Photo Insights Sept. 2021 by Jim Zuckerman photography

Jim Zuckerman’s

PH OTO I N S I G HTS

September 2021

When You Really Needed a Zoom Anatomy of Natural Light Portraits Upside Down Reflections Photo toursVStudent showcase Ask Jim Subject index

Indoor Floral Portraits Paint Abstracts Skies make or break a picture Upcoming workshops Photo tours Ask Jim Student Showcase Back issues 1

Table of Contents 4. 8. 12. 18. 21. 23. 24. 25. 27. 33. 39.

Indoor floral photography Paint abstracts Great skies make or break a picture 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: A 1940’S pickup truck surrounded by flowers on Jim’s new ‘Abandoned in Georgia’ photo tour. This page: The perpetual rainbow at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

hotography is many things to many people. I’ve always appreciated the ability to express my artistry, and to capture beauty, but even more than that I’ve been grateful that photography has led me in so many directions in life. In the past week, for example, I finalized my itinerary for my Michigan’s Historic Lighthouses photo tour, and it occurred to me that I never would have sought out these beautiful and nostalgic locations had it not been for my love of photography. At this point in time, I’ve been to 103 countries. I’ve been down many, many roads in the pursuit of beautiful images, and most of these great places I never would have experienced had it not been in the pursuit of taking pictures. From photographing wild jaguars in Brazil to witnessing the annual eagle festival in Mongolia, and from being surrounded by outrageous costuming in the carnival in Venice to creating a frog and reptile workshop in Kansas City and getting up close and personal with exotic poison dart frogs and primitive reptiles, these disparate pursuits enrich one’s life beyond measure. That’s what I appreciate about photography the most. I think if you really love photography, it’s impossible to be bored, disinterested or for that matter, boring. There is too much beauty to capture and too much in life to get excited about. Photography helps you explore what you are passionate about -- lighthouses, ballet dancers, insects, great architecture, fashion, wildlife, etc. -- and it will also lead you down roads you never imagined traveling to find new passions. Before I discovered photography, so many of the things I’ve photographed were never on my radar. Not even close. Now I get excited about all kinds of things just because I think they’d make great images. What I constantly pursue in my work and in designing new photo tours is spellbinding landscapes, dynamic events, intriguing people, magnificent animals, dramatic architecture, and nature subjects that take my breath away. I feel this is a good way to lead a life. Jim Zuckerman photos@jimzuckerman.com www.jimzuckerman.com 3

Indoor Floral Photography

ou might think that photographing flowers indoors requires a lot of expensive studio gear such as strobes, softboxes, canvas backdrops, diffusion panels, snoots, barn doors, and so on. You can definitely use all this stuff, but it’s not necessary to produce beautiful ‘portraits’ of a single flower or an arrangement of flowers. The iris below and the columbine flower at the bottom of the next page are examples of beautiful shots of flowers taken with the simplest of setups. You need just three things: a piece of black fabric, preferably black velvet or velveteen; window light; and a small lens aperture for complete depth of field. Since flowers have such intri-

cate detail, I feel the entire subject or subjects should be sharp. The Details Window light is one of the most beautiful types of light for many subjects such as portraits, still lifes, and flowers. It is always available in the daytime, and it is free, soft and diffused. This means contrast is low, and that in turn means exposure can be based on middle toned values. In most cases, you want to avoid direct sunlight streaming in through the window. This increases contrast significantly, and the resulting images are usually degraded. In art, of course, there are always exceptions. The or-

chid at right is an exception. I took this in my living room as the sun streamed in through a high window to backlight the flower. Still, notice the contrast. The background is critical. If you include discernable elements in the room, even if they are out of focus, they will invariably be distracting. Any kind of non-obtrusive background can work such as a plain or textured wall, a solid white poster board, a piece of fabric with a subtle, complementary pattern, or a simple black background. The latter is what I prefer, and I choose to use black velvet because it absorbs light better than any other type of fabric. All you need is one yard of the material. As I’ve mentioned, I feel flowers should be sharp. There are always exceptions, and sometimes it’s attractive to have

shallow depth of field where only a sliver of the flower is sharp and the entire environment is soft. However, it’s the beautiful detail -- the color, the shape, and the design -- that draws our eyes to flowers. While a blur of color can be artistic, it seems to me the flower itself is then lost in the translation. This is why I use f/32 -- or f/8 with focus stacking -- to insure every petal and all the interior structures of the flower, as well as the stem, are sharp.

Diffused backlighting Another approach to indoor flower portraiture is to illuminate the flower with a lightbox. Simply lay the flower on the lighted Plexiglas surface and see the thin, translucent petals glow with light. If you don’t have a small, portable lightbox like the one shown at right, you can use white or frosted Plexiglas or a sheet of glass with a piece of waxed paper taped to the underside. A photoflood or a light bulb of any type placed beneath the surface of the Plexiglas or glass will provide the same type of light as the lightbox. My favorite type of flowers to shoot with this kind of diffused backlighting are white blossoms like the lilly below. White on white is a magical color scheme in nature. Colored flowers like the petunia with a few rain drops on it on the next page also work.

With this kind of bright background, exposure becomes an important issue. Since meters are designed to read medium tones, i.e. middle gray, the bright light of the lightbox or backlit Plexiglas confuses the meter and your pictures will be underexposed. You can do two things to rectify this and end up with the correct exposure: First, you can set the exposure com-

pensation feature on your camera to overexposure. The exact amount of the adjustment has to be determined by test exposures, but I would start at plus 1-2/3 f/stops. Second, you can simply let the exposure become underexposed and then make the corrections in Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom. For the petunia above, that’s what I did and you can see the results are perfect. Still lifes For still life arrangements that include flowers, you can still use diffused daylight streaming in the room from outdoors. However, I would use a large French door or sliding glass door because the light covers a larger area. You’ll also need a larger piece of fabric. For the shot at right, I bought a 2-yard piece of black velvet. § 7

Paint Abstracts

here is a simple technique to create unique and beautiful abstract images, and you can do it in your kitchen. You only need two things: A Tupperware container and paint. For the paint, Home Depot and Lowes sell samples of any color you want in small containers for only $4 each, and at Etsy online they are only $2. I purchased six different colors for the pictures in this article. Purchase only water based paint so it’s easy to wash up when you’re finished. All I did to create these beautiful abstracts was

to pour two or more colors into the Tupperware container. From there, you can rock the container back and forth, tilt it, and use a utensil to mix the paint colors together until you like the design. Then, photograph it with available light or with flash. All of these images were taken with flash because I wanted 1) daylight balanced color, and 2) a small lens aperture for complete depth of field. The flash provided enough light for me to use f/22. The entire abstraction has to be sharp from edge to edge. Even though it is an abstraction, it still needs to be sharply focused. Therefore, every image should be taken with a small aperture unless the back of the camera -- i.e. the plane of the digital sensor -- is parallel with the plane of the paint. If the two surfaces are exactly parallel, the lens aperture doesn’t matter becaused you will have achieved complete

depth of field across the entire surface. For a variation on a theme, you can pour the various colors of paint onto an interesting subject (that won’t be ruined by the paint). On page 11, I illustrate this with two different elements. I bought the porcelain mask in New Orleans, and it is impervious to paint. The watercolor-based paint can be easily washed off in a sink. I poured various colors onto the mask until I liked what I saw. The second image on page 11 is a fork. I was stirring paint colors in the Tupperware container with a fork when it slipped out of my hand and fell into the paint. I thought it looked interesting, so I photographed it with a flash off to one side. The way the shadows fall tell you where I placed the flash. Since the wet paint is reflective, you have to be aware of unwanted 9

PERU PHOTO TOUR Sept. 24 - Oct 4, 2022

tions. Reflections from a nearby window, as you can see in the mask, may not be a problem. But the wet surface of the paint will reflect the brilliant light from a flash, and that blown out hot spot will be distracting. Because we now have the ability to manipule color so easily in Photoshop (such as using the command Image > adjustments > hue/saturation), the original paint samples you purchase are not so important because they can be altered in seconds. In post-processing, you can change individual colors or the entire spectrum. You can also use the positive-negative command, Image > adjustments > invert, which converts every color into its complement. So, green becomes magenta, yellow is changed to blue, and red goes to cyan. If you don’t like the results, use the undo command or choose Image > adjustments > invert again. This command toggles back and forth between positive and negative colors. §

Great Skies

make or break a picture

ver the past many years, I have written several articles in Photo Insights about replacing skies, but I wanted to revisit this subject because it’s such an important part of my Photoshop work and my photographic approach. It makes such a huge difference in a photographer’s ability to create ideal images. The biggest uncertainty in outdoor photography is the weather. What’s going on in the sky is intimately connected to the weather, of course, and this directly impacts your pictures.

We can’t control the weather, but by replacing a mundane and uninspiring sky with a dynamic one, your pictures will take a quantum leap forward in drama and visual impact. Disclaimer: I know some of you still think Photoshop is cheating and you only want to capture what you see. I have no problem with that. Skip over this article and know that a large percentage of your outdoor pictures will be disappointing because of uncooperative weather. By replacing a sky, you can choose the weather conditions of the landscape, seascape, cityscape,

wildlife or human portrait, or any other subject you capture outside. It’s a remarkable ability to have as an artist, and today it’s easier than ever before. In the November 2020 issue of this eMagazine, I described how to use the new Sky Replacement feature in Photoshop. I’m not going to repeat myself here, but let me say if you’ve not been taking advantage of this new technology, you’re missing out of something truly great. Compare the picture below with the one on page 12. This is Grand Haven Lighthouse in Grand Haven, Michigan, and I’ve included it in my Michigan’s Historic Lighthouse photo tour. Online, you can find fabulous pictures of these lighthouses in stormy weather with waves crashing on them and angry skies in the background. You can say to yourself, “Wow, I have to get pictures like that.” But when you

visit the various locations -- or when my tour does -- the weather is fine, or overcast, or raining, or . . . boring. How disappointing. Where is a momentous storm when you want it! I like my original shot as is, and if we were still shooting film, I would accept it as a successful image. I’d submit it to my stock agency (back in the day) and make money from it. Now, however, if I want a stormy sky, I can have it. If I want a sunset, no problem at all. As photographers, we are the artists and our images are our creations no matter what we see with our eyes. When I was researching this photo tour, I realized the lighthouses need a dramatic background to really stand out. The Menominee North Pier Lighthouse, above, is another ex-

PANTANAL PHOTO TOUR Nov. 8 - 15, 2022 Jaguars in the wild Exotic birds in flight Caiman Giant river otters

ample. By itself with a bland sky, it’s a ‘nice’ graphic shot that works and I’d call this a successful photograph. However, with a stormy sky showing a window of light, it’s in a class by itself. The first thing you need to do, if you haven’t already, is focus your attention on photographing the sky. You’ll need all kinds of sky pictures for many different types of subjects. A subject photographed in diffused light, for example, won’t look right with a blue sky and puffy white clouds. Similarly, a scene photographed in the golden light of sunset won’t look correct with an overcast sky. Sure, it’s possible to see that, but it’s not expected and to many people it won’t look right. Therefore, you need to photograph many different types of cloud formations, light, and mood in the sky. In my ‘Sky folder’, here are the categories I have:

Sunsets/sunrise Storm clouds Regular clouds Rainbows Lightning Aerial views of clouds Godrays The sky above right is in the ‘Godrays’ category. Taking advantage of Photoshop’s remarkable ability to add a sky even if the subject has minute detail like leaves, flagpoles, flowers, and even hair in many instances gives you the ability to produce superb images when the sky is white and distracting and the lighting is flat. For example, the picture of the old locomotive in Grand Haven, Michigan, below, is a good example. I replaced the unappealing sky with storm clouds and that changed the image pro15

foundly. You might think these clouds are overkill, but that’s where your artistry comes in. You can add a subtle sky with pastel clouds, a sky with pale sunset colors, a dramatic sky with oranges and yellows or, as I did, a sky showing an approaching storm. As long as the sky matches the lighting, it will look correct. In other words, in the example of the train, diffused light from a white, overcast sky was illuminating the train. Therefore,

graphic shots of cloud shapes and a wide angle to include the entire sky. You will need both of these. In additon, shoot both vertical and horizontal compositions. One great sky can produce many different types of shots. For those of you who live in places where clouds are not commonly seen, such as Southern California, you’ll have to travel a few hours to capture usable skies. Do research online to learn about seasonal flucutations in humidity and cloud formation within driving distance. I used to live in the Los Angeles area, and almost every day the sky was solid blue. However, every July and August the monsoon season came to Arizona, so I drove six hours to Phoenix to photograph the giant cumulus clouds that formed every afternoon. This was the beginning of my cloud collection. Don’t use the same clouds for many different composites. It would look foolish. That’s why you need a lot of sky shots. §

the sky I used must provide the same kind of light. A stormy sky with angry clouds creates the same kind of diffused light as does a white sky and, therefore, the storm clouds look correct. When you photograph the sky, make sure you vary the compositions. For example, shoot with a telephoto to capture tight, 16

UPCOMING PHOTO WORKSHOPS 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 18-25, 2022

Frog & Reptile Workshop This is a macro workshop to photograph beautiful, colorful, and intriguing frogs and exotic reptiles. Learn how to use flash with closeup work, how to use extension tubes, and how to take perfect exposures. Held indoors in a hotel conference room in Kansas City, Kansas.

January 22 - 23, 2022

Winter Wildlife Workshop Stunning pictures of North American animals including wolves, red foxes, arctic foxes, mountain lions, Canada lynx, plus snow leopards. The animals will be in their winter coats and very beautiful. This is based in Kalispell, Montana.

February 2 - 5, 2022

Expand your photographic artistry with

eBooks

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W i n t e r W i l d l i f e Workshop February 2 - 5, 2022

Based in Kalispell, Montana

What’s wrong with this picture?

t first glance, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with this composite. It is a Paris peacock butterfly meticulously selected using the pen tool in Photoshop working at 400%, and then I combined it with the flower background photo. Notice, though, that the butterfly doesn’t have a shadow. Even in soft and diffused light, shadows are present, and even with subjects like butterflies with their ultra thin antenae, there is going to be a shadow, however subtle that shadow may be.

In the picture on the next page, you can see a faint shadow beneath the wings of the butterfly and even under the antennae. That made all the difference. Now there is dimension and depth even with such a flat subject. The butterfly looks connected to the flower as if it’s actaully resting on it. Once the layer of the butterfly is created (in other words, the butterfly image is pasted onto the flowers), the fx submenu becomes available at the bottom of the layers palette. This is the gateway to creating drop shadows. 21

In the dialog box that opens, the small ‘angle’ graphic can be rotated. This determines the direction of the shadow. If the pointer is angled upward -- 0 degrees -- the shadow flows in the opposite direction, i.e. downward 180 degrees. Once the direction is determined, the other three sliders that are relevant are Distance, Spread, and Size. Adjust these to your liking and to what looks natural. §

SHORT AND SWEET 1.

2. A large sun is dramatic behind silhouetted subjects

Backlighting is one of the most beautiful types of light in nature, so watch for it. Even when the sun is high in the sky, some subjects can be lit from behind like this sacred ibis in Kenya. The way the wing spread caught the sun’s light is dramatic, and in contrast with the darker background the result is beautiful.

like these Bushmen tribal members in Namibia. You can create a large sun by using the longest telephoto you have. Here I used a700mm focal length, and you can see how bold and impressive the sun turns out to be with such a long lens.

3. A frame within a frame is a strong compositional

tool for visual impact. This is a natural arch along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan. It was essential that the foreground arch as well as the distant cliff face were both sharp, and since I used a telephoto lens, the f/16 aperture I chose was crucial.

Twilight means there is still detail in the sky. It could be clouds or a cobalt blue coloration. Twilight is the best time to photograph cities, skylines, and architecture because the yellowish artificial illumination on the buildings mixes with the rich, cool tones of the sky. This is more dramatic than the black sky of night. §

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.

Jim . . . This is a shot I did in the Vatican. I wanted your opinion on the fact that the guard on the left is not as sharp as the guard on the right. Is this acceptible or is it a mistake? I used a telephoto lens, and it would have been necessary to close the aperture down to at least f/16 to get both men in focus. That would have necessitated raising the ISO to uncomfortable heights. Would that have been a good idea? Jared Newman, Newport Beach, California

There are many photographers, both professional and amateur, who would think this image is perfectly fine. I’m not one of them. In my opinion, when you have two subjects in a frame -- as you do here -- both should be sharp. Could I live with this? Yes. Would I prefer both guards to be sharp? Absolutely yes. I find it to be visually annoying with one subject blurred. This is a totally subjective viewpoint, but that’s what you asked for. §

Partial list of Photography Tours 2022 - 2023 ETHIOPIA Mar 2022

WINTER WILDLIFE Feb 2022

CARNIVAL in VENICE Feb 2022

SPAIN/PORTUGAL Apr 2022

HOLLAND/BELGIUM Apr/May 2022

NAMIBIA May 2022

MOROCCO May/Jun 2022

ICELAND Jul 2022

NORWAY/DENMARK Sep 2022

PERU Sep/Oct 2022

VERMONT AUTUMN Oct 2022

PATAGONIA PHOTO TOUR April/May 2023

For a complete list of all the photo tours/workshops Jim conducts, go to his website: www.jimzuckerman.com.

Ethiopia Photo Tour jMarch 10 - 22, 2022 jPrimitive tribes

Dramatic landscapes Wildlife Rock-hewn churches

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.

Cheryl Roth, Yorba Linda, California Patagonia Photo Tour, Winter Wildlife Workshop.

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Student Showcase, continued

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Student Showcase, continued

Jim Zuckerman presents

Online Photoshop Training

4 LIVE online sesions New session starts September 18, 2021

Become super creative in

Become skillful so you can take a subject with a terrible background and transform it into a visually compelling work of art.

Learn how to replace skies, composite images, work with layers, use blend modes, create painterly works of art, and much more. Differentiate your pictures from everyone else. Make them more dynamic, more exciting, and more creative. All levels of Photoshop knowledge welcome.

Click on the heron for more information and to register. 31

FROG & REPTILE WORKSHOP Based in Kansas City, Missouri

Sat. and Sun., January 22 - 23, 2022

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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 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 Blur, field Nov. ‘18 Blur technique Oct. ‘17 Bokeh Jun. ‘15 Butterfly photography Jul. ‘14 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 Composites and Light Dec. ‘17 Compositing images Apr. ‘19 Composition, different approach Jan. ‘15

Content-aware, New Contrast vs. exposure Correcting keystoning Creating a star field 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

Aug. ‘20 Jul. ‘15 Jun. ‘21 Jan. ‘14 Dec. ‘17 Jan. ‘14

eBook, how to make 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 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 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 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 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 models Jun. ‘13 Fractals, generating Sep. ‘13 Fractals Jul. ‘19

Subject index for past Photo Insight issues 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 Graphic Design Garish imagery Great subjects Great ceilings & HDR Panos Green screen Grunge technique

Jul. ‘20 Dec. ‘15 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 High wind Apr. ‘17 Highlights Apr. ‘14 Highlights, overexposed Feb. ‘15 Histograms, Why I Don’t Use Jun ‘19 Histogram problems Apr. ‘20 Hotels with a view Mar. ‘20 Humidity Oct. ‘13 Hummingbird photography Apr. ‘13 Hyperfocal distance Jul. ‘13 Image resizing Aug. ‘18 Implying motion Sept.‘14 Impossible DOF Feb. ‘16 Impossible DOF Jan. ‘17 Indestructible camera bag Dec. ‘14 Infrared photography Jul. ‘14 Interiors Oct. ‘15 iPad: Loading photos Aug.‘17 Jungle photography

Dec. ‘14

Kaleidoscopic images 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 Light fall-off Feb. ‘14 Lighting a face Oct. ‘13 Lightning photography May ‘20 Liquify Feb. ‘18 Liquify Distortions Sept/Oct. ‘19 Long lens portraits Oct. ‘18 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 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 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 Night photography Night Safaris Night to Twilight Noise reduction

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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 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

Subject index for past Photo Insight issues 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 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 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, 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

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 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

Edited by Donald Moore

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Photo Insights Sept. 2021

Articles inside

Short and sweet

Great skies make or break a picture

What’s wrong with this picture?

Indoor floral photography

Paint abstracts

Ask Jim

Subject index