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Workshop: Curves in Photoshop

My favourite tool in Photoshop because it’s so versatile! You can control any tones of light or dark, broadly or specifically. You can focus on just altering the highlights or altering the whole spectrum of light.

My favourite ways to use curves layers are:

  • to create natural vignettes, drawing our viewer’s attention to the dog and guiding them through the image
  • adding richness and depth to the colours
  • to raise the blacks (make the blacks less black) in order to remove some contrast from the background of the image, helping the dog stand out
  • to darken light parts of the image which may be distracting
  • to lighten parts that need to be lightened (the dog) or to create the sense of natural light coming from somewhere (above, in front, or from a side)
  • to add or remove contrast
  • to contour the face (more on that here)

As I stress multiple times throughout the workshop, how, when, and why you use this tool is completely up to you and your style. I use quite a lot of curves layers, all of them doing specific things and gradually building up effects in a way I hope is a bit more subtle… but you can use them however suits you. You may like images with a lot more contrast, in which case, do that! 

The main goals for me are:

  • draw your viewer into the dog
  • lead your viewer through the image in a way that helps them be “trapped” and/or return to the eyes. More on that here.
  • remove distractions
  • enhance the mood/story in the image, whether that’s keeping it feeling “light” or whether it’s making it darker and moodier
  • keeping the light looking natural. Constantly asking: where would the light be hitting, what would be in shadow? And using curves layers accordingly.

 

As always, apologies for the quality of the recording. I think in future I’ll use the screen recording function on my computer, I’m just afraid it’s not going to cope (Photoshop is currently having a LOT of issues with me trying to edit AND screen record). I’ve spoken with Zoom about it this morning again so we’ll see how it goes next time. Next I’ll get onto Apple and see if they have a solution for it being ridiculously unusable when screen recording and editing.

May Workshop: Welcome New Members

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I forgot to turn the transcript on immediately, sorry. It’s another new process so I just have to get into the habit of doing it.

Please note these are automatic captions so they aren’t always accurate or correct.

 

Transcript

20:40:32

on.

20:40:33

There it is, it should be down the bottom now. Yep.

20:40:35

Well done may have some subtitles. Okay.

20:40:40

So that is kind of how the members Portal and the learning community works and the courses I think everybody has kind of found their way to, you know, you can just work through the lessons mark them as complete say they’re done, get a certificate at the

20:40:57

end yay I’m going to do the certificates for the other courses.

20:41:02

At some point, probably tomorrow.

20:41:05

Right.

20:41:08

So that’s everything in there, kind of talked about where to begin because you can go to that learning journey section.

20:41:17

And I would have a look at the courses and now that you’ve kind of gotten a sense of the resources that are in here I’m hoping you’re feeling a bit like you have a few places that you can look for some information based on what you want to find out right

20:41:31

now and what you want to learn.

20:41:33

Otherwise I really think having a look at those learning journeys is going to be your best bet to start with.

20:41:41

And just to take it easy. Take it slow.

20:41:46

A lot of people I noticed were jumping straight into some of the quite technical editing videos.

20:41:52

But I think there’s so much to learn about Behind the scenes stuff and that next level course and the really small things that can go into an image before we edit it to make it really interesting and dynamic and powerful and to tell a story or to tell

20:42:08

our viewers something about the dog.

20:42:10

So definitely don’t discount the rest of the stuff and just dive into the Editing part, especially if you’re not quite ready for that just yet so I always say, make sure you can crawl before you run receive that on the website everywhere.

20:42:29

Are there any questions about the members portal, or any of those sections, um, any of the parts of the learning community kind of behind the scenes stuff, or the things that we do monthly or anything like that.

20:42:47

can feel my voice is already going.

20:42:53

Okay. Are you all still arrive over there.

20:43:03

There was a question directly to me before which I’ll answer before we go on just so I don’t forget, which was do you need light room in Photoshop to follow along with your courses or workshops I use affinity Friday, which is really similar but obviously

20:43:15

not the same. Yeah, I obviously I do all my editing and light room in Photoshop, but I’ve always said that as long as the program can mask. And it can do like layers that change the light and dark and color of the images.

20:43:32

It’ll just be a matter of you finding what the equivalent tool is so you know if Photoshop has selective Color, as one of the tools you just, you need to find what the affinity Photo version of that is.

20:43:50

And, you know, it will just be a bit more like you’ll have to play around with those tools a bit more because they might not match. Exactly. I think they’ll be really similar.

20:43:58

It just might be a little bit more of a learning curve, I guess.

20:44:01

But obviously, the techniques and the rationale for why I would edit something the way that I would edit it would be the same across any PRogram, because if I’m like, we should dark in this part of the image because it’s drawing too much attention away

20:44:15

from our dog that’s going to be the same on Any PRogram, doesn’t matter.

20:44:22

All right, let me check the chat, everything seems good to me. Awesome jade. Is there a big difference between lightning classic and like room CC for following along until i don’t believe so.

20:44:34

I think it’s fine. I had a student in a private lesson, who’s using light room CC we did the whole entire images justin light room we didn’t go into Photoshop, and he was able to follow along and do everything and understand where I was, and finding the

20:44:49

different tools and stuff.

20:44:52

I don’t believe that there is a big difference.

20:44:55

Willing to be proven wrong.

20:44:59

But yes if there if you find that there’s a huge difference, just let me know and I will find a way to work around. I’m pretty good at solving problems.

20:45:11

So, if you’re like I can’t find selective color infinity photo I’ll get on it and I’ll find out the answer so just let me know.

20:45:20

Right, so if everybody’s feeling okay, there are planning the Not really rules but just a few little bits and pieces.

20:45:28

So as I said, You’re welcome and encouraged, put your photos up on the facebook group or Discord for feedback, find the feedback thread or the feedback channel.

20:45:39

At the moment there’s no limit to how much you can ask for feedback, and I personally as I said try and give you feedback, but obviously if it’s all getting a bit much and you’re asking me for feedback every single day, or, you know, four times a week,

20:45:53

That’s maybe a bit too much, and I will choose one or two and then leave the rest of the feedback to other learning community members. I would think it would be more worthwhile for you to post photos that yeah like I said before that you’re either really

20:46:09

proud of, or that you’re struggling with, rather than just every single time that you edit an image post it up and be like, what do you what do you think, because I don’t know if you can learn so much from that rather than, then when you’ve tried to really

20:46:24

apply all of the ideas and techniques.

20:46:27

And then you post it up and then you find out how to progress, even from there. So, so far, everybody’s been really cool with that just yet. Obviously if it gets out of control where a bigger group now we have more students.

20:46:40

We’re a bigger group now we have more students. Um, I was coping really well before when there is 80 of us. Now there are more.

20:46:48

So let’s just see how we go. I don’t want to impose limits but yeah if people get a bit out of control but like don’t feel like you can’t post.

20:46:56

You know, if you want to post once a week. I think that’ll be fine. You know, don’t be like, oh no I shouldn’t. That’s why you’re here that’s part of the membership so take advantage of getting a bit of feedback you know if if it’s getting really busy

20:47:10

I’ll just, I like to type a lot and I like to talk a lot not try and just condensed what I have to say.

20:47:17

Very bad that you’re welcome to ask questions in the Facebook group, and the discord there’s no such thing as a dumb question, we all started somewhere we’ve all made mistakes will have to learn things.

20:47:29

Search the group first to see if anybody else has asked the question. Um, but yeah, otherwise ask the question, part of our strength is helping each other out and everybody’s really really lovely and super happy to help.

20:47:42

Sometimes there can be too much help everybody so helpful that you’ll get bombarded with helping answer sometimes.

20:47:50

If I jump on and offer my advice, then I’m not going to say discount everybody else, but just keep in mind that everybody is at different stages of their learning.

20:48:02

If I’ve seen somebody give what I think is the right answer. I’ll usually say I agree with that person so if you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed with the amount of answers that you get to a question.

20:48:13

Just Just keep an eye out for me or one of my mentors as well.

20:48:18

So just, just keep in mind everybody’s at different stages of their journey but don’t let that discourage you from answering questions either because you can also learn a lot from jumping in offering your thoughts on something, you know, because even

20:48:29

if you’re just starting, you’re also bringing experience and knowledge to the table so don’t be like no no I can’t do this I’m just a beginner, because you might have an interesting perspective that we hadn’t thought of, I mean obviously if you have no

20:48:41

idea about the topic maybe doing it with questions, but you know if it’s something that you feel like you can contribute to the discussion and please do like we that this is one of the things I want this to be a community where everybody is helping each

20:48:54

other and participating and sharing your advice and knowledge.

20:48:59

Please only asked for feedback and questions in the facebook group, the discord or on the q amp a page or forums pages.

20:49:09

Please don’t message me privately for that kind of question or feedback, unless it’s like an issue with the website or your membership of course, email me or message me privately then please don’t message me to be like, what kind of lens Do you think

20:49:25

I should get or like can you take a look at this photo like not through Instagram messenger.

20:49:30

Because like I said part of our strength is that we are learning from each other.

20:49:36

And if you’re messaging me privately, it means you’re denying other people the chance to see your feedback and your answers, and your question, and to learn from that as well.

20:49:46

So, and also it then feels a bit like a private lesson between us and that’s not fair to to the other members so yes, like I said, by all means, if you have a suggestion about the learning community or an issue or, you know, something that’s relating

20:50:05

to you and your membership personally hundred percent anytime messaged me. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

20:50:11

But that kind of stuff that would benefit the group definitely put in the sections.

20:50:18

at the moment there are four mentors in our group, this will possibly expand in the not too far distant future, they are Rosie Teresa Allman live more and nor I Yeah, they are.

20:50:40

I just wanted a little team now that we’re a bit bigger so yes but that might expand at some point we will see that’s just my starting point.

20:50:49

So just for some helpers who you will see around the place, feel free to ask them, or tag them if something is going wrong, I don’t know, and they’ll get it to me.

20:51:01

Otherwise, I’m pretty much by myself with this whole thing. I have an IT guy who I think I might fire because he’s not really very useful.

20:51:10

So if something goes wrong, don’t panic in the history of this whole thing, there has not been a photography emergency that is a life and death situation.

20:51:23

I can’t see it happening now.

20:51:26

If the website breaks and you can’t log on, it will be okay I will fix it as soon as possible. Sometimes these things happen websites are really weird.

20:51:39

I don’t know why they do what they do half the time.

20:51:39

I built this whole thing basically Myself, and sometimes.

20:51:43

Sometimes I fixed problems with like scotch tape and sticks and it’s all held together a bit in a fragile way and you’ll find some weird little things do weird things because i built it so as time goes on, everything gets upgraded and everything gets

20:52:00

fixed but if you find something weird either just let me know or don’t panic.

20:52:04

Oh, gosh. Do you know what, I’m not going to read this one through all upload this little presentation to the members portal and the lesson that this goes with you can read this later if you want to know what’s in store, it’s all really very exciting

20:52:18

plans but I just don’t feel like we need to talk about it because let’s get on to some goal setting.

20:52:28

Let’s start.

20:52:28

I don’t know how I used to talk for like six hours at Children’s I can’t do it anymore.

20:52:34

Now, if you’ve watched the February workshop, you might have seen some of this before but I feel like it’s a really good place to start with your fighters.

20:52:47

I’m just gonna wait, I had one question that I was going to answer i feel like this might be a place for it.

20:52:52

Yes, so susie, it was you I think that asked about being in Hawaii and wanting to take some photos with the sea turtles on the beach, wide open sky and see, I would be recommending to be exposing for highlights you can find a lesson on that, particularly

20:53:09

in the next level course, I believe.

20:53:14

So keeping your eye on the exposure of the sky so you can keep any kind of sky detailed clouds sunsets, that kind of thing. Keeping the color in the sunsets, keeping the detail of the clouds.

20:53:29

And then you’re going to have to watch how under exposed that Leaves the turtles.

20:53:35

So, that will be the problem. But yeah, have a look at those exposing for highlights lessons.

20:53:43

This is where a lot of people would use a flash because then they could get the flash on the turtles.

20:53:49

But yes, if you blow out the sky, then it’s going to become a problem because you can’t get the data back. So I would say priorities quite on the sky.

20:54:02

We did in the most recent q amp a session. I believe talk about Bracketing, which is taking two or even three like HDR, but you can do it even just with two photos where you would have one where you exposed correctly for the sky.

20:54:20

So quite underexpose. One way you expose correctly for the turtles. And then in Photoshop, using the Photoshop basics masking or you know whatever program you’re using, I think Susie you’re using a different one.

20:54:36

I’m masking in the two images so you have the correct sky and the correct for ground and turtle is another way to do it. So, couple of options.

20:54:48

Right. So let’s talk about stages of learning now if we don’t have any more questions.

20:54:54

This is kind of important to know because it will kind of show you guys were or Jamie it was you Sorry,

20:55:03

maybe show you guys where you’re at and how you might be feeling at wherever you are in your journey. So, there’s four stages of learning. The first one is you don’t know anything about the skill at all.

20:55:15

I don’t think you’re here because you’ve all signed up because you want you know that you don’t know stuff and you want to know more stuff. It’s not like you don’t know anything about anything about photography, you’re like I don’t know enough I want

20:55:27

to know more, right.

20:55:29

So, that’s kind of the next stage you don’t know what you don’t know.

20:55:34

You know that there’s a lot to learn but you don’t know what it is you need to know yet it feels like this big, wide open space of all of this stuff, you have to learn.

20:55:44

And it’s so much that you, you don’t you don’t eat you can’t even kind of comprehend, where it all is and what it is. So, I think, quite a few of you are probably this stage, and that’s fine.

20:55:56

It’s really normal.

20:55:57

The next one is that you’ve been learning for a while, you can do the things, but it’s it’s hard like you really have to focus on it, and you know kind of consciously at a photoshoot being like, okay, think about the light which way is to light the lights

20:56:11

over there okay now camera settings.

20:56:15

Cut the light, so we need to make sure that I so is here now, the pose, I want to make this like is kind of a more strong you know so everything is not so unconscious yet.

20:56:28

The next level is unconscious competence, which is where you’re doing the things without thinking much about it went out for a walk your walk went out for work, you’re noticing the light the color the moss like whatever editing takes less time you kind

20:56:44

of have a process you know what you want to do. Generally, to get the results that you want. Sometimes you’ll come up against a photo that you want to do differently, and you kind of go back to the other stage a little bit, because you’re playing, then

20:56:58

you’re experimenting with different style or different technique, are you using some tools a little bit differently to see what you can get your now kind of playing with the different ideas, and then usually what happens is that you would go end up going

20:57:12

in a circle, I would say because like for me. I’m like, you know what I’m going to learn how to use off camera flash Now, I know nothing about off camera flash right so I started back at unconscious in competence I know nothing about flash and now I started

20:57:27

to learn.

20:57:28

I’m in the next section and it seems like there’s a lot and I just need to get a flash now and start trying so we kind of move in cycles right.

20:57:37

There’s a question do you think the light room course will help me when I early use Photoshop. Yes, because you can use the camera rule filter, which is basically finished up basically light room inside Photoshop.

20:57:52

So, yeah.

20:57:55

And I would recommend to do that because you’re them working on the raw file instead of stacking stuff on top.

20:58:01

It’s just a bit more powerful.

20:58:03

Ok, so the reason these stages are important are because when we start looking at our own work we sometimes might start to feel a bit overwhelmed because we don’t know what we don’t know.

20:58:15

But being able to look critically at our work and the work of others, is how we can improve right if we don’t look at our own work and say, Yes, I see that I need to fix x y Zed, then we’re not going to know what to fix right we’re not going to know what

20:58:30

to work on. So, this isn’t meant to make us feel bad about our work or to be like my work so Terrible movie.

20:58:39

If you know me you know it’s not ever about reaching some kind of perfection because I honestly don’t think that exists in photography, like it’s an art form right there’s no like.

20:58:51

Yep. You’ve done it, you’ve created the perfect photo now there’s nowhere to go from here you can quit.

20:58:58

Like that doesn’t exist. It’s only ever a process of continuing to develop and improve and learn new techniques and, you know, find your voice and what you want to do with what we’re creating.

20:59:10

And that’s going to be different for everybody. I have quite an idea of what I would like to do and that’s going to be really different for a lot of you guys and a lot of people, so.

20:59:21

Yeah, what we want is constant improvement and growth. But, yeah, it can be hard to know where to start when you’re at that I don’t know what I don’t know stage.

20:59:29

So we can kind of break it down a little bit.

20:59:34

And I kind of listed these moral lesson order of importance. Let me just move my little voice thing down.

20:59:45

I’m.

21:00:02

And we’ll break down these photos into their most important elements because if we get wrapped up and trying to uncover every tiny mistake, where we’re going to feel pretty bad about our photos right if we’re always looking for every tiny thing that we

21:00:03

could have done better than we’re going to give up because we’re going to believe that like everything’s bad so instead of looking at everything that’s wrong if we kind of look at it in order of like importance in a way, then we can kind of narrow our

21:00:16

field of what we need to work on. So,

21:00:20

for me, the most important thing is focus is the subject and focus. Yes.

21:00:26

The answer is no, that already immediately you have the thing that you need to work on, you need to work on getting your subject in focus, sweet, you have a plan you have a goal.

21:00:35

That’s amazing.

21:00:36

Easy. I mean not easy it’s not always easy to get your subject and focus but you know now that you would need to go to the website and jump on the improve your pet photography course and go to the lessons on focus and that is your.

21:00:48

That’s your focus.

21:00:51

Until you’re getting your subject in focus because there’s no point, taking the most beautiful photo in the world and spending four hours editing it.

21:01:00

If it’s out of focus.

21:01:02

There’s no point.

21:01:13

i can kind of make it more sharp but it’s not gonna.

21:01:15

It does not something you can fix in editing, it’s not something I can fix in editing you can send me an out of focus photo and I’d be like, no, sorry.

21:01:17

It’s not going to look right.

21:01:18

So that’s the first one next one perspective or angle. Are you taking the footer from a good perspective and you know that I feel like you need to get down very low.

21:01:29

And this is probably something you’re going to have to play around with if you aren’t used to taking photos at a low angle how loads you actually need to go.

21:01:37

If you’re still taking photos standing up here, or even kind of kneeling down with your cameras still at your kind of chest height. I’m going to say this probably too high, some of the time.

21:01:49

So you might want to work on that you know do you have that presence Do you have kind of a blurry foreground layer in your photos, and if not, that might be the thing that you need to work on starting to look at the different angle in the perspective

21:02:02

that you want to take your photo.

21:02:04

So you will go and check out the perspective lesson. Cool. now you have a plan.

21:02:09

So maybe you’re fine on those two so now we’ll look at composition, are you chopping off parts of the dog.

21:02:17

adhere to any of the rules like don’t chop the feet don’t chop the little paws.

21:02:26

I love it when you guys when I get when you get my voice in your head saying things and you tell me that because I just imagined you at a photoshoot now being like, okay, don’t chop off the pause, give the dog space to look into.

21:02:39

Make sure that there isn’t a branch coming out of their head and I just love this vision of you like there with your camera like focusing really hard and me just like nagging you in your ear, I love it.

21:02:49

Okay. Is it compensation or hot so the dog chopped off Have you chopped off the little paws and he chopped off the little ears. Other horizons straight.

21:03:01

Doesn’t adhere to like the rule of thirds. Are you thinking about leading lines are using curves, or contrast and lighten dark you know that’s more advanced stuff.

21:03:08

So all of these things can be made well except for focus, I guess. But most of the things can be made more or less advanced, depending on where you’re at, you know, if you’re like, yep yep yep yep yep yep yep okay let’s make your composition, more advanced

21:03:26

how can you use curves to lead the viewers eye in to the frame or through the frame and back to the dog, which case, there is a whole lesson on back grounds and our purpose, something like that, photography goal.

21:03:42

In the next level course and it talks about the, the voyage, our viewers have threat image based on the elements of the image. You know, so there’s always ways we can make these things more events.

21:03:55

If you’re like yeah nice way I’m fine with composition I’m thinking about that time, who’s thinking about composition all the time but maybe you are.

21:04:02

Maybe then lighting, so you’re not chopping off the fee, you’ve got a nice space to look into maybe lighting is your next thing. Are you thinking about the flatter with the lights flattering are there crazy shadows and highlights are the highlights blown

21:04:16

out. Maybe they need to be. You maybe your camera can’t handle under exposing things and that’s okay but at least you’re making conscious decisions about the lighting.

21:04:27

Are you trying to make a dark and moody photo with a lot of visible light in it.

21:04:33

Do you know whether that’s going to work or not.

21:04:36

So does the lighting work for what you’re trying to do, you know, again, basics to more advanced in this category. You know, it’s like, maybe you’re at the point where you’re like, oh, I didn’t know I couldn’t, I shouldn’t take photos and full sun Oh

21:04:54

okay that’s loki Loki, can we not be making this right now.

21:05:00

Maybe

21:05:03

likes.

21:05:05

So maybe you are like, I didn’t know I shouldn’t take photos and full sun, I need to start paying more attention to the lighting conditions, and that’s where you’re at, or maybe you’re like, cool.

21:05:16

How can I use the lighting today to make the mood of my photo feel a particular way.

21:05:24

So then editing and you can see everything’s quickfire down is the editing over done Are you kind of going a bit crazy. Are you thinking about where the light would naturally fall.

21:05:37

One of the big things that I see people do when they start doing lessons and the my tutorials is they start darkening everything except just around the dog, even if the dog is in a big open space like on a field, and the light should be falling Evenly

21:05:54

from above, on to the dog.

21:05:57

They’ll start putting like a spotlight on or just darkening this part, not the dog and everything should be pretty evenly lit so thinking about what makes logical sense for the editing, or even just okay what are the basic Edits that I can do to help

21:06:13

draw attention to my dog.

21:06:15

What basic Edits can I do to make the dogs Kurt color natural.

21:06:21

How can I train my eyes to work out the white balance.

21:06:30

Okay, Purpose I actually changed my mind about where this should be this I think should be further up because, although I think most of you are thinking about the purpose, or I don’t think you’d be here I think if you’re serious enough.

21:06:55

to invest in taking better photos I think you’re already thinking about the purpose but is the background. Nice. Is it a nice place to take a photo. Does the dog look good in this location, or if you just kind of plumped it there and it’s like, kind of

21:07:01

awkward right.

21:07:03

Is there a reason for taking this photo or if you just kind of sat the dog on the road and gone okay dog I’ll take a photo.

21:07:10

I don’t feel like that’s going to be so many of you guys but, again, taking this from a just starting place of, Okay, I’m going to consciously pay more attention to my background, all the way up to.

21:07:27

Cool. How can I use this curvy branch that’s our king over the top as a kind of a top frame, and how can I frame this so that it has a really intimate mood with the dog kind of being nestled in this location right so we can take it from this more beginner

21:07:43

place to a much more advanced place and thinking about locations and purpose purpose can even be.

21:07:48

I want to show the really intense serious side of my dog, what elements are my photo going to need to be able to do that what what location is going to support this story or this personality that I’m trying to show my viewer.

21:08:13

Right. And if you’re like well I didn’t know.

21:08:15

Okay, now you have your plan that’s what you need to learn about, if everything else is fine, you know if you’re at this point where this is a thing that you feel like is lacking in your images, then maybe that’s your starting point, you know, and again

21:08:29

guys, This isn’t all like, I don’t want you to like look at this list and be like, oh my Gosh, I have to focus on all of this at once. No, it’s like, what at the moment is missing, that’s holding your focus back or what is the point that is lacking a

21:08:45

bit. That should be the first thing that you work on consciously to improve. Not everything. One thing.

21:08:52

Last one is cohesion doesn’t make sense. Does the mood makes sense with the lighting the pose expression Location so on. Again this is like if I took a golden retriever puppy.

21:09:03

And they put it in a field of wild flowers on a beautiful, bright sunny day.

21:09:09

And I took a photo of it running with a happy mouth open.

21:09:14

And then I was like, I’m going to make it dark and moody.

21:09:17

It’s not going to work like I could edit that for two to death, I could do all of my normal things to make it dark and moody and it will not work because it doesn’t make sense because there are so many elements that are going against that, that mood,

21:09:33

you know what I mean, if I made that photo brighton happy and light my golden retriever puppy in the wild flowers that make sense so be cohesion there.

21:09:42

Same as okay i once took a photo of a wolf dog.

21:09:47

And, you know, it’s posing It was beautiful, very regal know this kind of winter so everything was dark and drab and great like the wolf Doug’s perfect overcast everything.

21:09:59

Very nice.

21:10:00

And then we let it run around a little bit, so it could just let off some steam.

21:10:05

And I was like I’m gonna take some candid photos of it running around, so we did, it was I was the happiest dog ever right super happy wolf dog run run.

21:10:14

Now suppose I could have jumped over a log, and I was getting these candid photos I looked at them later and I was like, doesn’t really make sense though, because you have this majestic wolf dog like looking like a wolf, with a big goofy grin and he’s

21:10:31

like homeless he leaps over this log on a drab winter day.

21:10:37

So what do you do, you can make it dark and moody because the expression and the movement and the everything just of the dog in that moment is not documented it if he had his mouth closed and he was like, you’re running.

21:10:53

Okay, let’s go dark and moody.

21:10:56

I can’t make it light and brighton happy because we have a wolf dog.

21:11:02

In a drab winter gray forest okay I could edit this thing so I pretended like it’s all pretty ingrained and Brian light Potter.

21:11:11

That’s not for me right if you want to completely change the whole same you do that, that’s fine. I just would rather have the elements matching does that make sense when I say cohesion and whether a further makes sense.

21:11:30

That makes sense.

21:11:34

That’s a quiet in the chat.

21:11:44

Okay. Good. Excellent.

21:11:48

And that might seem like too much stuff for you to think of right now because you’re like oh my god I’m just learning my camera settings, how am I meant to think about whether this mood makes sense.

21:11:59

And again, like, That’s okay, you’re not there yet.

21:12:02

You have this whole thing that I was teaching about the growth mindset, and that is about, you know, when kids and adults are feeling a bit down on themselves about their learning, like it’s fine You’re just not there yet, was put the word Yet there because

21:12:15

it’s just the thing that’s going to happen.

21:12:18

Okay.

21:12:19

So I think those are all the most fundamental things that we need to be observing are looking for in a photo and in our work.

21:12:27

Like I said, we can take them to more comprehensive or more dense levels.

21:12:32

You can read all that but it’s all the stuff I’ve talked about basically.

21:12:36

So,

21:12:39

my chat box.

21:12:41

Have a minute now to grab up one or two of your most recent photos you don’t have to share it I’m not going to ask you to share. This is Just for you and your pen and notebook.

21:12:55

If you have one and we’ve been taking notes.

21:12:59

Have a look at your recent photos. What are your main strengths, what are you doing really well so far.

21:13:06

And what are your challenges. What is your, what is what is going to be your priority over the next few weeks.

21:13:12

What are you going to be looking for most you don’t have to share this in the chat you’re more than welcome to.

21:13:19

You don’t have to don’t feel obliged to, but if you want to, that would also be lovely, lovely And yeah maybe elaborate Why did you choose that one. What are you going to do to improve Savannah, I don’t know.

21:13:34

I mean, you don’t have to do it right now if you’re put on the spot you can jot down this list and then just spend a few minutes in your own time having a look and being like, and if you don’t know.

21:13:46

Then I suspect, and I know for you Sabina that it’s probably going to be something like purpose and cohesion coming together like, how can you take small subtle elements like the pose, or the location or the lighting, or all of it.

21:14:09

And how can you use those things to tell a more powerful and impactful story, rather than, like, here’s a nice photo of a dog sitting here like what elements can you really start to play with, to really start telling more stories and showing us more of

21:14:35

the pet that you’re taking photos of.

21:14:39

i think would be interesting for you.

21:14:43

Feeling like all of the above, Susie but don’t be overwhelmed.

21:14:47

If it’s all of the above start with focus.

21:14:50

Start with the important stuff and work your way down, step by step.

21:14:56

So many things at the start with focus, maybe struggling to get the right settings on my new canon yeah okay, definitely check out the focus lessons then.

21:15:06

And if it’s one of those new cannons, you should have the animal I order focus, I think, which would make your life easier.

21:15:15

Definitely check out the focus lessons.

21:15:18

Focus is my biggest struggle. Okay.

21:15:21

I wonder if we should do a kind of a little. Have a look guys you guys who are on team focus.

21:15:31

Have a look at the workshop from march, April the learning your camera one, because we looked at how to do the different focus settings I believe we talked about back button focus, different focus modes and focus area.

21:15:54

If you are still struggling with focus, after watching that and looking at the focus lesson.

21:16:00

Please post in the group.

21:16:03

And everybody who’s team focused jump onto that post and say I’m also doing this, and we can maybe do a little focus workshop. Okay.

21:16:13

Thank you, Teresa

21:16:17

Feel like I still need to learn everything listed I’ve only recently started doing photography sometimes I love my fitness but most of the time I feel like they’re not good enough.

21:16:26

When I do like them I feel like it happened by accident i need more control and knowledge, okay cinema so camera settings for you. I would guess lighting as well it’s going to be a big one, probably because sometimes we’re a bit all over the place with

21:16:44

the lighting and.

21:16:47

and then we’re like, it worked or didn’t work.

21:16:50

And we don’t necessarily know why. So, Santa I think work through that improve your pet photography course and that will help you start taking control, and then see how you go from there and that feeling of not being good enough might not ever leave you

21:17:09

because we as artistic II kind of people who care enough about what we’re doing to invest in learning more, really often have a big dose of imposter syndrome.

21:17:22

And I will say up front because I am open and honest about things.

21:17:28

I still suffer from imposter syndrome, even my favorite photos, I’ll be like, I don’t think this is very good. And in the end you end up just faking it and putting it out in the world and being like how good is this photo and inside you like, oh please

21:17:46

don’t notice all those things I did wrong right or pleasers see through my facade.

21:17:56

And it’s in our heads.

21:18:00

You know, okay, you know, there’s always things we can improve but I think for a lot of us so much of that is just in our heads.

21:18:08

Right. Let me see what else people are saying that I watched that video Thanks help some of the names are different. Okay, okay, okay, cool.

21:18:16

Focus lots of facts, I’m gonna make a little note about focus guys, and maybe I’ll make a post in the group. And if, if you’ve all watched the lessons and stuff in a week or two and you’re still struggling.

21:18:33

Let me know on this post and I will organize to do a little focus a little focus group on focus.

21:18:42

Focus, focus group.

21:18:45

Okay, it’s in the book now.

21:18:48

See if I remember it right let me look at it today, purpose and cohesion as the main month, yeah not, for sure.

21:18:57

Light and editing, I need help with if I like an image I have no clue how I got there, okay. So have a look at.

21:19:08

Yeah, the light room course, even the december workshop about the looking for distractions because that is a heat to do with the rationale of why I start my editing process the way that I do.

21:19:22

So it could be interesting to kind of help give you a base, as a rationale. Yes.

21:19:28

So Kat said bringing more sense into the picture instead of having a nice photo of a nice dog in nice flowers yet nicely like okay just sit there dog guess that’ll work so we’re having more of an intention behind the photo I guess I like that.

21:19:43

I think editing is my main focus and working with my camera in manual, I feel like I’ve been practicing composition and lighting and photography photographic my clients dogs using my mom for years, but I’m trying to move over to the big bad world of manual,

21:19:57

manual, you will have so much more control and manual over what your camera does though.

21:20:03

I mean not not manual focus, nope nope no manual exposure yes manual focus, no manual focus works like a single shot focus and if the dog move slightly, or you move slightly they will be out of focus.

21:20:19

So keep that in mind, they really need better names for things but yes editing plenty of tutorials and different guides like I did a guide on a note on adding darkness.

21:20:33

So if you’re somebody that has been looking through the tutorials and you’re getting really excited about all the curves layers because we all know that I love me a curves layer and I love adding darkness to things.

21:20:45

And you’re now getting very enthusiastic about adding darkness to all your photos. Please go have a look. Maybe Teresa you can link this one to at the a note on adding darkness lesson as a bit of a guide on when you may wish to add some darkness, and

21:21:06

when you may not wish to.

21:21:11

was the march critique the other posts you mentioned for focus outside the back to basics.

21:21:21

I’m, we need to be talking about focus.

21:21:24

We probably have nothing to critique.

21:21:29

there might be some talking focus in one of the q amp, a sessions, there’s definitely a focus listen in the improved course. In the next level course, and the back to basics learn your camera workshop.

21:21:46

and we might have talked about it in a q amp a but I’m not sure. Thank you guys so yeah if you’re somebody who’s already fallen in love with adding darkness and curves that little thing that tries it just linked there might be interesting for you as well.

21:22:03

So the bit and back to basis for thought yeah i’m not i don’t i don’t remember saying another one so I think was just those ones.

21:22:10

Okay, so I think that is pretty much it is God I felt like he was looking at my light.

21:22:21

That’s pretty much it. So I hope that the list there at the end hasn’t overwhelmed, everybody, but more giving you a kind of a list of Priorities of maybe where to start.

21:22:36

Have a look at the learning journeys as well because like I said I’ve kind of mapped out where you might want to start and the different workshops and resources you might want to look at.

21:22:49

Otherwise, posting in the group, or on the discord and being like, hey, I’m having real trouble with focus, what can you tell what do you think a, you’ll get a lot of answers from people be they’ll probably point you to some lessons in the course, or

21:23:07

the resource library to that might give you the answers you’re looking for, or you like hey I have a black dog, I don’t know what to do. Somebody will be like here’s a whole lesson that I’m right I’m black dogs and if they don’t do what I will.

21:23:23

So definitely if you have, you know, if you thought about this and you’re like cool yeah I definitely want to fix this up or I’m having this problem, post in the group or on the discord and you certainly be pointed in the right direction.

21:23:37

Are there any final questions, are there any questions I said that I would come back to and I forgot to come back to.

21:23:45

Hope you all know by now that I am scatterbrained.

21:23:50

And I don’t take myself too seriously and I hurt that’s okay with everybody because it’s just how it is.

21:23:58

If you have any other final questions, please post them in the chat.

21:24:07

otherwise you’re welcome to post them on the group later that’s totally fine.

21:24:14

You can ask a quick question about library me yes, See if it’s quick, I didn’t answer things quickly through them in detail or not at all.

21:24:28

Questions just very excited. I’m excited for you to.

21:24:32

And so glad you’re all here. Like genuinely.

21:24:38

Yes Wait for Sabine his

21:24:41

Message.

21:24:43

katie Do you have any lessons on capturing two dogs.

21:24:48

Not yet but it, I made the lesson for it I just haven’t filled it in yet let me see if I have time this week.

21:24:55

Multi.

21:24:57

They might be something somewhere.

21:25:01

It’s not a specific lesson, I feel like I’ve mentioned it, but it’s on my list I’ll do a quick thing and I can expand on it later.

21:25:13

It will probably still make your head hurt though I’m sorry, multi dog lesson.

21:25:19

Yeah, that’s a realist.

21:25:21

I’ve set it up I just hadn’t filled it in yet. With that like next level course I keep thinking things that I want to add but I just don’t have time to add them so I’ve just made some blank lessons to come back to the point in time.

21:25:32

Is there a way to invert the radio filter from the beginning or do I have to manually do that every time I want to put a new one yet no you can do it, so.

21:25:45

okay.

21:25:46

So sabina is yours currently not ticked.

21:25:51

And every time you make a new one. It’s not ticked.

21:25:55

Yeah, okay. So, currently look something like this right.

21:26:05

Yep, anytime that you want to set a new default setting for the radio filters in light room set whatever you want it to be. Don’t make any radio filters, just hit enter.

21:26:19

So if I’m like okay I want it to be inverted and 50% feather every time.

21:26:25

Don’t make any radio filter is just hit enter and go back to the radio filters, and you’ll see now I’ve got my 50% feather and it’s on the inside.

21:26:35

So if I now want a 90% or 90.

21:26:46

It’s going to be a 90 for the first time in its life it’s been on 89 forever. So if I want it now and 90 all the time if I were to make a radio filter now, and set that the next time so I hit Enter.

21:26:53

Okay, come on.

21:26:53

The next time.

21:26:55

Oh, the next time is still at 90. Okay, it’s decided to behave itself in general.

21:27:02

So, let me see.

21:27:03

So now it’s on 50, if I did it, and did it.

21:27:08

Whatever, whatever.

21:27:10

Okay, well today it’s staying at that level.

21:27:18

in general, if you just hit enter and don’t say anything. Next time you come back in I mean you can do it, we’d like this too so what I want my wife to always be 66 so hit enter don’t make any radio filters when I go back in whites will now be at 66.

21:27:37

not says how do you undo that every radio filter I do unsaturated I must have done that setting you just mentioned accidentally at some point yeah okay.

21:27:47

So you just so at the moment is always like this. D saturated, just double click on the name, that’ll take it back to zero.

21:27:56

Don’t make a radio filter.

21:27:58

Just hit enter. And then when you go back in.

21:28:01

It’ll be everything at zero.

21:28:04

So anytime you end up with some like weird settings all over the place.

21:28:09

Just set the mold 0000. Double click double click it Enter and then when you go back in.

21:28:18

It’ll be whatever you left it at last time.

21:28:20

So that’s how you can set these like effect. So if you’re like, I want a shadows effect, I don’t know, right now it’s on 54 maybe I want that at 100. So now I can go.

21:28:31

It’ll be at 100.

21:28:35

I didn’t even know what I had it on before I think I just see some random one instead of zero, and then just use that time

21:28:48

that you can turn on your microphone and just reply out loud it’s i.

21:28:55

is there a note on all the shortcut keys for light room. I want to print them out.

21:29:02

I just got my pen. No, I don’t really use the shortcut keys that much but I can make a list for you. Let me just add it to my to do list.

21:29:13

Because I think the only ones I usually use like are to see the overlay.

21:29:20

And the sheet the slash to see the before and after.

21:29:26

But I can do, I can have a look. It might not be this week but I will put it on my list.

21:29:32

Light room keyboard

21:29:37

shortcuts.

21:29:40

Cool.

21:29:45

Any other question.

21:29:50

Dawn there is a list of Photoshop shortcuts in the Photoshop basics workshop booklet.

21:30:03

Yeah, okay, I can do that.

21:30:03

Just not lacquered.

21:30:07

No worries.

21:30:10

Hey, thank you.

21:30:17

All right. Any final questions for any of you guys are you all feeling okay with the learning community if not you know I’m here, and the mentors are here and everybody else is here, everybody’s really super happy to help.

21:30:33

And, you know, I always feel like with this community thing, the more that you contribute and get involved in the workshops, the more you’ll kind of get out of it but at the same time.

21:30:45

If you don’t want to get involved and you just want to work on your stuff in the background, that is Totally okay to some people reach out and let me know that they’re just happy working in the background and that makes me happy because then I know that

21:30:57

they’re okay because I care very deeply about you guys and you’re okay and that you’re happy being a member, you know because I don’t want you to sit there like resenting me or something because I’m not making workshops that you’re interested in, I won’t

21:31:12

know that unless you tell me so do get in touch if you need anything from me.

21:31:22

Right.

21:31:24

If nobody has any final questions.

21:31:33

The chat

21:31:37

hurt my little subtitles worked okay, I don’t know if they were useful. Sometimes they’re a bit random, but I think maybe they’re better than nothing.

21:31:45

Oh 10 people dropped out at some point.

21:31:48

Okay, I think everybody must be okay because nobody’s asking anything so I will wish you a lovely night I will get on. I’m seeing live tomorrow actually so I will make a time with her for the first aid course.

21:32:02

I am away on the weekend and then I’m on the road so my internet and computer time might be slightly more limited than normal but the Editing tutorial will be going up on the 20th.

21:32:14

Regardless, and then next week. So on the, on the week of the 17th. So not this week coming up with the one after. If you have any questions for the q&a submit them that week earlier is better so we have time to have a look at them.

21:32:31

Yeah, otherwise have a lovely week and I’m really looking forward to seeing what you guys make and what you’re learning and how I can help you and yeah seeing you guys improve.

21:32:43

Bye everybody.

Workshop: Photoshop Basics

In this workshop, we’re going to look at the most important tools and ways of working in Photoshop.

We will explore:

  • how to open our photo in PS
  • what exactly is masking??
  • adjustment layers
  • working with smart objects
  • cropping
  • clone stamp, content aware fill.

In the folder you’ll find:

  • The PDF Booklet. Download beforehand to fill in notes in the “notes” areas!
  • The Compressed/Zipped RAW & .xmp files. When both of these files are dragged into Lightroom, my Lightroom edits will be there – including radial filters etc. This allows us to skip the radial filter/WB/etc Lightroom steps 
  • The completely unedited .RAW files (not so useful for this workshop)
  •  The .TIF file of the photo with Lightroom edits, incase the above file doesn’t work. You do NOT need this file. It’s incase of emergencies.
The top two files are the most important. The other two are for if you want to edit from the very beginning in your own time, and/or if the raw/xmp file doesn’t work.

Workshop: Back to Basics – Learning Our Camera

Dynamic Range Optimization:

From Sony’s website:

Dynamic Range Optimizer/D-Range Optimizer (DRO):

The DRO function analyzes the contrast and produces an image with optimal brightness and recovered shadow detail. You can use this function while the subject is moving or during continuous shooting. The image may appear noisy because the image is corrected with image processing.

But to be honest, when I used it, everything just became insanely dark. Maybe I should try again, because optimal brightness and recovered shadow detail sounds great but it really, really sucked when I had it turned on.

Chat Transcript:

19:57:02 From Rosalind Phang : hii
19:57:12 From irenenyrud : I hear you 🙂
19:57:16 From Alice Nentwig : Hello… I can hear you fine 🙂
20:01:25 From lenorehedemark : I forgot and someone else reminded me 😅
20:02:42 From lenorehedemark : I’m eating donuts in a sweatshirt so my camera won’t be on today 😂
20:03:13 From Rosalind Phang : Baking a cake atm 😛
20:05:04 From Tracey : Emily have you pressed record?
20:06:37 From Tracey : Lol, ok good!!
20:11:15 From olivia : took me ages to figure out my new camera after Christmas after using my old one for 2 years 😂 think I’m still figuring things out accidentally as time goes on 😂
20:11:33 From lenorehedemark : I have mine set up the same! It kept annoying me the other way
20:16:53 From Tracey : I have a nikon d7200 cant find shutter speed
20:17:02 From Rosalind Phang : yes
20:17:15 From Rosalind Phang : Its the dial on the top of the camera
20:17:18 From olivia : dial
20:17:20 From Rosalind Phang : Just move it around with your thumb
20:18:02 From Tracey : oh good!
20:18:23 From Tracey : playing
20:18:33 From olivia : it was aperture on my new Nikon d750 I couldn’t find for ages, it’s a dial on front of camera haha
20:19:03 From Jessica Liu Ek : Anyone with Nikon who knows how to change the shutter button? Like changing which button that affects the shutter. If that makes sense?😅
20:19:07 From Rosalind Phang : yes
20:19:55 From Agnes : I always forget which dial is which 😂. I know it normally but I forget in action
20:19:59 From Jessica Liu Ek : I mean like the dial. So i want the dial that affects the aperture to affect the shutter speed instead
20:20:31 From Rosalind Phang : Jessica, go to menu,
20:20:41 From Jessica Liu Ek : Okay thanks I’ll try to find it
20:20:42 From Rosalind Phang : Then go to the pencil n the left
20:20:57 From Rosalind Phang : It takes you to the controls menu, and then you should be able to find customise command dials.
20:21:14 From Rosalind Phang : Does that help?
20:21:32 From Jessica Liu Ek : Oh yes thanks Rosie. I’ve been looking for that one for ages
20:21:38 From Rosalind Phang : great;)
20:25:38 From lenorehedemark : I’ve had Sony for a year and didn’t even know the fn button was there or did anything til like a week ago 😂
20:25:44 From lenorehedemark : ‘
20:29:23 From olivia : I think this is what I struggle with: focus area
20:30:05 From lenorehedemark : I feel like I switch my focus settings like everyday. I just can’t get it right lol
20:30:55 From Rosalind Phang : Do you use auto focus for self portraits?
20:32:03 From Alice Nentwig : With action shots: do you use expand flexible spot, flexible spot or zone??? I never seem to get the eyes in focus…
20:33:11 From olivia : yes! thank you that’s very helpful!
20:33:45 From irenenyrud : Did it work to send a photo? I don’t understand what the «L+tracking» do.. I have a canon Eos R.
20:35:24 From Rosalind Phang : Helps to have eye tracking! Haha! Mine doesn’t do any continuous tracking or any tracking.
20:36:50 From olivia : I managed to get a couple of action shots today by pre-focusing on the obstacle the dog was jumping over because my camera hates my black dog running at speed 😂
20:37:45 From irenenyrud : Ah, I dint know it was a face 😀
20:38:00 From irenenyrud : Hahaha
20:38:47 From Rosalind Phang : Nope
20:39:01 From Rosalind Phang : I have to keep moving the focus point to focus
20:39:07 From Agnes : Metoo d750 😂
20:40:03 From lenorehedemark : Do you have a dial or something to move your focus point or do you have to go into the menu?
20:40:04 From Rosalind Phang : Ahh ok got it!
20:40:25 From irenenyrud : Me neither 😀
20:40:28 From Tracey : Im glad you asked that Fiona!!!!
20:43:57 From lenorehedemark : I love back-button focus. I set it a few months ago and have been obsessed 😂
20:45:19 From irenenyrud : Do you keep half pressing the shutter at the same time as you hold the «af on»?
20:47:45 From lenorehedemark : Hmm smart! I’ve never thought to do that!
20:48:08 From Rosalind Phang : Thank you! Was always wondering about that
20:48:39 From Jessica Liu Ek : That’s so smart! I was so annoyed when it kept re-focusing before I discovered back focus
20:52:07 From lenorehedemark : Oh I asked a question I think you missed
20:52:25 From lenorehedemark : Do you have a dial or something to move your focus point or do you have to go into the menu?
20:53:21 From lenorehedemark : I have a joystick I think but it just doesn’t work to move the focus point
20:55:12 From irenenyrud : You answered my question about half pressing the button – thank you 😀
20:55:21 From lenorehedemark : Ok thank you. That is what mine does and it’s just a bit of a hassle when shooting so I wanted to know if there was something different
20:55:58 From lenorehedemark : I did but it came in with a broken sensor so I sent it back
20:59:46 From Rosalind Phang : When you took the self portraits with your dogs, I thought you were using your phone as a remote but I didn’t see your phone in your hand?!
21:01:57 From Rosalind Phang : HAHAHAA
21:04:27 From lenorehedemark : I love the “post to instagram” reminder 😆
21:05:39 From lenorehedemark : Oh gosh I definitely need that. My photos are always crooked and I always have to fix it in post
21:10:44 From lenorehedemark : Omg that’s super helpful. I never knew that existed 😂
21:17:03 From lenorehedemark : RAW is a huge lifesaver for events
21:19:36 From Agnes : Colour space: srgb or adobe rgb, or in case raw it is not important?
21:20:43 From Agnes : Thanks 😊
21:23:01 From Teresa : what does the Dynamic Range Optimization do?
21:24:01 From lenorehedemark : What is it supposed to do?
21:24:34 From lenorehedemark : I’ll turn it off and see what changes
21:25:06 From lenorehedemark : Is that DRO?
21:25:20 From lenorehedemark : Oh nice it’s already off
21:26:20 From Teresa : ah thanks!
21:27:19 From lenorehedemark : I don’t think I have anymore. Thank you so much!!
21:27:26 From Rosalind Phang : Thank you:)
21:27:33 From Alice Nentwig : Thank you so much as always!
21:27:44 From Jessica Liu Ek : Thank you Em!
21:27:48 From lenorehedemark : Have a nice night!
21:28:05 From lenorehedemark : Oh yes I won’t forget this time 😂
21:28:21 From Tracey : Thanks Emily, i’ll need to watch again but appreciate your patience with us. xx
21:29:20 From Agnes : Thank you so much 😊

Workshop: Changing Colours (March 2021)

Chat transcript:

18:55:40 From Océanne Martel : I’m at work and I have no webcam but Hello guys! 🙂
18:55:59 From angelakamper : hello
18:57:52 From irenenyrud : Hello 🙂
18:58:05 From Emily Abrahams : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WcL1bcEKIsaK1Si60CV-L67hboqPKaRM/view?usp=sharing
18:59:57 From Alice Nentwig : Hello 🙂 My computer doesn’t have a microphone, so I’m participating via Chat 🙂
19:00:20 From leticia : hello everybody
19:05:55 From Olivia Moore : to give a certain context/feel to an image
19:06:07 From Myrthe de Bruijn : to make the picture more a ‘whole’
19:06:12 From Rosalind Phang : To complement each other
19:06:19 From leticia : i change colors to give harmony to the image
19:06:22 From Olivia Moore : or accentuate what is already there (like more orange-y in autumn rather than brown)
19:06:42 From Agnes : Green can be weird
19:07:00 From irenenyrud : 7
19:08:06 From irenenyrud : (Sorry, had a puppy walking over my keyboard here..)
19:08:19 From irenenyrud : Haha
19:15:29 From leticia : in all the scenes must be 2 colors like maximum?
19:16:40 From leticia : ok, thanks!!
19:21:42 From Olivia Moore : all good here! 😀
19:21:55 From Océanne Martel : All good here too :))
19:21:56 From Teresa : we just listen very carefully 😉
19:21:57 From Alice Nentwig : intensely listening
19:22:03 From leticia : yesss
19:22:59 From irenenyrud : All good here as well 🙂 The piraja puppy is just a bit crazy at the moment.
19:27:03 From Alice Nentwig : demonstrate please
19:33:23 From Rosalind Phang : hahahahahaha
19:33:25 From leticia : what happend XDDD
19:33:29 From irenenyrud : Hahahha
19:33:32 From Myrthe de Bruijn : hahhah oh dear
19:33:47 From Océanne Martel : HAHAH loki
19:34:10 From Olivia Moore : the gasp hahaha
19:34:12 From Rosalind Phang : Totally
19:34:21 From Océanne Martel : yesss the gasp was funny
19:34:31 From leticia : hahaha
19:35:11 From Olivia Moore : makes sense why i’ve never found it that successful using HSL in the past
19:37:20 From Olivia Moore : light weak orange/green
19:42:09 From Olivia Moore : oooh that’s very cool, i hadn’t been brave enough to consider other layer masks than curves/levels/hue/sat
19:44:52 From Olivia Moore : super awesome, love how targeted it is so it looks more natural
19:46:07 From fay : wowww I’ve never tried the selective color before ! I love it !
19:46:09 From Myrthe de Bruijn : What would you do with pictures that sort of feel like they’re not making sense colour wise? Where do you start? Or just throw away the image all together? 😉
19:46:38 From Myrthe de Bruijn : I can screen share an example
19:46:51 From Myrthe de Bruijn : says you need to stop the sharing haha
19:51:10 From Myrthe de Bruijn : Yeah I was thinking the same with the moss! Like the dog is a bit orange, the background somewhat desaturated brown and then there’s the moss not going along with it! So this really helps with the idea!!
19:51:35 From Olivia Moore : so if in an image it’s mostly green, but there’s an element of blue-y green would it be a little better to have it more cohesively green?
19:52:59 From Olivia Moore : oooh yes
19:53:23 From leticia : With the photo I’m using, put the color that i put, I still see the color of the weird dog, should I change the color of the dog first?
19:54:10 From leticia : ok
19:58:08 From Rosalind Phang : Yes! I learnt about that 🙂
19:58:15 From Rosalind Phang : I think from you
19:58:17 From Rosalind Phang : LOL
19:58:18 From Olivia Moore : that helps so much I was struggling with that this afternoon for the first time haha
19:58:30 From Olivia Moore : yes!
19:59:45 From leticia : would that be similar to the degraded effect?
20:00:01 From leticia : the curves
20:00:16 From leticia : ah ok
20:08:34 From Myrthe de Bruijn : Very helpful so far, thank you!
20:08:51 From leticia : with the color balance Would it be normal to leave the dog’s natural color, or would it be left with the new color balance?
20:10:17 From leticia : ok, prfect!
20:10:23 From leticia : thanks
20:11:19 From Olivia Moore : this is what i’ve been using bc i didn’t know any other tools haha
20:14:50 From Olivia Moore : not curves colour specific but when masking do you generally use a brush to mask the dog out?
20:16:24 From Olivia Moore : ok thanks!
20:16:57 From Teresa : color curves are weird haha
20:17:36 From Olivia Moore : it worked well on my pastel sunset beach reflection pic but less so in busier backgrounds
20:17:55 From Alice Nentwig : Color curves are too unpredictable to me…
20:19:01 From Olivia Moore : yes that was exactly how it was
20:19:19 From leticia : Is there a situation where it is better to use one method or another? or is it according to taste? I hardly ever use color curves
20:20:53 From leticia : ok! thanks!
20:25:12 From Teresa : this slider always confused me so much, thanks for the explanation
20:30:49 From leticia : sorry, you did in a new layer?
20:31:13 From leticia : ah ok!
20:34:30 From Teresa : 👍
20:38:48 From Olivia Moore : thank you for the workshop!
20:38:51 From Rosalind Phang : All godo
20:38:53 From Alice Nentwig : Thank you! That was extremely helpful!!
20:38:56 From Olivia Moore : it’s been very helpful
20:39:19 From Teresa : thank you so much!
20:39:21 From fay : this was sooooo helpful ! thank you so so much
20:39:40 From leticia : a lot to practise!!
20:39:52 From Agnes : I must watch this video again 😂 thank you it was very helpful
20:40:15 From Myrthe de Bruijn : Thank you so much for your time Emily and for letting me share my screen!
20:40:31 From Myrthe de Bruijn : Ooh I can show the progress maybe?
20:41:03 From leticia : woow
20:41:16 From Myrthe de Bruijn : thank you!
20:41:22 From Olivia Moore : i can
20:41:36 From leticia : What happens when you change the color several times and don’t know which one to decide on? XD, I never know which one might be correct, or which one looks better
20:42:52 From leticia : aaaaahh Good idea!!!
20:45:07 From Olivia Moore : haha thank you!
20:46:38 From Myrthe de Bruijn : I do tend to sometimes go a bit wild with the orange/yellow look with my pictures. Any advice on spotting it when it’s too orange and changing it? Just desaturating or adding some green?
20:48:58 From Myrthe de Bruijn : yeah that sounds logical! Especially the magenta part I think (in my case that is). Usually when I desaturate it feels a bit boring and grey, so perhaps it’s the magenta that’s in the way then!
20:49:38 From Myrthe de Bruijn : thank you so much!!
20:49:41 From irenenyrud : I can share what I’m working at 🙂
20:50:21 From leticia : I can share but my result is a little poop
20:50:27 From irenenyrud : I doesn’t work 🙁
20:50:35 From Olivia Moore : maybe privacy settings
20:50:35 From irenenyrud : Yup
20:50:45 From irenenyrud : Okay, I will 😀
20:51:58 From leticia : ok XDD
20:52:03 From leticia : hahahahaha
20:52:04 From Teresa : I also had a little play around that I could show, if you like
20:52:08 From fay : I feel like I went a bit too far with the colors haha
20:56:01 From fay : sure
20:58:05 From Rosalind Phang : Idea: flip the left side of the pic to the right part so it looks like the light is coming from the right behind her and then you can fkake backlight.
20:58:27 From Rosalind Phang : yes
20:59:02 From Rosalind Phang : Don’t forget the reflection

Workshop: Evaluating Our Work, Developing Our Style

This workshop will focus on evaluating our work, discovering our strengths and challenges, and discussing what “style” means to us, and how we can begin to find our own style.

Some things to think about/write down/consider before the workshop:

  • Have ready a few of your most recent images – both your favourites and ones you’ve struggled with.
    • What do you like about your favourites? What was challenging/what aren’t you satisfied with?
    • Have a look at some older images. Has your “style” already changed? Why? How?
  • Do a bit of research of your favourite photographers – write down what they seem to do in their photos that you like. Really dig into what elements of the photos are speaking to you, not only with editing, but with lighting, posing, the mood of the photos, the expression, maybe something about their creativity, or location, or story. Notice as much as you can.
  • Consider your current ideas/perceptions around photography/pet photography. What makes a great photo? How important is editing? What has led you to pick up your camera – what do you want to put out into the world? What is stopping you from doing that right now?
Below, you can download the booklet we look through during the workshop.

Unfortunately because I recorded via screen recording on my OTHER computer, rather than via the zoom meeting record function (I was trying to get higher quality), I didn’t think to save the chat. But I did read out a lot of people’s chat replies, so hopefully you get a sense of some of the answers people were suggesting, and some of the ideas we were coming up with.  I’ll get this all figured out one day.

Workshop: Seeking Distractions

Here is the screen recording of the free workshop for mailing list members, held in December 2020, where we discuss different kinds of distractions and then set about finding them and fixing them in a few of my images. As it’s a screen recording of my screen, rather than the meeting itself, the perspective you see might be a little different to what a participant would have seen – but I’m sure I’ll work out these technical issues for future workshops!

I know as well that a lot of participants were pretty quiet, and that’s totally ok! This was the first time we’d all gotten together, and it can be pretty intimidating to unmute yourself and speak up for the first time. My sincere hope (and goal) is that when I open the membership area of my site, that we will form a supportive Learning Community together. I’ve always called it a learning community, because it reflects how I operate. Although I want to teach you and share my knowledge with you, we will all learn better together, sharing and exploring, trying new things, asking questions, and engaging with one another. As a teacher in schools, this was how I ran my classroom. I never believed in “chalk and talk” as the most effective way to teach… So while this workshop was a little bit quiet, I foresee workshops run once the learning community is open as interactive events, where we can discuss, share, ask questions and receive guidance on our work.

But enough from me, I’m sure you want to get to the video. Below you will also find a link to download the PDF I walk through at the beginning of the workshop. Please do not share this with others, or screen-record this workshop.