Photoshop
Dates - March 12-14; May 28-30; August 6-8; November 12-14
Workshop Fee - $500
This is a comprehensive three-day course designed to show the participant how to get the best out of the images taken. The straight image taken with even the best cameras can be significantly improved to add drama, make them “pop”, or just to make it a beautiful image. The versatility and capability of Adobe Photoshop is a powerful tool to accomplish a wealth of improvements and modifications. This workshop will get the participant, not only introduced to, but deep into the workings of Photoshop, in a way to make it clear what it is, how to use it, what the process is to generate a final image, and when and how to approach more complicated techniques.
Photoshop consists of three programs, namely Bridge, the RAW Window, and Photoshop itself. The workshop starts, however, with what the camera provides in terms of a digital image and its associated data. Then downloading to the computer is discussed and file management including where to file the originals, and organizing and naming them. Then Bridge and the RAW Window and their purpose and capabilities is presented and demonstrated. The image is then opened in Photoshop where the real work of image enhancement is made. Layers will be used to make global adjustments to the overall image of tonal range, contrast, color balance, saturation and more. Corrections to the image, such as removing spots or unsightly elements, can be made with cloning and healing tools. The various methods of selecting a part of the image are shown and when to use them. Then layers and masks are again used for that selection to get local improvements. This includes burning and dodging, blending this selection in with the rest of the image, and more. Adding text to an image is great if it is to be used for cards or slide shows, and you learn about how to do this with various fonts and colors. There are then special techniques, now that we know how to use the various tools. Some of these include panoramas, high dynamic range images (those that exceed the range of the camera’s chip), using Lab color profile, gradients, photo filters and masks, converting to black and white, and the basics of compositing. The final image is saved and we examine the setup for printing including sharpening the image, image sizing, and the need for color profiles and the effects of differing papers.
There will be a field trip locally to provide the opportunity to capture some images from here in scenic New Mexico, and then selected ones will be used to show what can be done to improve them with Photoshop.
A group dinner the first night (cost of the dinner is not included in the workshop fee) is followed by an evening session wherein there will be a showing of digital prints and discussion of how they were taken and processed.