Jim Zuckerman’s
PH OTO I N S I G HTS June 2022
When You Really Needed a Zoom Anatomy of Natural Eliminating people fromLight your Portraits photos Upside Down Reflections Choosing the number of frames for HDR Thinking outside the box: showcase Wide angle lenses Photo toursVStudent Photo tours Ask Jim Ask Jim SubjectShowcase index Student Back issues
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Table of Contents 4. 10. 15. 22. 23. 25. 27. 28. 30. 36. 42.
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Strategy for eliminating people Choosing the number of frames: HDR Thinking Outside the Box: Wide angle lenses Jim’s eBooks What’s wrong with this picture? Short and sweet Ask Jim Photography tours Student Showcase Past issues Subject index
On the cover: An agami heron in the Pantanal region of Brazil. This page: The Lello Bookstore, Porto, Portugal.
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igital images that come out of our cameras have to be tweaked to be made perfect. For those who are adept in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw (or even DXO PureRAW) you understand this very well. This is a different scenario, however, than what we used to have with film. When you took slides or negatives and had them developed, that was it. The color, contrast, and exposure was set in stone and unchangeable. However, RAW digital images, without any post-processing adjustments, invariably turn out devoid of rich color, they are flat with poor contrast, and they seem utterly lifeless. This is just the nature of the beast. Many of my clients ask me why my pictures always have such visual impact compared to theirs. The answer is that these people haven’t yet understood the concept that digital files are not designed to be eye-popping as soon as they’re viewed on the computer. The RAW format is intended to be adjusted after-the-fact. There are different ways to adjust images, of course. You can tweak them so all aspects of the photograph look just like what we saw: A natural looking sky, correct skin tones, good detail in the shadows and highlights, etc. Or, you can pump the colors to surreal proportions, make the contrast garrish, add gritty texture, composite images to create fantasy scenes, and so on. The captured image can be, in essence, the ‘first coat of paint’ before you turn the images into painterly works of art. My point is that if you only assess your work by what comes out of the camera, you’ll be disappointed. I would be disappointed in my pictures as well. No matter how good the exposures are or how strong your compositions appear, post-processing is essential to creating successful photographs. At the minimum, the sliders in Lightroom and ACR critical for virtually all images are 1) hightlights, 2) shadows, 3) clarity, and 4) vibrance. The exposure slider is also important to address over- and underexposures. Manipulating digital files with these tools is not ‘cheating’ or changing what you saw. In fact, it’s the opposite. It’s transforms the lifeless RAW images that come from the camera into photographs that replicate what you saw. Jim Zuckerman photos@jimzuckerman.com www.jimzuckerman.com 3
Strategies for Eliminating
People
from Your Photos
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othing is quite so frustrating for a travel photographer as other people -- or, worse, crowds of people, -- in the pictures. Palaces, castles, gardens, cathedrals . . . it doesn’t matter what the place is. Other people even ruin selfies. And for the serious photographer who wants to capture artistic compositions devoid of annoying distractions like people, there’s almost no point in shooting if the images are going to be
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worthless. Tourism has exploded in the last few years, and now that the Covid pandemic has subsided, travelers are itching to go anywhere. Popular destinations like Keukenhof Gardens in Holland (25,000 to 45,000 visitors per day), Angkor Wat in Cambodia (2.6 million visitors per year), Antelope Canyon in Arizona (2400 per day), the ancient coliseum in Rome (6 million visitors per year), and the Louvre in Paris (9.6 million visitors per year) make meaning-
ful photography almost impossible. Sure, you can always shoot upward at architectural and natural details, but including the floor or the ground is just not feasible. Let me offer some techniques I use to address this vexing issue. They won’t always work, but in most situations they make the difference between being disappointed in the lack of photo opportunities versus ending up with great shots. 1. Get there really early. This is the best thing you can do to avoid people in your pictures. Be the first in line. That’s how I was able to take the picture on the previous page of the Paris Opera House. I got in line one hour before they opened; no one else was there yet. Within 15 minutes, there were about
a dozen people behind me, and just before opening time there were probably a hundred people in line. As soon as they opened, I paid cash for the ticket (to save time) and rushed into the main salon of the spectacular work in architecture. I had visited there the day before so I could scout out the best locations, and now without any people (yet) I rushed around taking hand held HDR images. Within about 10 minutes, the best photo opportunities had come and gone. A group of school kids numbering about 20 had plopped down on the stairs to hear a history lesson about opera. At that point, it was impossible to shoot anything but architectural details. I did the same thing with the now famous Lello Bookstore in Porto, Portugal, below. I brought my photography tour group to the entrance 75 minutes before they opened, but this
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time there were two people already ahead of us. I was surprised because usually one hour is enough lead time to guarantee the first place in line. Not this time, though. So, in the future, I’ll queue up 90 minutes before opening.
The solution was to take multiple shots of the same composition over a period of time. Over the course of 60 seconds, I fired off a frame every 5 seconds or so. In that time inverval, everyone in the scene moved.
2. Take multiple shots for compositing
For example, the group sitting on the stairs got up and walked down to the ground level of the courtyard, thus exposing to the camera the stairs on which they had been sitting. That meant I could copy and paste that section of the stairs over the group of people in the first shot -- the one you see below. As people moved off the terrace, I did the same thing: I made a selection (using the lasso tool) of the terrace area and pasted that over the densely packed group of people in the shot below. Once those two problematic areas were fixed, it was easy to clone out individuals left in the frame. The finished image is shown on page 8. I replaced the
I took the photo of an interior courtyard of Pena Palace in Sintra, Portugal, about 20 minutes after they’d opened. There were already several people milling about, but two large groups made it impossible to eliminate everyone with the clone tool (or even content aware). The two green arrows point to the problematic areas: A large gathering on the upper terrace, and another one on the staircase I couldn’t simply clone them out because there were no other elements in the shot I could clone from to cover up all those people.
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China Photo Tour January 26 to February 8, 2023
An entire city constructed of ice illuminated at night, Harbin, China
Rainbow Mountains, Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park China 7
sky as well, but the elimination of the people made the image work. Note that this shot was taken shortly after the palace opened. By mid-morning, there were hundreds of people everywhere. This technique would probably still work, but it would be a lot more challenging. Also, you’d need more frames to work with. I would shoot at 5 second intervals over a period of two minutes. A tripod would be useful, but it’s not necessary for this technique. 3. Long exposures In low light environments like twilight or dimly lit interiors, you can use a long exposure to eliminate people in motion. For this technique to work, three things have to happen: 1) The camera must be mounted on a
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tripod, 2) people must be moving during most of the exposure, and 3) the level of light and the camera settings have to allow a long exposure. The picture of the Plaza de Espana in Seville, Spain on the next page is a 25 second exposure. I used the smallest aperture on the lens, f/22, and 100 ISO. These settings forced the shutter speed to be long, and this in turn gave enough time for the people in the shot to ‘disappear’ as they walked through the frame. If you look closely, there are few faint ghost images but these can be easily cloned out. To eliminate people using this technique in daylight environments, use a neutral density filter of at least 10 f/stops. On a bright sunny day, this translates to a shutter speed of 60 full seconds with an aperture of f/32 and an ISO of 100. This is enough time for most people to
completely disappear providing they aren’t sitting or standing in the same place for the duration of the exposure. I used this approach to capture the Old Town in Prague, below right.
Don’t be discouraged if other tourists interfere with good picture taking. There are several techniques you can use to eliminate them.
4. Multiple exposures with Stack mode Another approach to eliminating people from photographs is to take many exposures and stack them together in Photoshop. Each exposure should be at least 10 seconds apart. This gives each person in the scene time to change their position. Take at least 20 to 30 frames. This technique should be done from a tripod so all of the frames align with precision. In post-processing, place all the images in a folder. Then use the pulldown menu command, File > scripts > statistics. At the top of the dialog box where it says: Choose Stack Mode, select ‘mean’. 9
Photoshop will now combine all the images and, being in the ‘mean’ stack mode, will only retain the areas in the frame that didn’t move. That means all the people are magically gone. It is possible to do this technique without a tripod. Photoshop does a great job at aligning all the frames. In the File > scripts > statistics dialog box, check the box at the bottom that reads, Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images. This approach isn’t guaranteed, but it’s worth a try if you don’t have a tripod. If tripods are allowed where you’re shooting, you’ll be guaranteed the best possible quality with a firm support. 5. Get up early Most tourists don’t get up early. They are on vacation. It’s only the serious shooters who
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set an alarm and wake up to photograph dawn or sunrise . . . or would-be crowded places devoid of people. The Bean in Chicago, for example, always has crowds around it except at 5:30 in the morning. Then there is virtually no one. Inclement weather is also a good indicator that you’ll be able avoid crowds. The rare snowfall in Venice, Italy, above, shows San Marco Square without a single soul to ruin my picture. §
Choosing the number of frames for HDR O
ne of the most difficult concepts in photography for beginners to grasp is that cameras and digital sensors don’t capture what we see. In some cases our images closely resemble what we see, but . . . we never see shallow depth of field, we never see elongated perspectives typical of wide angle lenses, and we never see the compression of elements characteristic of telephoto lenses. Similarly, our eye-brain combination doesn’t have a problem with contrast. Highlights don’t
‘blow out’ when we look at birds with white feathers, for example, and shadows don’t go black even if there is a large discrepancy between bright and dark tones in any given situation. Photography has always had a problem with contrast. First with film, now with digital, it’s tough for cameras to record detail when shooting contrasty scenes. The water cave in Portugal, below, is a good example. Even at 6:30am when the sun was low to the horizon, the sky
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and the water were very bright while the rock structure facing me was in deep shadow. The only way to make this look like what we see -or even better -- is by taking several exposures with one f/stop increments (this is the separation of exposures I prefer) and then combining them in Photoshop with third party software. The question that always comes up is how many frames should you use to capture detail throughout the composition. Many cameras conveniently have automatic HDR commands in which the camera fires off 3 frames and then, on the LCD monitor, you see the HDR effect as a jpeg. For the high resolution composite, you have to do this in the computer. This is a very easy thing to set up in the camera, and the results are quite good. However, with extreme contrast subject matter like the cave
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on the previous page or the shot of Casa Mila in Barcelona, Spain, below, three frames isn’t enough. For these two shots, I used 7 frames. The more contrast in the scene, the greater the number of frames is required. The goal is to show discernible detail and texture in both the highlights and the shadows. In the past I typically used 3 or 5 frames for each HDR sequence I shot, but I’ve switched to 7 frames because it’s like adding insurance to the mix. The most underexposed and overexposed frames can capture detail that might be missed with only 3 or 5 frames. In some scenarios, like the interior of the Cathedral in Siena, Italy, on the next page, I had to use a 9 frame HDR sequence. The stained glass window was exceedingly bright while underneath some of the arches the light level was many stops darker.
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PERUVIAN NATURE TOUR Sept. 24 - Oct 4, 2022
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More and more, I am doing HDR captures while hand-holding the camera. I only do this, however, when using a wide angle lens from 24mm to 14mm. Anything longer than a 24mm lens requires a tripod for HDR. Wide angle lenses show a minimum of movement when holding the camera, and when care is taken in making the shot (for example, holding your breath, squeezing the shutter gently, spreading your legs apart for a rigid stance, and if possible bracing yourself against a railing, a wall, a table, etc.), the results can be pretty amazing. The software assembles the images and aligns them with miraculous accuracy. I’ve examined the details in the ceiling of the Cathedral in Siena (page 13) at 200%, and it’s very sharp even though I hand-held the camera. Once your camera is set up for taking an HDR
sequence, you can adjust the group of exposures using the exposure compensation feature. This may be necessary depending on the scene. If you take 7 frames, one of those frames may be so overexposed with virtually no detail. On the other hand, one of the frames at the opposite end of the grouping may be so dark that even the highlights are grossly underexposed. Those frames would be useless in the final HDR composite. Study the sequence of images on the LCD. You can tweak how the exposures are distributed throughout the 7 frames. The ability to do this can make or break your shots. Every camera has a procedure to set up for HDR. If you don’t know how to do it, you’ll be able to learn the procedure on Youtube. §
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Thinking Outside the Box:
Wide Angle Lenses B
ecause wide angle lenses have such tremendous depth of field, you can use them in circumstances and in unique ways that just wouldn’t be feasible with normal or telephoto lenses. For example, to get the extremely low perspective beneath the tulips, right, I placed the camera mounted with a 14mm wide angle lens at the base of the stems. To compose the picture, I could have laid on the ground and looked through the viewfinder, or I could have used the articulating LCD screen on the back of the camera. However, I did neither. I didn’t want to lay on the ground because I’m not as flexible and agile as I used to be. I tried using the articulating screen, but every time I angled the camera differently I had to reposition myself to get a good view of the shot. This become awkward and uncomfortable. Instead, I didn’t look through the viewfinder at all. I switched the focus on the lens to manual and focused to about 5 inches. The smallest aperture on this Sigma 14mm lens is f/16, and that’s what I chose. I placed the camera essentially on the ground, angled it upward, and took many shots. I angled the camera slightly differently for every picture. The small aperture plus the extensive depth of field provided focus throughout the composition. I knew many of the shots would be
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no good, but a certain percentage would be successful. I frequently checked the LCD screen to make sure I was doing it right. I wanted to include the sun, but it had to be placed well in the frame. Checking the LCD helped me capture the types of compositions I was looking for, and it also allowed me to make sure the exposures were correct given I was shooting directly in the sun.
A similar situation in which I didn’t look through the viewfinder with an extreme wide angle lens occurred in the Falkland Islands when I was photographing rockhopper penguins. You’re not supposed to approach the penguins, even though the birds allow it, to minimize human impact on the colony. But if they approach you, that’s fine. You can stand your ground and let them satisfy their curiosity. So, I lay on the grass about 20 feet from the nearest penguins and extended my arm toward the colony. I held my camera with a 14mm lens in the extended hand, not able to look through the viewfinder. I had manually focused
the lens to about 2 feet (2/3 of a meter) and set the lens aperture to f/13. Within a minute or so, one of the rockhoppers strolled over to me to take a look. It stopped short of my camera by about 2 feet and I triggered the shutter about a dozen times, changing the angle slightly with each shot. Since I couldn’t see what I was shooting, I figured I’d get at least one good composition between the bird, the sky, and the grass. When I photographed St. Mary’s Basilica in Krakow, Poland, below, no tripods were allowed. To allow the use of a low ISO, I placed the camera on the floor, used the selftimer, and kept changing the angle until the orientation of the ceiling was perfect in the frame. Again, I couldn’t look into the viewfinder, but trial and error produced a perfect image with, again, the 14mm wide angle. §
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PANTANAL PHOTO TOUR Wild jaguars Exotic birds in flight Caiman Giant river otters Nov. 8 - 15, 2022
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UPCOMING PHOTO WORKSHOPS Abandoned in Georgia Dilapidated mansions, cars, trains, ghost towns, farmhouses, and more. Looks great in both black and white and color.
June 17 - 22, 2022
Winter Wildlife Workshop Photograph beautiful North American mammals plus a snow leopard in natural environments. Mountain lions, red foxes, arctic foxes, bobcats, lynx, wolves and more are in their full winter coats. This is a very special workshop.
January 17 - 21, 2023
Carnival in Venice workshop Photograph outrageous costumes in a medieval environment! Incredible colors, design, and creativity in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Learn how to use off-camera flash, photograph models in sumptuous interiors, produce great images at night, and all the while enjoying Italian cuisine. This is a workshop not to be missed!
February 12 - 18, 2023
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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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21 191923
South Africa Wildlife Safari October 25 - November 4, 2022
Photograph at water level from blinds day and night plus more
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What’s wrong with this picture?
T
his is the bottom of a remarkable staircase in a small bookstore in Porto, Portugal. It has become quite famous, and hundres of people flock here daily to photograph it and to take selfies in front of it.
I cloned out a few people seen through the railing, but the one problem left is the sheen on the steps. It’s not terrible, but it is distracting. It constantly diverts our attention from the rest of the composition. The image on the next page shows the repair. Note there are still highlights on the steps, albeit a lot more subtle. I wanted to retain the effect of the diffused window light on the steps, but the overexposed highlights had to be toned down to make this perfect.
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The technique I used on the bottom two steps was to set the clone tool to 50% opacity. I then cloned the saturated red color (and texture) over the highlights. This took care of the problem, but there was just a little bit of uneven color. The cloning job looked a bit blotchy. So, I then lowered the opacity further to 30% and smoothed out the color. The lowered opacity allowed the highlights to come through the color, thus the character of the lighting didn’t change. I did the same thing with the front edge of the steps. That thin edge which originally showed as a bright highlight was toned down again with the clone tool at 50% opacity. §
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SHORT AND SWEET 1.
2.
3. When you shoot a pattern, it should be sharp from
4. Popular outdoor destinations like The Bean in Chi-
Virtually without exception, all shots of architecture should show complete depth of field. The images should be sharp from the immediate foreground to the distant background. Either raise the ISO or use a tripod so you can close the lens aperture down to f/22 or f/32, insuring everything is sharp.
edge to edge. Not even a corner should be soft. To help you in this endeavor, make the back of the camera, i.e. the plane of the digital sensor, as parallel as possible with the plane of the pattern. In addition, of course, use a small lens aperture at least f/11.
This lighthouse is on the southern coast of Portugal. I used a telephoto lens, and it was impossible to render the foreground rocks as sharp as the lighthouse. Even a small f/stop wouldn’t be enough. So, I took two shots, one of the lighthouse and the other of the rocks, and then put them together in Phtoshop.
cago always has scores of people there that interfere with good picture taking. The solution is to go there very early in the morning when everyone else is in bed. I took this shot at dawn, and it was about 5:30am. I didn’t have to clone out one person. §
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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 . . . I took this picture in Kenya with the Canon 7D Mark II. It’s been my experience that ISO settings above 1000 are too noisy with this camera. I took this at 2000 ISO because it was after sunset and quite dark. The image is much too noisy for my taste, and I’ve tried Topaz DeNoise as well as Neat Image software, both of which I know you recommend. Neither did a good job. The colors seem to be smeared together instead of being sharpened. What would you suggest? Ernest Goodwin, Catherdral City, California
A: I had the 7D Mark II a few years ago and I sold it for the very reason you’re describing. I realized that
the pictures can be so noisy that the noise actually forms the image, so when the software tries to eliminate that unattractive texture, the detail in the image is virtually lost. With that kind of noise, there’s not much you can do, unfortunately. §
© Ernest Goodwin
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Partial list of Photography Tours 2022 - 2023 ABANDONED in GEORGIA Jun 2022
CHICAGO by NIGHT Jun 2022
INDONESIA Jul 2022
BADLANDS Sep 2022
NORWAY/DENMARK Sep 2022
PERU Sep/Oct 2022
VERMONT AUTUMN Oct 2022
ICELAND in WINTER Dec/Jan 2023
CHINA Jan 2022
CARNIVAL in VENICE Feb 2023
ETHIOPIA PHOTO TOUR March 2023
PATAGONIA PHOTO TOUR April/May 2023
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For a complete list of all the photo tours/workshops Jim conducts, go to his website: www.jimzuckerman.com.
Carnival in Venice February 12 - 18, 2023 j
Stunning costumes in a medieval environment
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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.
Lindley Johnson, Chicago, Illinois Morocco photo tour, Myanmar photo tour, Spain/Portugal photo
tour, Tuscany photo tour, and Balkans photo tour.
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Student Showcase, continued
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Student Showcase, continued
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ICELAND IN WINTER
Ice caves Waterfalls Aurora borealis Ice beach December 27 to January 4, 2022 - 2023
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FROG & REPTILE WORKSHOP Based in Kansas City, Missouri
Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 25 & 26, 2023
This is a macro photography workshop where you will learn: -- How to use a ring flash in a macro environment -- How to focus critically when DOF is extremely shallow -- How to use off-camera flash for macro subjects -- How to replace backgrounds with perfection -- How to obtain perfect exposures with closeup flash 35
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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 Aerial photography Jan. ‘21 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 Auto White Balance Mar’ ‘21 Autumn Foliage Sep. ‘18 Autumn Color Sep. ‘20 Autumn foliage photography Oct. ‘21 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 Blacklight photography Feb. ‘21 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 Blue monochromes Jan. ‘22 Blur, field Nov. ‘18 Blur technique Oct. ‘17 Bokeh Jun. ‘15 Botanical gardens, shooting Apr. ‘22 Butterfly photography Jul. ‘14 Camera buying guidelines Dec. 21 Camera setting priorities Jun. ‘17 Canon R5 Mar. ‘21 Capturing lightning Jun. ‘13 Capturing what you don’t see May ‘21 Catchlights Jul. ‘16 Changing perspective May ‘21 Cheap flash stand Apr. ‘13 Children photography Jun. ‘14 Choosing a telephoto lens Dec. ‘20 Chromatic aberration May ‘13 Chrome Dec. ‘18 Cityscapes Aug. ‘14 Cityscapes May ‘16 Clone tool, fixing an issue Sep. ‘17 Clone tool technique Jul. ‘20
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Composites and Light Compositing images Compositing, 7 steps Composition, different approach Content-aware, New Contrast vs. exposure Converting to black and white Correcting keystoning Creating a star field Creating Art out of Motion Creating a Sketch Creative blurs Dark backgrounds Dawn photography Dawn photography Dead center Dealing with smog Decay photography Define Pattern Depth of field Depth of field confusion Depth of field and distance Depth of field and obliqueness Depth of field, shallow Depth of field vs. sharpness Double takes Drop shadows Dust, Minimizing
Dec. ‘17 Apr. ‘19 Jan. 22 Jan. ‘15 Aug. ‘20 Jul. ‘15 Mar. ‘22 Jun. ‘21 Jan. ‘14 May ‘22 Dec. ‘17 Jan. ‘14
eBook, how to make Eliminating people from photos Embedded in Ice Energy saving bulbs Exposing for the sun Exposure, the sun Exposure technique Exposure, snow Exposure triangle Exposure, to the right Exposure compensation Exposure compensation Extension tubes
Jan. ‘13 Jun. ‘22 Oct. 17 Sep. ‘14 Sep. ‘16 Jul. ‘13 Sep. ‘13 Jan. ‘14 Nov. ‘14 Apr. ‘15 Sep. ‘16 Mar. ‘21 Dec. ‘13
Nov. ‘19 Jan. ‘17 Feb. ‘17 Jan. ‘13 Oct. ‘16 Sep. ‘15 Sep. ‘18 Aug. ‘16 Jan. ‘20 Dec. ‘18 May ‘21 Apr. ‘20 Nov. ‘20 Apr. ‘20 Apr. ‘19 Aug. ‘19
Face sculpting Apr. ‘21 Face sculpting Feb. ‘22 Festival photography Sep. ‘20 Fill flash Sep. ‘13 Filter forge Feb. ‘13 Fireworks Jul. ‘13 Fireworks, Compositing Jun ‘20 Fisheye lenses May ‘13 Fisheye lenses Feb. ‘15 Fisheye fantasies Oct. 21 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 Floral Portraits, Indoors Aug. ‘21 Flowers May ‘15 Flower photography Apr ‘21 Flowers in harsh light Jul. ‘16
Subject index for past Photo Insight issues Focus on the eyes Dec. ‘20 Focus points Mar. ‘15 Focus points Sep. ‘20 Focus stacking Mar. ‘17 Focus stacking Aug. ‘19 Focusing in the dark Oct. ‘16 Foreign Dancers, Photographing Nov’ 17 Foreign models Jun. ‘13 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 Fun With Christmas Lights Jan. ‘21 Fun with Food Graphic Design Garish imagery Getting money for used gear Great subjects Great ceilings & HDR Panos Green screen Grunge technique
Jul. ‘20 Dec. ‘15 Jan. 22 Apr. ‘15 Jul. ‘19 Mar. ‘13 Feb. ‘13
HDR, one photo Apr. ‘13 HDR at twilight May ‘13 HDR, realistic Jun. ‘15 HDR, hand held Dec. ‘16 HDR, hand held Nov ‘17 HDR, hand held Jul. ‘18 HDR panoramas Jun. ‘16 HDR, choosing the number of frames Jun. ‘22 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 iPhone photography, pros and cons Apr. ‘22 Jungle photography
Dec. ‘14
Kaleidoscopic images Kaleidoscopis images Keystoning, correcting
Jan. ‘15 Aug. ‘20 Aug. ‘15
L Bracket Feb. ‘18 L Bracket Feb. ‘21 Landscape photography Dec. ‘12 Landscape photography Apr. ‘14
Landscape photography Nov. ‘16 Layer Masks, The Power of Feb. ‘22 Light fall-off Feb. ‘14 Light painting Dec. ‘21 Lighting a face Oct. ‘13 Lightning photography May ‘20 Liquify Feb. ‘18 Liquify Distortions Sept/Oct. ‘19 Long lens portraits Oct. ‘18 Long Lenses for Flowers Jul. ‘20 Low light photography May ‘15 Luminar 4 Jan. ‘20 Macro flash Nov. ‘12 Macro flash Sep. ‘14 Macro flash Aug. ‘15 Macro photography and DOF Feb. ‘22 Macro trick May ‘19 Managing soft focus Jul. ‘21 Mannequin heads Apr. ‘16 Metering modes Nov. ‘16 Meters, How They Work Jul. ‘18 Meters, when they fail Dec. ‘16 Metering situations, Impossible Jul. ‘19 Middle gray Nov. ‘15 Minimizing dust on the sensor Nov. ‘21 Mirrors Jan. ‘19 Model shoot Jan. ‘17 Moon glow Oct. ‘16 Mosaics Jun. ‘17 Mundane to Ideal Nov. ‘19 Museum photography Mar. ‘13 Natural Light Portraits Negative space Neon edges on black Neutral Density filters Neutral Density filters and water Night photography Night Safaris Night to Twilight Noise reduction
Aug. ‘21 Jan. ‘16 Aug. ‘14 Jun. ‘18 Mar. ‘22 Feb. ‘14 Jun. ‘18 Dec. ‘17 Feb. ‘17
Oil and water Optical infinity Organization of photos Out of focus foregrounds
May ‘20 Jun. ‘16 Mar. ‘18 Jan. ‘20
Paint abstracts May ‘13 Paint abstracts Aug. ‘21 Painting with light Sep. ‘15 Panning motion Dec. ‘16 Pano-Mirrors with a twist Jan. ‘18 Parades Sep. ‘13 Parallelism Nov. ‘19 Parallelism and DOF Feb. ‘21 Perspective, Super Exaggeration of Dec. 21 Photography to Art Dec. ‘17 Photography solutions Jan. ‘18 Photoshop, content Aware Nov. ‘12 Photoshop, sketch technique Apr. ‘13
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Subject index for past Photo Insight issues 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 Portraits, Lens choice Sept/Oct. ‘19 Portraits, side lighting Sep. ‘17 Portraits, window light Mar. ‘15 Portraits, outdoors May ‘17 Post-processing checklist Dec. ‘13 Post-processing: Contrast Aug. ’17 Predictive Focus Sep. ‘18 Problem/solution Apr. ‘17 Problem Solving in Photoshop May ‘22 Problem with cruises Jan. ‘18 Protecting highlights Dec. ‘12 Puppies Jan. ‘15 Puppy photography Feb. ’18 Reflections Feb. ‘13 Restoring old photos Jun ‘20 Ring flash, advantages Jul. ‘21 Ring flash versatility Oct. ‘21 Rule of Odds May ‘22
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Safari May ‘13 Safari strategies Jul. ‘15 Seeing as the lens does Nov. ‘14 Seeking Cool Snow Photos Jan. ‘21 Selective filtering Mar. ‘18 Selective focus Jun. ‘15 Self-critiques Jul. ‘13 Self-critiques Oct. ‘13 Self-critiques Nov. ‘20 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, How to make Apr. ‘22 Silhouettes, Exposing for Sept/Oct. ‘19 Silvered landscapes Mar. ‘20 Sketch, How to Make Jun ‘19 Skies make or break a picture Aug. ‘21 Sky replacement Nov. ‘20 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 Apr. ‘14 Ten reasons photos are not sharp Jan. ‘19 Texture, Adding Mar ‘19 Texture Mapping in 3D Jul. ‘21 Topaz AI Gigapixel Mar ‘19 Topaz glow Jan. ‘15 Topaz glow Sep. ‘17 Topaz Impression Sep. ‘15 Topaz Remask 5 Oct. ‘17 Topaz Simplify 4 Dec. ‘12 Topaz simplify 4 Jun. ‘14 Topaz Studio Apr. ‘18 Translucency & backlighting Nov. ‘18 Travel photography Feb. ‘13 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 Two subject focus rule Jun. ‘21 Urban heights Ultra distortion Upside Down Reflections
Jun. ‘21 May ‘18 Aug. ‘21
Subject index for past Photo Insight issues Warm fingers in winter Nov. ‘15 Water drop collisions May ‘18 What NOT to do in photography Apr. ‘18 When You Needed a Zoom Aug. ‘21 White on White Dec. ‘20 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 lenses: Outside the Box Jun. ‘22w 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
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PHOTO INSIGHTS® published by Jim Zuckerman All rights reserved © Jim Zuckerman 2022 email: photos@jimzuckerman.com Edited by: Donald Moore
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