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Two days of photographing wildflowers, waterfalls, and lakescapes followed by one very informative day on post-processing Raw format images, Photoshop tips and much more.
$395.00
Maximum of 10 Participants
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More Links
There are still openings in these up-coming workshops.
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These workshops are perfect for the beginner to intermediate photographer. They are low cost ($349), 2 day weekend workshops and limited to 8 participants. For more information or to register click on the links above or call us at (218) 834-0756.
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Waterfront Gallery announces the Bluefin Bay Resort Photo-Calendar Exhibit!
Bluefin Bay Resort Calendar Winners are on exhibit through February 14.
Come check out our great selection of books, artwork, jewelry, ceramics, and more!
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Featured ColdSnap Photography Workshop Links:
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Both The Art Of Seeing and Newfoundland workshops are half full!
Complete Schedule can be found here:
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Dear Randy,
We are in the midst of a good old fashioned Minnesota winter; so far we have had about 3 1/2 to 4 feet of snow and the mercury has been below zero most mornings. Lake Superior continues the slow process of freezing over. This winter  we may experience the unusual event of a completely frozen lake. The ice offers great photographic opportunity, in fact there are several spots along the shore where the stack ice has begun to form already.
Our gallery opening for the Bluefin Bay Calendar Contest Winners/Kathy Wurzer book signing was a great success. The gallery was busy all evening and the wine and cider was flowing. We have a few copies of Wurzer's book "Tales of the Road" available for sale--it is getting hard to find. I have yet to have a chance to crack open mine, but I am looking forward the read.
This newsletter includes a tutorial on "Image Sharpening Using Photoshop Camera Raw" a much misunderstood, yet critically important aspect of fine art image creation.
In addition with this newsletter I am announcing a new streamlined 3 day workshop; Wildflowers, Waterfalls and Lakescapes, June 19-21. This workshop is designed to maximize your field experience yet allow for a very informative day of Photoshop tutorial.
As always I appreciate your comments, and suggestions. If you come up north the teapot in the gallery is always on.
Sincerely,
John Gregor
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Sharpen Your Vision
The world is a curious place; Physicists who study the subatomic world know just how curious it can be. The atom is comprised of three basic sub-atomic particles; Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons. Protons and Neutrons are large stationary particles that comprise the nucleus or center of an atom, orbiting at considerable distance from the nucleus is a cloud of tiny particles called Electrons. Most of the space occupied by an atom is empty, yet in the macro world objects comprised of atoms, as we know, are 'solid as a rock.'
Electrons are very strange little entities; when observed they sometimes behave like particles sometimes like waves, they have even been observed to disappear and spontaneously reappear in an entirely different orbit. In 1997 some physicists at the University of Geneva took a pair of Protons and sent them in opposite directions, when they were 7 miles apart they started to mess with the path of one of the Protons, at precisely the same instant the opposing particle reacted in the opposite manner.* It seems that the closer humans observe the world the stranger the world becomes. I would not want to live in the sub-atomic world. I have spent over 50 years struggling to understand the rules of the larger world I don't want to have relearn everything now.
Studying photography is similar to studying the sub-atomic world. What works at a minute level of pixels, airy discs, and lines of resolution, sometimes has nothing to do with what we perceive when we look at the photographic image as a whole. I have seen photographic images created with 4 or 5 megapixel point and shoot cameras, cropped and enlarged to 12x18 prints, that are more compelling apparently sharper than 8x10's created from 21 megapixel state-of-the-art DSLRs. While I don't mean to imply that the above referenced images were shot at the same settings simultaneously, I do mean to imply that many times the quality of the mechanism used to capture the photographic instant is superfluous when measured against the content of the image. There are times when photographers get hung-up on the minutia, when they should be looking at the whole image and asking themselves if they have created something that matters a hoot to anyone else.
Photography at its core is communication, communication of an idea, thought, or feeling that originated in the photographers mind or heart and is translated through the medium of photography to a viewer. Therefore the end result is only as refined as the original thought or feeling. Like most disciplines definition of a message comes with practice. Sitting around thinking about how you would like to make images that are clear and to the point does you little good unless you act on those thoughts.
It is a working process that requires both reflection and action. It is this combination that I love. The reflective nature of printmaking allows me to consider carefully the images I create. Which images are successful? Why does this image hold my attention while others don't? What could I have done to make the image better? If I spend too much time reflecting on my images I can lose a connection with what I am trying to communicate in the first place. I also need to be in the field regularly to reinvigorate my vision.
(*--Source: "A Short History Of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson.)
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Using The "Detail" Module In Adobe Camera Raw
While these instructions are for use with Photoshop CS3 or CS4, they may also be applied to Lightroom 1.4 or 2.0.
The Detail Module controls one of the most important post-processing features available to the digital photographer.
Sharpening:
The first adjustment is to set the "Radius" to .9. This will apply the sharpen filters to only one pixel at a time. If this is set to something greater than 1 the sharpen filters will sharpen and re-sharpen the same pixel resulting in sub-standard results. Next enlarge the preview to 100%(lower left corner of the preview) to view the effects of the sharpen filters on the individual pixels. Select an area of the image that has critical information, like tree branches against the sky or a subjects face.
Hold the Alt key (or Option key) down and move the "Amount" slider. The preview will convert to a B&W image. This is to help delineate how much sharpen is being applied. My partner , Val, doesn't like the B&W conversion so she simply adjusts the slider to her likely while viewing color preview.
The next slider is the "Detail" control. This determines how the edges within the image are sharpened. If you hold the Alt key (or Option key) down while activating this slider you will see an embossed preview showing how much of the edges are being affected. Experimentation and personal preference will determine how you need to adjust your images. Typically I find that setting is correct if I adjust the detail slider to the point where I can just begin to see a white subject outline on the embossed preview. Too much detail can result in hard edges that look digital and fake, it is most noticeable in landscape images with trees against a sky.
The next slider is the "Masking" control. This determines how much sharpening is applied to the middle-tones of the image. Holding the Alt key (or Option key) will show a bunch of squiggles on the preview. The squiggles should just begin to form in the mid-tones of the image. This can be tricky as the mid-tones in one area of the image begin to form before the mid-tones of another area. Compromise and practice are the keys here.
Images sharpened for print by ink jet printers should be sharpened to a slightly greater degree than images for projection or web use. Ink jet printers spray ink, hence the ink will soften slightly when it hits the paper.
Noise Reduction:
There are two sliders in the Noise Reduction area; Luminance and Color.
The Luminance slider controls grayscale noise, which can make an image appear grainy. The Color slider controls chroma noise which is seen as speckles of color contamination.
Noise is a function one or more of the following:
Improper exposure
High ISO settings
Poor quality optics
Poor quality image sensor
The higher you set the noise reduction settings the softer the image becomes. Therefore I do not adjust the noise reduction settings. The defaults settings are: Luminance at zero, and Color at 25. You should properly adjust the image sharpness as noted above, if noise is an issue consider setting your ISO at a lower setting, getting a new lens or camera, or avoid under or over exposure.
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About Us
ColdSnap Photography offers premier photographic workshops in Minnesota and locations through-out the world. For more information feel free to contact us via email at john@coldsnap.com, or call (218) 834-0756.
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John Gregor
ColdSnap Photography
632 First Ave
Two Harbors, MN 55616
Phone (218) 834-0756
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