Jim Zuckerman’s
PHOTO INSIGHTS
December 2023
When You Really Needed a Zoom Photographing Christmas Getting theof blues out Light Portraits Anatomy Natural Shadows define the shot Upside Down Reflections Photography quiz Photo toursVStudent showcase Photo tours Ask Jim Ask Jim Student SubjectShowcase index Back issues
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Table of Contents 4. Photographing Christmas 9. Getting the blues out 13. Shadows define the shot 18. Photography quiz 20. Jim’s eBooks 23. What’s wrong with this picture? 25. Short and sweet 27. Ask Jim 28. Photography tours 30. Student Showcase 36. Past issues 43. Subject index
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On the cover: Jim’s four pets celebrating Christmas, from left to right: Ming, Nopi, Teddy, and Princey. This page: An arctic fox on the shore of Hudson Bay, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.
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have been pondering in the last couple of years what to do with my photographic collection when I leave this world. No one in my family is involved in the visual arts, so even if they kept, let’s say, a hard drive with all the images on it, they’d have no idea what to do with them. I wonder if anyone would want them? A museum? A public library? A school? Probably not. With the digital revolution, the world has been inundated with trillions of photographic images, and I’m sure billions more are taken on a daily basis. Mine, no matter how good they might be, are simply lost in the crowd. The conclusion I’ve come to is my photo library has no value or significance to anyone besides myself, that the experience of capturing so many amazing things I’ve seen has made my life infinitely richer than it would have been otherwise, but that’s the end of it. In addition, I don’t know if data on digital hard drives will last. Hard drives fail, new operating systems are developed in which older technology won’t work on them any more, so even if today’s photographs were valued, over time they may simply . . . be forgotten or disintegrate. The excitement of the creative process is what drives us to take pictures. It’s very nice if other people enjoy our photography, but that’s not why we shoot. We do so because we enjoy the process and the beautiful images we take. That has to be enough. Jim Zuckerman photos@jimzuckerman.com www.jimzuckerman.com
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Photographing
CHRISTMAS
ven non-photographers are compelled to take pictures of the beautiful Christmas light displays each year and, for those of us who love photography, it’s especially fun to capture the spirit of the festivities. And nothing does that better than excellent pictures of colorful lights against a dark sky background. Night photography Photographing Christmas lights is always done at twilight or night simply because that’s
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when the lights are turned on, and that’s when the photography is the most dramatic. So, although this article is focused on Christmas, the same principles apply to all types of night photography. White balance For all of my outdoor picture taking, almost without exception, I use daylight white balance. However, if you use this setting for shooting Christmas lights, the color of the resulting im-
ages will be primarily yellow/red as in the image of a decorated home on the previous page. Traditional lights were typically tungsten, but now there are so many types of light bulbs that it’s hard to know what a particular display is using and which white balance setting will produce accurate colors. For example, you may think setting the camera on tungsten white balance (i.e. incandescent or indoor) will mitigate the overly saturated yellow/red color scheme but, in fact, the bulbs may have so much red in them that a custom Kelvin temperature setting -- such as 2500 K -- is required to bring the colors back to what we see. Since it’s impossible really to know for sure, when photographing Christmas lights I use tungsten white balance. If the colors need to be tweaked, I do that in post-processing using the color temperature slider in Adobe
Camera RAW or Lightroom. The goal should be to bring the colors in the photograph back to what you saw with your eyes. The photo at the top of the next page was originally monochromatically yellow/red because, as I mentioned, I often use daylight white balance. In ACR, I moved the temperature slider to the left, toward the blue end of the spectrum, to bring back the correct colors. Tripod I have been using a tripod less and less as the ability to use a higher ISO has allwed me to hand hold the camera when shooting in dimly lit environments and still get sharp pictures. However, for night photography, I strongly recommend using a tripod. The stability will allow you to disregard the speed of 5
the shutter (unless there is a lot of wind) because you can use low ISO settings for maximum quality and minimum noise. The last thing you want is to use a high ISO setting at night because noise shows up most prominently in shadows and black backgrounds. A tripod also enables you to use a small lens aperture for complete depth of field, should you need it, without having to compromise between a fast enough shutter or sufficient depth of field. Notice in the picture on the previous page that both the decorated tree and the plane of the architecture are sharp as they should be. Had I been handholding the camera, I would have been forced to use an aperture in the f/2.8 or f/4 range to keep the speed of the shutter high. At the same time, the ISO would have been too high which would have degraded the image quality.
Look for the unusual For many parts of the temperate world, such as
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The Birds of Costa Rica May 13 - 23, 2024
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quite limited. The incredible thing about most drones is their remarkable stability. This means even in extremely low light, you can get sharp pictures while the drone is hovering above the subject. I’ve taken a one full second exposure and gotten sharp results. It’s truly amazing. For the picture on page 6, my settings in the drone were 1/6th of a second, f/2.8, and 840 ISO. The drone can actually take sharper pictures while hovering than I can take while securely handholding the camera on the ground! HDR
North America and Europe, Christmas is associated with cold temperatures along with snow and ice. This affords additional opportunities for the photographer who pays attention to detail. For example, multicolors seen mirrored in snow, backlit icicles and reflections on frozen ponds can be quite beautiful. The icicles, above, were backlit by various colors of Christmas lights affixed to the gutter on a home. I worked with the temperature slider in ACR to make the colors correct. Drone photography If you have a drone, shooting homes and city streets from an elevated perspective is quite compelling during Christmas. Photographers have never had this capability before, except for shooting out of multistory buildings, but then your point of view is 8
More and more, I’m taking night and twilight shots with a 5-frame HDR sequence. This expands the dynamic range and shows detail like never before. It takes more time in setting up the camera and in post-processing, but the final results are worth it. I recommend assigning one of your custom functions (C1, C2, or C3) to HDR so you don’t have to re-remember how to do it on the camera. This really simplifies things and saves time for you. §
When we shoot outdoors in overcast conditions or deep shade, our pictures often turn out with a bluish cast. Sometimes this looks good, but most of the time photographers want to get rid of the blue bias. One solution is to adjust the white balance in the camera at the time of shooting, but using ‘cloudy’ may not be enough to eliminate the blue, especially in deep shade. You can experiment with various Kelvin temperature settings, but this takes time. In fast changing situations like polar bears walking along a frozen shore in Canada, you just don’t have the luxury of time to figure out the best white balance. Therefore, eliminating the cold tones from pic-
BLUES
tures has to be done in post-processing. There are three ways to do this: 1. In Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw, choose Color Mixer. This is one of several control panels that run down the side of the Adobe Camera Raw dialog box, shown at the top of the next page. If your image is already opened in Photoshop, you can return to ACR with this pulldown menu command: Filter > camera RAW filter. Make sure the tiny chevron-shaped arrow just to the left of the words ‘color mixer’ is pointing downward. That will reveal all the color sliders. Just above the colored sliders, there are three
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tabs labeled hue, saturation, and luminance. Choose the Saturation tab, and then move the blue slider below that to the left. This desaturates just the Blues slider color in the image, essentially making that color disappear. 2. Just above the color mixer panel is the ‘Color’ panel shown at the top of the next page. Again, you have to click the down arrow to reveal the sliders. The ‘Temperature’ slider corresponds to the white balance feature in our digital cameras. To remove an unwanted bluish color cast, simply move the slider to the right toward the yellow end of the spectrum. A slight movement is all that’s needed to bring the image back to perfect color. 3. Once you are in Photoshop with an opened photo, choose the pulldown menu command, Image > adjustments > hue/saturation. The dialog box that opens is shown at the bottom right on the next page.
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In the upper left corner of the dialog box there is a submenu headed by the word ‘Master’ (red arrow). If you click on this, the drop down list of colors (red, yellow, green, cyan, blue and magenta) allows you to choose what you want, and then the sliders consisting of Hue, Saturation and Lightness affect only the color you’ve selected. For example, to eliminate the blue cast from a photo, choose blue in the submenu pulldown and then move the saturation sider all the way to the left. This action desaturates just the blue color, and it essentially disappears.
so using the ‘Master’ submenu choices, first I selected red and then moved the saturation slider to the right, thus increasing saturation, and then I repeated the process after selecting yellow in the pulldown menu. In this way, I affected only the warm toned elements in the picture which included the fox and the various plants in the foreground and background. When you are removing a blue cast from a photo, in addition to desaturating blue, similar to the example of the fox, you might also have to desaturate the color cyan. §
You can similarly increase the saturation of a particular color. In the picture of the hunting fox, above right, the orange color in the fox seemed dull and without visual impact after I removed the bluish color bias. Orange is comprised of red and yellow, 11
Ethiopia Photo Tour Jan, 21 - Feb. 3, 2025
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define the shot
ears ago photography taught me to really see. I started noticing things like design, combinations of color, contrast, visually compelling subjects, texture,and other elements that I’d never noticed but were, literally, right in front of my nose. One of the most significant details of a subject or scene I started paying attention to was light and shadow. What initially intrigued me was how a simple shadow can dramatically impact a composition and, similarly, how a shadow can be the
whole point of taking the picture in the first place. The simple image of a chair I saw at the entry of a restaurant in Nepal, below, is a good example. My photo tour group was entering the restaurant for dinner, and there was a spotlight illuminating the area. This point source of light created bold and sharply defined shadows on the hexagonal tiles, so I moved one of the chairs away from a table so I could isolate both the chair and its shadow to create an im-
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age of simplicity and attractive graphic design.
how the shadow shows perfectly the profile of the mask and the collar. I had asked the model Focusing attention on the direction of light to turn her head until I captured exactly what and the resulting shadows and how the graphic I wanted. It’s the shadow of the nose and lips shapes of the shadows add to the artistry of your that defines the face of the mask. photographs can change the way you shoot. Most of the time shadows are ‘found’ -- in other Low angled sunlight words, they are simply right there in front of you waiting to be photographed. The dendritic One of the main reasons why photographers shadow of the ancient tree in Deadvlei in the like to shoot when the sun is low to the hoNamib Desert of Namibia, below, is an example. rizon -- i.e. sunrise and sunset -- is because the shadows become well defined, long, and In other instances you can actually create shad- graphically interesting. In addition, this kind ows as I did with the costumed model (next of lighting makes the texture of elements in a page) in Venice, Italy, during carnival. I held scene stand out. The sand ripples in the desert my portable flash off-camera to the left so the shot on page 16 are boldly defined solely due shadow fell on a column to the right. Note how to the shadows which contrasted beautifully sharply defined the shadow is. This happened with the highlighted crest of each ripple. The because the model was positioned so close to the shadows, in turn, were created by the fact that surface of the column that the close proximity the sun was very close to the western horizon. created a shadow with sharp edges. Also notice Thus, the light was skimming the surface of the
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desert floor. Everything casts a shadow. When shooting just after sunrise and shortly before sunset look for pronounced shadows that add artistry to the scene. Night shadows You can always count on urban scenes to be punctuated by point sources of light and, by definition, they cast shadows. Full moons also cast defined shadows, although these have to be seen away from the bright lights of cities. During my Abandoned in Georgia photo tour, I took the shot at left of my group casting shadows as they photographed an abandoned mental hospital. A security spot light provided the illumination that defined the shadows. Whenever you see a singular bright light, look for shadows. § 16
PATAGONIA PHOTO TOUR October 15 - 26, 2024
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Photography Quiz 1. The infinity mark on lenses is always accurate in indicating infinity focus. a. True b. False 2. Hand held light meters, when used on incident mode, read the light: a. Reflected from the scene b. Falling onto the scene c. More accurately than the in-camera meter 4. None of the above 3. Depth of field has no limits when using focus stacking technique. a. True b. False 4. Neutral density filters are used to: a. Increase exposure time b. Decrease exposure time c. Enable a photographer to avoid using a tripod d. Correct the color balance of a scene 5. From f/8 to f/14 is: a. One full f/stop b. One and a half f/stops c. One and a third f/stops d. One and two thirds f/stops 6. If an SD card has images on it, and it is mistakenly left in a shirt pocket and goes through the washing cycle in a washing machine: a. The digital files will definitely be totally destroyed b. There is a good chance the digital files will survive 7. Middle gray and middle red, when used to determine exposure, will both provide the same exposure. a. True b. False 8. Using the Rule of Thirds means placing the most important element in a composition along the: a. Left vertical third b. Right vertical third c. Upper horizontal third d. Lower horizontal third e. Any of the above f. None of the above 9. In studio portraiture, the light ratio refers to: a. The amount of light comparing the main light with the fill light b. The amount of light comparing the main light to window light c. The amount of light comparing the fill light with the hair light 10. Blown highlights are to be avoided in most cases. Exceptions are when including the ______ in the frame (choose the two correct answers): a. Sun b. Moon c. Street lights at night d. Bird with white feathers 18
Answers on page 46
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UPCOMING PHOTO WORKSHOPS 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 6- 10, 2024
Snowy Owl Workshop Close up encounters with these beautiful birds of the North. Capture bird in flight shots in a snowy environment. Jim guides you in camera settings and technique to take the best pictures possible.
January 11 - 15, 2024
Carnival in Venice Photograph amazing costumes in a Medieval environment, inside a 16th century palace and in an iconic gondola. The photography as well as the experience is amazing.
February 4 - 10, 2024
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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 21 19 21 223 3 1921
WINTER WILDLIFE WORKSHOP January 6 -10, 2024
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What’s wrong with this picture?
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ost of the pictures I present in this feature don’t have anything terribly wrong with them. Large problems are easy to identify. I prefer to show pictures that are almost perfect except for one relatively subtle issue. In this shot of a cross fox I captured during my polar bear photo tour in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, I like everything about -- the intensity of the pose, the soft light, the natural environment, and the fox’s fluffy winter coat -- except for one thing. The little bit of grass intruding on the animal’s jaw is a problem. I actually like the grass intersecting with the fox in the rest of the picture, but in my opinion those few grasses should be eliminated from the face. This isn’t a major issue, but to make this shot successful, that small amount of grass needs to be eliminated. 23
In this version of the image, you can see the grasses that came up too high on the face have been eliminated. That’s a significant improvement over the original. To do this, I used the new ‘generative fill’ command in Photoshop. The procedure is this: 1) I chose the lasso tool and made a rough, freehand selection around the grasses to be removed. 2) I selected Edit > generative fill and 3) in the small dialog box that opens, I hit ‘generate’. There is a field in which you can write words to tell Photoshop what you want, but that’s not necessary in this case. The artificial intelligence built into the command knows what it needs to do, and it does so flawlessly. §
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SHORT AND SWEET 1. Aerial and other long distant shots like this picture 2. One way to photograph people on the street withof Bora Boraa often have a lot of haze in them, and this desaturates color and reduces contrast. I’ve found the best way to eliminate haze and restore the image to what it should be, or at least what you saw with your eyes, is to use the ‘clarity’ slider in Adobe Camera Raw.
out letting them know they are being photographed is to use a wide angle lens and point the camera away from them. The lens is so wide that it includes the person, but most of them won’t understand they are in the shot. I took this picture in Cuba.
3. Patterns, textures, and color palettes are around
4. When photographing something flat with a single
us all the time, but many of them must be seen from above. Never miss the opportunity to photograph landscapes, seascapes, and urbanscapes from a hill, a tall building, or a drone. This shot was taken from Steptoe Butte in the Palouse area of Washington State.
plane, like this ammonite fossil, it’s important that the image be sharp from edge to edge. That means you need to make the back of the camera, i.e. the plane of the digital sensor, as parallel as possible to the plane of the subject. This insures complete DOF. §
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Coast of France and the Loire Valley April 4 - 13, 2024
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ASK JIM
Every month, Jim answers 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 . . .Is it worth it to join a stock photo agency today and submit work to them? Is it
possible to make serious money from them any more? Ami Chang, Portland, Oregon
A: I would say ‘no’ to both of your questions. It depends on what you mean by ‘serious’
money, but in my opinion, being in a stock agency serves to message one’s photographic ego, but nothing more. You might make $100 or $200 per month -- maybe -- but not much more. There was a time when my major source of income came from being in several stock agencies, but that time is past. FYI: The image below is my second all time best selling stock image. It sold approximately 200 times over the course of 15 years. §
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Partial List of Photography Tours 2024
WINTER WILDLIFE Jan 2024
SNOWY OWLS Jan 2024
CARNIVAL in VENICE Feb. 2024
ABANDONED in GEORGIA March 2024
HOLLAND & BELGIUM Apr/May 2024
WHITE HORSES, FRANCE May 2024
COSTA RICA BIRDS May 2024
LAVENDER FIELDS, FRANCE Jul 2024
INDONESIA Jul/Aug 2024
ICELAND DRONE TOUR Aug/Sept 2024
PATAGONIA Oct 2024
LOUISIANA SWAMPS Oct 2024
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For a complete list of all the photo tours/workshops Jim conducts, go to his website: www.jimzuckerman.com.
White Horses of the Camargue May 6 - 11, 2024
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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 takes great photographs on Jim’s trips.
Daniel Ortiz, Holland, Michigan Polar Bear photo tour, China photo tour, Pantanal photo tour, Costa Rica photo tour
© Daniel Ortiz 27 30
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Student Showcase, continued
© Daniel Ortiz
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Student Showcase, continued
© Daniel Ortiz
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Student Showcase, continued
© Daniel Ortiz 3331 34
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Indonesia Photo Tour July 31 - August 12, 2024
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HOLLAND & BELGIUM April 24 to May 2, 2024
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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 AI plus Photograpjhy Oct. ‘23 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 Backlighting Oct. ‘22 Birds in flight Aug. ‘13 Birds in flight Jan. ‘14 Birefringence May ‘18 Birds in flight Mar. ‘16 Birds in flight, camera settings Jan. ‘23 Bird Photography Jun ‘19 Black backgrounds Aug. ‘23 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 Black and white plus color Mar. ‘23 Blown highlights Feb. ‘18 Blue monochromes Jan. ‘22 Black Plexy Aug. ‘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 settings for landscapes Feb. ‘23 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 Color theory Nov. ‘23 Composites and Light Dec. ‘17 Compositing images Apr. ‘19 Compositing, 7 steps Jan. 22 Composition, different approach Jan. ‘15 Content-aware, New Aug. ‘20 Content aware move tool Jan. ‘23 Contrast vs. exposure Jul. ‘15 Converting to black and white Mar. ‘22 Correcting keystoning Jun. ‘21 Creating a star field Jan. ‘14 Creating Art out of Motion May ‘22 Creating a Sketch Dec. ‘17 Creative blurs Jan. ‘14 Custom functions Jul. ‘23t Dark backgrounds Nov. ‘19 Dawn photography Jan. ‘17 Dawn photography Feb. ‘17 Dead center Jan. ‘13 Dead center Oct. ‘23 Dealing with smog Oct. ‘16 Decay photography Sep. ‘15 Define Pattern Sep. ‘18 Depth of field Aug. ‘16 Depth of field confusion Jan. ‘20 Depth of field and distance Dec. ‘18 Depth of field and obliqueness May ‘21 Depth of field, shallow Apr. ‘20 Depth of field vs. sharpness Nov. ‘20 Double takes Apr. ‘20 Drone photography Mar. ‘23 Drop shadows Apr. ‘19 Dust, Minimizing Aug. ‘19 eBook, how to make Elevated vantage points Eliminating people from photos Embedded in Ice Energy saving bulbs Equidistance and telephoto lenses Exploring the power visuals of AI Exposing for the sun Exposure, the sun Exposure technique Exposure, snow Exposure triangle Exposure, to the right Exposure compensation Exposure compensation Extension tubes Extension tubes
Jan. ‘13 Aug. ‘23 Jun. ‘22 Oct. 17 Sep. ‘14 Apri. ‘23 Mar. ‘23 Sep. ‘16 Jul. ‘13 Sep. ‘13 Jan. ‘14 Nov. ‘14 Apr. ‘15 Sep. ‘16 Mar. ‘21 Dec. ‘13 Jul. ‘23
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
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Subject index for past Photo Insight issues
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 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 Generative fill Getting money for used gear Getting the blues out Great subjects Great ceilings & HDR Panos Green screen Ground level shooting Grunge technique
Jul. ‘20 Dec. ‘15 Jun. ‘23 Jan.’ 22 Dec. ‘23 Apr. ‘15 Jul. ‘19 Mar. ‘13 Oct. ‘22 Feb. ‘13
Heavy Lens Debate, The Feb. ‘23 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 Home nature projects Jun. ‘23 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 Insane ISO settings Dec. ‘22
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Interiors Oct. ‘15 iPad: Loading photos Aug.‘17 iPhone photography, pros and cons Apr. ‘22 Jungle photography
Dec. ‘14
Kaleidoscopic images Jan. ‘15 Kaleidoscopis images Aug. ‘20 Keystoning Nov. ‘23t Keystoning, correcting 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 Lenses, Essential Aug. ‘23 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 flash Aug. ‘22 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 Milky Way, Shooting thet Minimizing dust on the sensor Nov. ‘21 Mirrors Jan. ‘19 Mirror images May ‘23 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
Subject index for past Photo Insight issues 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 Photo shsaring Apr. ‘23 Photo terms Nov. ‘22 Photographing Christmas Dec. ‘23w 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 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 Practicing graphic design, Part I Dec. ‘22 Practicing graphic design, Park II Jan. ‘23 Practicing graphic design, Part III Feb. ‘23 Pre-capturing technology May ‘23 Predictive Focus Sep. ‘18 Problem/solution Apr. ‘17 Problem Solving in Photoshop May ‘22 Problem with cruises Jan. ‘18 Protecting extremeities from the cold Dec. ‘22 Protecting highlights Dec. ‘12 Puppies Jan. ‘15 Puppy photography Feb. ’18 Reflections Feb. ‘13 Reshaping faces Oct. ‘22 Restoring old photos Jun ‘20 Ring flash, advantages Jul. ‘21 Ring flash versatility Oct. ‘21 Rule of Odds May ‘22 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 Sepia, Traditional look of Shade May ‘14 Shady side Jun. ‘18 Shadows define the shot Dec. ‘23 Shadows, Paying Attention to Mar. ‘18 Sharpness problems Mar. ‘14 Shooting in Inclement Weather Nov. ‘22 Shooting through textured glass May ‘23 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 Sky replacement strategies Aug. ‘22 Snow exposure Nov ‘17 Snow exposure Nov. ‘19 Soap abstracts Aug. ‘23 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
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Subject index for past Photo Insight issues 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 Tweaking exposure on the fly Apr. ‘23 Twilight photography in the rain Apr. ‘19 Twilight, Creating Oct. ‘23 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 Unusual Panos Upside Down Reflections
Jun. ‘21 May ‘18 Nov. ‘22w Aug. ‘21
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 on White Nov. ‘23 White vignette Aug. ‘15 White balance Feb. ‘15 White balance, custom Mar. ‘16 White balance, What Jun. ‘23 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
Quiz answers 1. F 2. b 3. T 4a 5. d 6. b 7. T 8. e 9. a 10. a, c
Your score 90% - 100%: You could have been a pro 80% - 89%: Your glasses probably need a new prescription 70% - 79%: Don’t quit your day job < 70%: You should really be using an iPhone
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PHOTO INSIGHTS® published by Jim Zuckerman All rights reserved
PHOTO INSIGHTS published monthly by Jim Zuckerman
© Jim Zuckerman 2023 email: photos@jimzuckerman.com
All rights reserved © Jim Zuckerman 2023
Edited by: Donald Moore
email: photos@jimzuckerman.com
Young girl in a flower garden created in AI.
Edited by Donald Moore This page: The most amazing of all costumes in Venice, Italy, during carnival..
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