Bringing Photographers Closer to Their Natural World
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2008 & 2009 Digital Workshops
Special sharpening actions and black & white conversion actions will be supplied to all participants. Typical Workshop Schedule Fees and What Is Included Payment, Discounts, Cancellation, Refund Policies What to Bring Return to
Schedule of Offerings Return to Roger
Devore's Bio Page General Approach - Our courses will work around the wonderful diversity of Southern Illinois, with the classroom sessions taking place in a newly developed lab working area in Lebanon, IL, just east of the ST. Louis area, with a PC available for each participant. Some workshops are split between field sessions and classroom sessions, and some are strictly focused on making the fine art digital print - see the specific descriptions below. However, each of these courses will include a concentrated effort on improving your production of digital prints, so at least the entire last three days of each workshop will be in the digital lab (all days are in the lab for the digital printing workshops). Each offering that includes field time will have that field time devoted to making images, in particular helping those with digital SLRs find ways to take full advantage of their equipment (however, film cameras are also encouraged to attend - many of the things we cover will be applicable to both, and the locations we visit will be wonderful to capture digitally or on film), and sharing our past images with others, for critique and possibly picking some of those to pursue in our printing work. Those with digital capture can make prints from the images they make during the first two days, if they so desire. Those with film cameras can also use a local lab to process their slides in four hours, if they like, and a limited number of scans can be made from those slides. However, all participants should bring digital files (either captures or scans on CDs) with them for the printing sessions to assure they have an adequate number of images they want to use while learning to print. We will also introduce two exciting new imaging softwares: Photomatix - which is HDR software that merges multiple different exposures of the same scene and Helicon software that merges several different focus and depth of field of the same scene. Who Should Attend - These courses are designed for any photographers interested in significantly improving their digital printing abilities. Prior use of a recent Photoshop edition is necessary, with at least a limited knowledge of how to maneuver within Photoshop. We will be utilizing Photoshop CS3, but participants do not have to be using that edition at home. For those courses offering time to work on image capture in the field, participants should be familiar with their camera's manual and bring the manual with them for reference. For those who need it, there will be some digital capture instruction, but each participant should be familiar with the basics of how their camera operates. Equipment Needed - For the lab work, you will be using our PCs and an Epson large format printer during the workshop, with all supplies covered by the lab fees. We would also recommend bringing some blank CDs or DVDs to copy the files you produce on the computer - you will want to take some of them home for printing later, too. Equipment in the Lab - Each participant will have a Dell computer running Windows XP Professional, with 1 GB of DDR2 SDRAM, a 160 GB serial hard drive, a state-of-the-art Pentium D processor with Dual Core technology, a combo 48x CD-RW/DVD+/-RW drive, a 20" ultrasharp digital flat panel wide format monitor, and a network connection to an Epson large format printer. The process of mounting and matting the final print will also be demonstrated using a Fletcher Mat cutter and hinge mounting techniques. Mounting and matting of finished prints will be an available option at all workshops. Course Descriptions December 3-7, 2008 July 8-12, 2009 Group Leader - Roger Devore
Each course will explore methods of optimizing tones and pulling the detail from darker images. This entire extensive printing course will take place in the digital lab, with our focus being to give everyone a much stronger understanding of digital printing using Photoshop CS3. Included in the lab work will be fine tuning the settings in Photoshop, becoming familiar with the tools of Photoshop CS3 (this will be designed so that it is very applicable to those who still have an earlier version of Photoshop, also), making difficult selections and working with them, using levels and curves extensively, using quick masks, working with advanced sharpening techniques, understanding monitor calibration and learning to work with layers on every image (including all types of adjustment layers). Everyone will make art quality prints from the digital files they brought with them. The first morning will be devoted to reviewing work brought by the participants, then each of the next five days will be filled with exercises and working on the digital files brought along, culminating at the end with three 16x20 art quality prints made be each participant. We will also teach everyone how to archivally mount and mat their prints (using various methods) on the last morning. Mounting and matting service for finished prints will be an available option. Roger has been making his own prints using Epson's pro graphics equipment for several years.
Digital Capture and Printmaking
All courses will include detailed work on achieving the proper colors, no matter how difficult the images. The field portion of this workshop will concentrate on making good compositions, whether using digital capture or film, around the diverse landscapes of Southern Illinois. For those using digital capture, we will work on achieving the best histograms (including understanding how to use the histogram) and making the best menu settings (i.e., RAW vs. JPEG, color space, white balance, etc.) for the situation, with heavy emphasis on white balance. We will also use some of the "less favorable" hours of light for digital capture classroom sessions and to review images brought by the participants, looking for ways each image could have been improved. When we return to the digital lab, our focus will be to give everyone a strong understanding of Photoshop. Included in the lab portion will be fine tuning the settings in Photoshop, becoming familiar with the tools of Photoshop CS3 (this will be designed so that it is very applicable to those who still have an earlier version of Photoshop, also), making selections and working with them, using levels and curves, using quick mask, working with excellent sharpening techniques, understanding monitor calibration, learning to work with layers extensively (including all types of adjustment layers) and creating Photoshop actions. Everyone will make art quality prints from the digital files they brought with them. Each of the three days in the lab will be filled with exercises and working on the digital files brought along, culminating at the end with three 16x20 art quality prints made by each participant. We will also teach everyone how to archivally mount and mat their prints (using various methods) on the last day, including a demonstration of mat cutting and hinge mounting. Mounting and matting service for finished prints will be an available option. Roger has been making his own prints using Epson's pro graphics equipment for several years.
Links to some very helpful digital books at Amazon
For Panavue ImageAssembler 3 software (the panoramic assembly
software we use in our workshops), click on
For Gold DVD-R media, by MAM-A, go to Media Supply Web Store. For Gold CD-R media, by MAM-A, go to Media Supply Web Store. Return to Welcome to The Nature Workshops Go to Schedule of Offerings |
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