus failure Jan. ‘17 Autofocus challenges Apr. ‘18 Auto ISO Nov ‘17 Autumn Foliage Sep. ‘18 Back button focus Oct. ‘18 Backgrounds, wild Nov. ‘12 Backgrounds, busy Apr. ‘13 Backlighting Apr. ‘16 Birds in flight Aug. ‘13 Birds in flight Jan. ‘14 Birefringence May ‘18 Birds in flight Mar. ‘16 Bird Photography Jun ‘19 Black velvet Mar. ‘14 Black and white conversions Mar. ‘17 Black and white solarization Sep. ‘17 Black and white with color Jan. ‘20 Blown highlights Feb. ‘18 Blur, field Nov. ‘18 Blur technique Oct. ‘17 Bokeh Jun. ‘15 Butterfly photography Jul. ‘14 Camera setting priorities Jun. ‘17 Capturing lightning Jun. ‘13 Catchlights Jul. ‘16 Cheap flash stand Apr. ‘13 Children photography Jun. ‘14 Chromatic aberration May ‘13 Chrome Dec. ‘18 Cityscapes Aug. ‘14 Cityscapes May ‘16 Clone tool, fixing an issue Sep. ‘17 Composites and Light Dec. ‘17 Compositing images Apr. ‘19 Composition, different approach Jan. ‘15 Contrast vs. exposure Jul. ‘15 Creating a star field Jan. ‘14 Creating a Sketch Dec. ‘17 Creative blurs Jan. ‘14 Dark backgrounds Dawn photography Dawn photography Day for Night Dead center
Nov. ‘19 Jan. ‘17 Feb. ‘17 Oct. ‘18 Jan. ‘13
Dealing with smog Decay photography Define Pattern Depth of field Depth of field confusion Depth of field and distance Depth of field, shallow Double takes Drop shadows Dust, Minimizing
Oct. ‘16 Sep. ‘15 Sep. ‘18 Aug. ‘16 Jan. ‘20 Dec. ‘18 Apr. ‘20 Apr. ‘20 Apr. ‘19 Aug. ‘19
eBook, how to make Jan. ‘13 Embedded in Ice Oct. 17 Energy saving bulbs Sep. ‘14 Exposing for the sun Sep. ‘16 Exposure, the sun Jul. ‘13 Exposure technique Sep. ‘13 Exposure, snow Jan. ‘14 Exposure triangle Nov. ‘14 Exposure, to the right Apr. ‘15 Exposure compensation Sep. ‘16 Extension tubes Dec. ‘13 Fill flash Sep. ‘13 Filter forge Feb. ‘13 Fireworks Jul. ‘13 Fireworks, Compositing Jun ‘20 Fisheye lenses May ‘13 Fisheye lenses Feb. ‘15 Flash backlighting May ‘15 Flash, balancing exposure Oct. ‘15 Flash, balancing off-camera Dec. ‘18 Flat art Sep. ‘16 Flexify 2 Mar. ‘20 Flood fixes problems Nov. ‘19 Flowers May ‘15 Flowers in harsh light Jul. ‘16 Focus points Mar. ‘15 Focus stacking Mar. ‘17 Focus stacking Aug. ‘19 Focusing in the dark Oct. ‘16 Foreign models Jun. ‘13 for Scale Fractals, generating Sep. ‘13 Fractals Jul. ‘19 Framing May ‘17 Freezing ultra action May ‘17 From Terrible to Beautiful Aug. ‘19 Fun with paint Oct. ‘16 Fundamental ingredients Apr. ‘13 Fundamentals That Make Great Photos Jan. ‘19 Garish imagery Great subjects Great ceilings & HDR Panos Green screen Grunge technique
Dec. ‘15 Apr. ‘15 Jul. ‘19 Mar. ‘13 Feb. ‘13
HDR, one photo HDR at twilight HDR, realistic HDR, hand held
Apr. ‘13 May ‘13 Jun. ‘15 Dec. ‘16
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Subject index for past Photo Insight issues HDR, hand held Nov ‘17 HDR, hand held Jul. ‘18 HDR panoramas Jun. ‘16 High wind Apr. ‘17 Highlights Apr. ‘14 Highlights, overexposed Feb. ‘15 Histograms, Why I Don’t Use Jun ‘19 Histogram problems Apr. ‘20 Hotels with a view Mar. ‘20 Humidity Oct. ‘13 Hummingbird photography Apr. ‘13 Hyperfocal distance Jul. ‘13 Image resizing Aug. ‘18 Implying motion Sept.‘14 Impossible DOF Feb. ‘16 Impossible DOF Jan. ‘17 Indestructible camera bag Dec. ‘14 Infrared photography Jul. ‘14 Interiors Oct. ‘15 iPad: Loading photos Aug.‘17 Jungle photography
Dec. ‘14
Kaleidoscopic images Jan. ‘15 Keystoning, correcting Aug. ‘15 L Bracket Feb. ‘18 Landscape photography Dec. ‘12 Landscape photography Apr. ‘14 Landscape photography Nov. ‘16 Light fall-off Feb. ‘14 Lighting a face Oct. ‘13 Lightning photography May ‘20 Liquify Feb. ‘18 Liquify Distortions Sept/Oct. ‘19 Long lens portraits Oct. ‘18 Low light photography May ‘15 Luminar 4 Jan. ‘20 Macro flash Nov. ‘12 Macro flash Sep. ‘14 Macro flash Aug. ‘15 Macro trick May ‘19 Mannequin heads Apr. ‘16 Metering modes Nov. ‘16 Meter, How They Work Jul. ‘18 Meters, when they fail Dec. ‘16 Metering situations, Impossible Jul. ‘19 Middle gray Nov. ‘15 Mirrors Jan. ‘19 Model shoot Jan. ‘17 Moon glow Oct. ‘16 Mosaics Jun. ‘17 Mundane to Ideal Nov. ‘19 Museum photography Mar. ‘13 Negative space Neon edges on black Neutral Density filters Night photography Night Safaris Night to Twilight
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Jan. ‘16 Aug. ‘14 Jun. ‘18 Feb. ‘14 Jun. ‘18 Dec. ‘17
Noise reduction
Feb. ‘17
Oil and water Optical infinity Organization of photos
May ‘20 Jun. ‘16 Mar. ‘18
Out of focus foregrounds
Jan. ‘20
Paint abstracts May ‘13 Painting with light Sep. ‘15 Panning motion Dec. ‘16 Pano-Mirrors with a twist Jan. ‘18 Parades Sep. ‘13 Parallelism Nov. ‘19 Photography to Art Dec. ‘17 Photography solutions Jan. ‘18 Photoshop, content Aware Nov. ‘12 Photoshop, sketch technique Apr. ‘13 Photoshop, replace background Apr. ‘13 Photoshop, actions palette Dec. ‘13 Photoshop, layer masks Feb. ‘13 Photoshop, the clone tool May ‘13 Photoshop, soft foliage Oct. ‘13 Photoshop, mixer brush tool Sept. ‘14 Photoshop, b & w with color Jun. ‘14 Photoshop, drop shadows Jul. ‘14 Photoshop, creating texture Feb. ‘14 Photoshop, face mirrors Feb. ‘14 Photoshop, liquify Mar. ‘14 Photoshop, face mirrors Aug. ‘14 Photoshop, digital spotlight Sep. ‘14 Photoshop, enlarge eyes Nov. ‘14 Photoshop, darken the periphery Dec. ‘14 Photoshop, mirror images Dec. ‘14 Photoshop, beam of light Apr. ‘15 Photoshop, polar coordinates Mar. ‘15 Photoshop, chrome May ‘15 Photoshop, actions palette Nov. ‘15 Photoshop, cut and paste Nov. ‘15 Photoshop, geometrics Oct. ‘15 Photoshop, plugins Oct. ‘15 Photoshop, multiple selections Apr. ‘16 Photoshop, sharpening Apr. ‘16 Photoshop, Flood plugin Apr. ‘16 Photoshop, Desaturation Aug. ‘16 Photoshop, making a composite Aug. ‘16 Photoshop new tool May ‘20 Photoshop, place one element behind Aug. ‘18 Photoshop, the pen tool Feb. ‘16 Photoshop, canvas size Jan. ‘16 Photoshop, using the earth Jun. ‘16 Photoshop, define patterns May ‘16 Photoshop, paste into Nov. ‘16 Photoshop, b & w with color Feb. ‘17 Photoshop, open a closed door Apr. ‘17 Photoshop, palettes May ‘17 Photoshop, My favorite plugins Jan. ‘20 Portrait options Jan. ‘19 Portrait techniques Nov. ‘15 Portraits Mar. ‘13 Portraits, mixed lighting Aug. ‘14 Portrait Professional Nov. ‘19
Subject index for past Photo Insight issues Portraits, Lens choice Portraits, side lighting Portraits, window light Portraits, outdoors Post-processing checklist
Sept/Oct. ‘19 Sep. ‘17 Mar. ‘15 May ‘17 Dec. ‘13
Post-processing: Contrast Aug. ’17 Predictive Focus Sep. ‘18 Problem/solution Apr. ‘17 Problem with cruises Jan. ‘18 Protecting highlights Dec. ‘12 Puppies Jan. ‘15 Puppy photography Feb. ’18 Reflections Feb. ‘13 Restoring old photos Jun ‘20 Safari May ‘13 Safari strategies Jul. ‘15 Seeing as the lens does Nov. ‘14 Selective filtering Mar. ‘18 Selective focus Jun. ‘15 Self-critiques Jul. ‘13 Self-critiques Oct. ‘13 Sensor cleaning Jun. ‘18 Sepia and dark contrast Jun. ‘15 Shade May ‘14 Shady side Jun. ‘18 Shadows, Paying Attention to Mar. ‘18 Sharpness problems Mar. ‘14 Shooting through wire mesh Sept. ‘14 Shooting into the light Jun ‘20 Silhouettes Jun. ‘13 Silhouettes, Exposing for Sept/Oct. ‘19 Silvered landscapes Mar. ‘20 Sketch, How to Make Jun ‘19 Snow exposure Nov ‘17 Snow exposure Nov. ‘19 Soft light Jan. ‘13 Smart phone photography May ‘19 Stained glass Mar. ‘17 Star photography Jul. ‘16 Star photography and noise Jan. ‘18 Stock photography Sep. ‘14 Sunrise & sunset Jan. ‘19 Tamron 150-600mm Ten reasons photos are not sharp Texture, Adding Topaz AI Gigapixel Topaz glow Topaz glow Topaz Impression Topaz Remask 5 Topaz Simplify 4 Topaz simplify 4 Topaz Studio Translucency & backlighting Travel photography
Travel portraits Mar. ‘14 Travel tips Apr. ‘14 Travel photographer’s guide Jun. ‘17 Twilight photography in the rain Apr. ‘19 Tripods Mar. ‘18 Two subject sharp rule May ‘14 Two subject focus rule Jan. ‘20 Ultra distortion
May ‘18
Warm fingers in winter Nov. ‘15 Water drop collisions May ‘18 What NOT to do in photography Apr. ‘18 White vignette Aug. ‘15 White balance Feb. ‘15 White balance, custom Mar. ‘16 Wide angle conundrum May ‘19 Wide angle lenses Mar. ‘13 Wide angle portraits Nov. ‘14 Wide angle lenses Jun. ‘17 Wide angle keystoning Nov ‘17 Wildlife photos with wide angles Mar. ‘15 Window light Dec. ‘15 Window light portraits Aug. ‘18 Window frames Feb. ‘16 Winter photography Dec. ‘12 Winter bones May ‘13 Winter photography Dec. ‘15 Winter photography Nov. ‘18 Wire Mesh, Shooting Through Jul. ‘18 Workflow May ‘13
Apr. ‘14 Jan. ‘19 Mar ‘19 Mar ‘19 Jan. ‘15 Sep. ‘17 Sep. ‘15 Oct. ‘17 Dec. ‘12 Jun. ‘14 Apr. ‘18 Nov. ‘18 Feb. ‘13
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PHOTO INSIGHTS® published by Jim Zuckerman, all rights reserved
Cuzco, Peru at twilight
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