Limited to Nine Students
With 3 Instructors
Fee: $995 includes
Lab fees and supplies,
Food, and Lodging
Do you have a basic working knowledge of Photoshop but sometimes just can't quite make some of your images look exactly the way you hoped? Do you know what results you'd like to achieve but can't quite figure out how to make them happen? Would you like to be able to add that little something extra to make your pictures really stand out and create impact? If so, this course is for you!
This course is designed for those who already have a working knowledge of the basics in Photoshop, but have encountered situations where they can't quite get the results they hope for with some of their images. If you want to learn some of the tricks of the trade to fix those problem images, this course is for you. We will be teaching you ways to cope with difficult situations people frequently encounter as well as addressing specific situations the participants' request. We will be providing examples of images that could be problematic as well as using the participant's own pictures.
The Fix-It/Perfect-It Course will cover a variety of topics such as using the new Shadow/highlight adjustment feature, adding fill flash in Photoshop, using Photoshop to simulate the effects of a situation-specific-custom-made split neutral density filter, depth of field corrections such as softening and darkening the background when it is competing with your main subject, using contrast masks and gradient masks, correcting or adding color casts to your images, correcting for color matching in panoramas, ways of coping with excessive noise in an image and the best ways to sharpen images. We will also spend time demonstrating some creative techniques that can add some pizzazz to your pictures. In addition to the above topics, we invite and encourage participants to submit their own problematic situations to us at least a week before the course begins, and we will include those issues in the curriculum.
Participants should have an interest in furthering their knowledge and understanding of image and color enhancement via some of the controls found in the Adjustment Menu (Curves, Color Balance, etc.) as well as learning more about the power of Levels, Channels, Masks, and Layers. We will not only be demonstrating a single way to fix a problem, we will also discuss why one method might be preferred over another in a particular situation.
If you have a basic understanding of Photoshop and feel that you know your way around the program well enough to do some image adjustments -- color corrections, sharpening, sizing, etc., and you're ready to increase your personal data base on Photoshop's more sophisticated imagery controls you're ready for this course. If you want to deal with those problematic images and make them into what you envision, this course is for you.
The Problem Solving Course is designed for those with at least a basic familiarity with Photoshop who want to focus on a problem solving approach to images. We will present multiple examples of headache images and we also expect you to bring some of your own problematic images along. As a group we will focus on various ways of using the tools in Photoshop CS to make the desired changes as easily and effectively as possible. Sometimes you will be exposed to more than one solution for the problem so that you can choose for yourself which approach feels most natural, logical, and comfortable. Maybe you are already able to get the result you want, but find the process cumbersome - perhaps we can show you a faster, more efficient way of using Photoshop. We will be handling all types of problems, from color adjustments to exposure problems to images that are tricky to sharpen to … you name it! Our approach will be: here is the problem … and here are solutions generated by the instructors as well as the students. This course should be a lot of fun and is expected to be very interactive as well as educational.
Since this course is shorter than the others we offer, we will have to assume that participants are already familiar with setting up the basic preferences within Photoshop, as well as having some familiarity with using levels, selection tools, and layers.
Students will be asked to submit several images digitally, at least a week prior to the course, that they would like help with. In addition they will be asked to bring those images along on a CD to the course, as well as any others that we might work on if there is time.
Time Frame:
Our formal classroom instruction will begin at 9AM
and continue until noon, where we'll break for lunch (served at
Hoot Hollow), and followed by an afternoon session that will continue
to 5PM.
There will be a break for dinner (served, along with breakfast,
at your farm bed-and-breakfast, the Mountain Dale Farm), followed
by 'open computer lab time' Friday and Saturday nights back at
Hoot Hollow.
Our Format: The Problem Solving Course is divided into several segments that will make learning fun and palatable and extremely productive. We try to accommodate people's varied learning styles so that everyone is able to learn in their own way. Our sessions will be devoted to presenting the problematic images followed by demonstration and discussion of one or more solutions, followed by opportunities for you to have hands-on practice with the techniques. Our exact schedule will be flexible to accommodate the needs of our students. If more time is needed to demonstrate a particular topic or to make that concept perfectly clear for the students, or whatever, we'll take the required time and not be held to a strict timetable.
Some topics are simple to cover and to demonstrate, and for
students to practice. Others, we realize, are more complex and
may require several small doses before the concept is fully realized.
Repetition and practice are the keys to fully understanding a
complex topic and we'll be giving you plenty of both. Some of
the practice will initially be on examples we provide, but you
will have plenty of opportunities to practice on your own images
as well.
If you are familiar with how we run our Complete Nature Photo
Course you know our dedication and commitment to your understanding
of our subjects, and we'll be following the same philosophy and
teaching methods of the CNPC in all of our courses on Photoshop.
Breakfast is served at 8AM at the farm, which will give participants
time in the morning to photograph, if they wish, or to review
handouts and reading material before class.
Evenings, most days, will be 'free' in the sense that students
can come and go, to work in the computer lab (which is likely)
or to simply crash (which is possible) on any given day.
In short, you will have a busy 2 1/2 days with us. One very real advantage our Photoshop Courses and CNPC and ANPC students have always enjoyed and commented upon is the unity of our groups, since all meals are shared either at the Mountain Dale Farm or at Hoot Hollow. These informal group times provide the opportunity for a tremendous amount of information sharing - on other workshops, on techniques and equipment, on places to photograph, and other diverse topics.
Through demonstrations, practice and discussion in an interactive environment, we will be covering some tricks for more effective sharpening, color correction, exposure adjustment, image compositing, and more, while the exact topics will be determined by the needs of the students. As mentioned earlier we will be covering a variety of topics such as using the new Shadow/highlight adjustment feature, adding fill flash in Photoshop, using Photoshop to simulate the effects of a situation-specific-custom-made split neutral density filter, depth of field corrections such as softening and darkening the background when it is competing with your main subject, using contrast masks and gradient masks, correcting or adding color casts to your images, correcting for color matching in panoramas, ways of coping with excessive noise in an image and the best ways to sharpen images. We will be demonstrating the techniques we use to make the most effective and efficient adjustments possible. At times we will offer you some choices of approaches and discuss why one might be preferable to another in particular circumstances. We'll even offer suggestions for creative additions that you may not have considered. We will draw from all the various components of Photoshop to offer you the best approaches for the specific problem, whether it be from the basic tools or advanced blending modes or anything in-between.
Thursday: we will begin in the evening with an introduction to Hoot Hollow and a presentation of the objectives for the course.
Friday and Saturday:
We will tackle problem images, one at a time generating a variety of solutions. Each participant will be encouraged to not only try the methods presented by the instructors, but also to generate ideas of other possible techniques. Saturday afternoon there will be time for each participant to focus on a couple of their own headache images and turn them into prized images. By the time the two days are over, each participant should have some new tricks to take home to help make their images appear as they hoped.
Sunday: We will have a show of your finished images that you made on Saturday. Graduation follows! Conclude by 11AM.
Please note - the exact, daily itinerary is subject to some change and modification based upon the group's progress. We will strive to cover all of the above topics, but we do not want to be held to a fixed timetable - your comprehension and understanding is more important to us than a set schedule. If some topics require our reviewing more during the evening, we'll do so.
Our Participants: This course is designed for photographers who are interested in furthering their knowledge of Adobe Photoshop to make their images look the way they envision. Photographers who use Photoshop Elements or an earlier version of Photoshop will benefit, of course, but we'll be teaching the latest, state-of-the-art developments, which we suspect all digital-oriented photographers will eventually incorporate. For that reason, our teaching will be centered around Photoshop CS.
This is a course for those with some experience and a basic understanding of Photoshop and who are now ready to further their skills to produce better images. Photoshop is an extremely powerful program. Users often feel as if they've mastered the program when they have learned the basics, sometimes feeling that the rest of Photoshop is unnecessary or too complicated to be worth knowing. While there is much in Photoshop that is devoted to the graphic artist, there are a huge number of tricks and secrets that the photographer can apply. This course will focus on revealing some of those tricks of the trade to make it easier to get the desired results.
Preparation Beforehand: Participants will be asked to submit several images a week or more before the course, as well bring those images (and more, we suggest 10 - 15) with them to the course on a CD. Most CDs, if written in one session in ISO 9660 format, should have no problem being opened on a PC even if written on a MAC, or vise-versa should you write a CD at Hoot Hollow and take the CD home with you. Images should be saved as TIFF, PSD, or JPEG, but not STN format.
Location: All of our courses are taught on the grounds of the Hoot Hollow Institute of Nature Photography, in either our studio or in our computer lab. Hoot Hollow is located in central Pennsylvania, northwest of Harrisburg, east-southeast of State College, and near RT 522 between Lewistown and Selinsgrove, Pa. The nearest full-service airport and car rental is in Harrisburg.
Lodging is at a farm vacation bed-and-breakfast located about six miles from Hoot Hollow. It is a 'target-rich' shooting environment in a rural area rich with landscapes, farm scenes, farm animals, and nature subjects. Breakfasts and diners are served at the farm.
Price: The tuition for the Problem Solving Course is
$995 and includes all instruction, lab fees and supplies, meals
(you will not go hungry!), and lodging based upon double occupancy
from Thursday through Saturday nights. The fee does not include
transportation to, during, or from the course.
Digital photography in all its forms, from image-capture to
eventual output, whether that is for the internet, for editorial
use, or for personal enjoyment by viewing prints, has truly captured
the photography world by storm. One of the most exciting, but
potentially most frustrating aspects of this is producing great
prints, prints that reflect exactly what you saw and photographed
or that represent exactly what you wish to convey. This course,
like all of our courses, is designed with that goal in mind.
Photoshop is not just image manipulation. It is a tool that will
broaden our vision as photographers and one that all of us should
learn to incorporate into our future work. We're excited about
this tool!
Ellen Anon is the primary instructor for the problem
solving course. Ellen is a freelance photographer who specializes
in all types of outdoor photography. Her images are poetic statements,
and are included in collections in several countries. Ellen earned
a Ph.D. in psychology and is a clinical psychologist who evolved
into a professional photographer in the mid 1990's. She is represented
by a stock agency in Japan and her photos have been used in numerous
books (including Sierra Club's "Mother Earth"), articles,
calendars, posters, promotional items and billboards. In addition
she has been Art Morris's teaching assistant for several years
on his larger bird photography workshops.
In recent years she has become increasingly involved with the
various aspects of digital photography from scanning film images
to using digital SLR cameras to using Photoshop to enable her
to make her gallery prints at home. She has attended courses at
the Lepp Institute of Digital Imaging. She has begun sharing the
knowledge she has acquired via individualized instruction and
now these workshops, so that other photographers can make the
transition into the digital world with ease and fun. Ellen is
a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals.
Joe McDonald has been a full-time professional wildlife
and nature photographer since 1983. He is the author of six books
on wildlife photography and another on African Wildlife, as well
as a how-to video produced with his wife, Mary Ann, on Photographing
on Safari. His work has appeared in every major nature and wildlife
publication published in North America. Along with operating their
own stock photography business, Joe is represented by over a dozen
stock photo agencies worldwide.
In addition to maintaining an active, informative website, www.hoothollow.com,
Joe is columnist for OUTDOOR PHOTOGRAPHER, writing the 'Big Game'
column, and Joe and his wife Mary Ann are Field Correspondents
for NATURE'S BEST Magazine, and write a photography column for
Joe Van Os's web magazine, www.photosafaris.com. For over fifteen
years Joe and Mary Ann have been teaching photography courses
and leading photography tours and workshops. Their very popular
photo tours and safaris have them afield for over twenty-five
weeks each year.
Joe has worked with Photoshop for several years, mainly for creating
sales promotional material and for web site use. Now, with the
advent of digital cameras, he is using Photoshop nearly daily.
He is a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals.
Rick Holt has been involved with photography for over twenty
years. Rick is an Adobe Photoshop Certified Expert, one of the
highest levels of skill a Photoshop user can attain. After taking
courses at the local art schools and colleges he found that many
Photoshop courses were too oriented towards graphic artists as
opposed to the photographer. Rick now teaches "Photoshop
for Photographers" classes at local colleges in the Lehigh
Valley. He continues to attend workshops throughout the country
to "keep up." In the last year he has attended workshops
with industry leaders like Tim Grey, Sean Duggen, and Dave Cross.
Rick believes that the digital darkroom has brought the creativity
and control, once recognized by black and white photographers,
to any photographer with a computer. You can go beyond the limits
of film and recreate what you saw and felt when you recorded the
image. In Rick's past life he was co-founder and CEO of Fiberoptic
Medical Products. Rick is a member of the National Association
of Photoshop Professionals.
If you've read the above biographies, you'll see that all of
us are dedicated photographers that are interested in sharing
our knowledge and helping people. I've been involved in teaching
my entire adult life, from teaching assistantships in graduate
school to a six-year stint as a high school biology teacher before
starting my career as a wildlife photographer and photo workshop
instructor. Ellen has taught college level courses as well as
individual instruction, and has been assisting Art Morris with
his birding workshops for years. Rick is actively teaching Photoshop
right now, and feels, as both Ellen and I do, that knowing Photoshop
will take you (quoting from Rick's bio) "beyond the limits
of film and recreate what you saw and felt when you recorded the
image."
I intend to make our Digital Courses every bit as successful,
in terms of the knowledge conveyed, the quality of the experience,
the intensity, and, just as importantly, the amiability and fun
that we've done with our CNPC and ANPC courses here at Hoot Hollow.
been a full-time professional wildlife and nature photographer
since 1983. He is the author of six books on wildlife photography
and another on African Wildlife, as well as a how-to video produced
with his wife, Mary Ann, on Photographing on Safari. His work
has appeared in every major nature and wildlife publication published
in North America. Along with operating their own stock photography
business, Joe is represented by over a dozen stock photo agencies
worldwide, including Corbis, Animals Animals, Auscape, Okapia,
and others.
In addition to maintaining an active and informative website,
www.hoothollow.com, Joe is columnist for OUTDOOR PHOTOGRAPHER,
writing the 'Big Game' column, and Joe and his wife Mary Ann are
Field Correspondents for NATURE'S BEST Magazine, and KEYSTONE
OUTDOORS, writing a photography column, and Joe Van Os's web magazine,
www.photosafaris.com where they write a regular column on wildlife
and nature photography.
For over fifteen years Joe and Mary Ann have been teaching photography
courses and leading photography tours and workshops. Their very
popular photo tours and safaris have them afield for over twenty-five
weeks each year.
Joe has worked with Photoshop for several years, mainly for creating
sales promotional material and for web site use. Now, with the
advent of digital cameras, he is using Photoshop nearly daily.
He is a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals.