Jim Zuckerman’s

PH OTO I N S I G HTS
June 2018

Night safaris
The shade side
Neutral Density filters
Sensor cleaning
Photo tours
Ask Jim
Student showcase
1
 4. Night safaris
10. The Shady Side
15. Neutral Density filters
17. Sensory cleaning
22. What’s wrong with this picture?
24. Short and Sweet
25. Ask Jim On the cover: A leopard with a
26. Photo tours kill, Sabi Sabi private reserve,
28. Student showcase South Africa. This page: The
spectacular dunes at Sossusvlei,
34. Back issues Namib-Naukluft National Park,
38. Subject index for Photo Insights Namibia.

222
F
or my entire photographic career, which started in 1970, I’ve carried a heavy backpack.
I’d hate myself in the morning if I needed a piece of gear and didn’t have it with me.
When I shot medium format cameras --the Mamiya RZ 67 system -- my pack weighed
about 45 pounds. I carried this through all the airports, on every hike, on every shoot, and on ev-
ery photography tour I led. I actually joked that I used to be 6’ 4” before I became a photographer,
but I got squished down to 5’ 9” because of all the equipment I carried!

Never once did I give a thought to the long term consequences of carrying so much weight on my
back. When I was in my 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s -- and even 50’s -- nothing hurt so it wasn’t even in
my consciousness to consider shoulder, lower back, hip, or neck pain. I was lucky for a long time.

There are some thngs that are inevitable, like death and taxes, but let me assure you, photographers
with lower back pain and joint issues are just as inevitable. I’m speaking from experience. You
shorten the time line between being young-ish and painless to older and wracked with pain if you
contine carrying heavy loads on your back.

Therefore, work out ways to carry your gear so your hips can take some of the weight. Carry less
weight when possible and only bring essential gear. Wear a photo vest, too. This distributes the
weight. Don’t bring a monster tripod. It’s not necessary. Find one that is sturdy, carbon fiber, and
light. It doesn’t have to support the Chrysler Building. For those endless corridors in airports, get
a rolling pack. I prefer the ones with a wheel (or double wheel) at each corner so even a heavy pack
glides along the smooth floors efforlessly. In the plane, ask for help from a flight attendant to lift
the equipment into the overhead. Don’t be embarrassed to do so. Who cares?

Even if you don’t have pain now, you will later without taking precautions. No question about it.
It seems no one, or virtually no one, escapes these problems.

Jim Zuckerman
www.jimzuckerman.com
photos@jimzuckerman.com

3
 NIGHT SAFARIS
G
oing on a night safari is very special.
You get an intimate glimpse into the
lives of animals who are often active
by night, and this allows you to capture remark-
able images with unique lighting.
Not all national parks and game reserves allow
night drives. This is usually due to the fact that
poachers are active at night, and anti-poaching
game wardens and para-miltary units assume
that if they see people moving around a wildlife
park at night, they are poachers. With a shoot-
to-kill policy in many of these parks throughout
Africa, you won’t want to be driving around with
a spotlight, advertising your location.
In private reserves, on the other hand, night
4
drives are often allowed. If going on a night
safari is high on your bucket list, check out the
various private lodges and wildlife reserves in
Africa to see which one might appeal to you.
In addition, some lodges have illuminated
waterholes on their property. Shooting from
a blind, you can see a parade of animals that
come to drink. I photographed the critically
endangered black rhinos on the next page at
such a lodge in Namibia.
Lighting
It is possible to use on-camera flash during a
night drive, but this kind of light is flat, harsh,
and unattractive. The fact that the flash sits
above or next to the lens means shadows on
the animals are filled in, contours and tex-
ture are reduced, and the pictures are far less
pleasing than when a hand held spotlight is
used. I took the picture of the leopard at right
with on-camera flash, and you can see how
flat the light is on the cat. In addition, the
pupils reflect the flash and there is an unfor-
tunate shadow on the tree trunk behind the
leopard because I took a vertical composition
which placed the flash unit beside the lens,
causing a shadow.

For the black rhinos, I also used flash because

at the time I was shooting film. The ambient
light on the waterhole wasn’t enough to allow
me to get a well exposed picture, even though
I pushed the film three stops from 400 ISO to
3200! I would have preferred to use the kind
of lighting you see on the lion on the previous
page.
5
In most night drive scenarios, you will have a
driver of the vehicle as well as a spotter. The
spotter sits on a seat mounted on the front of
the 4-wheel drive Land Rover, and he holds a
bright, incandescent spotlight to look for game
in the dark. You sit several feet away from the
spotlight toward the rear of the vehicle, thus
the angle of the light looks more like it is off-
camera.

Once an animal is found, the spotter holds the

light so you can make the photo.

Note that a good spotter never shines the light

on mamallian herbivores. The temporary
blindness caused by the bright light makes
them momentarily vulnerable to predators,
and game lodges try to be sensitive to hav-
ing the least amount of human impact on the
natural environment as possible. Illuminating
predators, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to
6
OREGON COAST PHOTO TOUR
August 29 - September 3, 2019
Oceanscapes Stunning waterfalls Star photography Rocky beaches

7
affect them unless they are stalking prey.
White balance
The incandescent spotlight requires the white
balance setting in your camera to be on tung-
sten or incandescent. Some cameras refer to
this as indoors. If you shoot RAW, the yellow/
orange hue from using daylight WB can easily
be converted when working post-processing.
However, it’s nice to see the correct colors on
the LCD monitor on the back of the camera,
so I recommend switching to tungsten white
balance when shooting at night under these
circumstances. Remember, change the white
balance back to daylight the next morning!
ISO issues
In very dark photographic situations, you have
8
to do everything possible to keep the ISO as
low as possible to minimize digital noise. That
means, first and foremost, shoot wide open --
i.e. the largest lens aperture available to you on
that lens. You don’t have the luxury of depth of
field. With a telephoto lens, you’ll probably be
shooting in the f/4 to f/6.3 range.
For the shutter speed, remember the general
rule regarding telephoto lenses: To get sharp
pictures, the shutter should be the reciprocal
of the focal length. This means if you have
a 400mm telephoto, the shutter speed should
be at least 1/400th of a second. If you have a
500mm lens with a 1.4x teleconverter, which
equals 700mm, then the shutter should be at
least 1/700th of a second.
Can you get away with a slightly slower speed?
Possibly, but for important pictures I wouldn’t

try it. If you do, expect images that are slightly
less sharp. You might get lucky with tack sharp
images when shooting a 400mm lens at 1/320th
of a second, but you are taking a chance.
Use the image stabilization feature when hand
holding the camera and lens, but if you are us-
ing a bean bag, a monopod, or if you’re resting
the lens on a windowsill, turn the IS or VR off.
For most camera systems, the resulting pictures
won’t be sharp unless the stabilization is off.
Noise
For most of the pictures included in this article
(except the black rhinos on page 5 and the gi-
raffe, above, which were shot with film) I used
ISO settings between 4000 and 6400. In ex-
treme conditions -- meaning extremely dark --
like the crash of white rhinos, right, I shot with
an astonishing 25,600 ISO!
In most cameras, 6400 ISO is the maximum you
can use and still rescue the images from un-
sightly noise by using Neat Image software,
Topaz DeNoise, or Nik’s Dfine 2.0 (my pref-
erence is Neat). For some cameras, though,
like the Canon 7D and 7D Mark II, ISO set-
tings above 1000 ISO ruin the photographs.
The noise is so bad it can’t be repaired.
Excessive noise is not just about unwanted
granular texture, though. The quality of the
image is actually degraded. If you enlarge
the image to 100% then study the image de-
tail beyond the noise, upon close examina-
tion you’ll see the diminished detail. That’s
why, with superior noise reducing software
like Neat Image, these low quality images
seem blurred or unnaturally smoothed out.
It’s not the failure of the software because
there is simply nothing for the software to
draw upon to reconstitute a sharp picture.
To shoot successfully on a night safari, you
need a camera that produces a decent image
at 6400 ISO. If the light on a subject is still
too dim, then there are two alternatives: Use
a second spotlight to add illumination on
the scene, or move the vehicle closer to the
subject. The Inverse Square Law states that
as the distance between the light source and
the subject halves, the intensity of the light
increases by four times. §
9
 THE SHADY SIDE

I
talk a lot about changing backgrounds
in Photoshop. Backgrounds are just
as important as subjects in making
a picture work. Too often, you photograph a
great subject in front of a less-than-exciting
background, and the photograph just isn’t as
successful as it should be.

Similarly, the lighting may not be ideal. We

can’t be everywhere at sunrise and sunset, and
for lots of reasons we may be forced to take pic-
tures when the lighting is harsh, contrasty, and
unflattering to the subject or the landscape. question is: What kind of background makes
sense?
The first question is: Can the background be
changed so the results look real, and the second When you composite images, the lighting has

10
to make sense. For example, you can’t put a
sunset sky into a landscape taken in diffused
light. By the same token, inserting a sky with
storm clouds doesn’t work if the subject was
photographed in mid-day sunlight.
There is one caveat to the last example, how-
ever, and it has saved many of my pictures from
the trash can. It is this: If you photograph a
scene or subject such that the sun is behind the
elements in the composition, like the landscape
at the top of the previous page, this means most
of the important parts of the shot are shaded
because they are facing the camera. The sun
is behind them, and the camera only sees the
shady side.
This means that if you replace the sunny sky
with clouds, it works. A cloud cover produces
diffused light, and that’s what you’ve captured
on the land -- except for the sunny sky, of
course. So when the sun and/or the blue sky
is replaced by clouds, the scene looks quite dy-
namic as well as appearing to be correct.
If there are shadows from the direct sun in the
original image, they have to be cloned out or
cropped out.
Compare the two versions of the Namibian
landscape on page 10. In the original, the face
of most of the dunes are in shadow because the
sun was behind them, and the trees as seen from
the camera position are shaded as well. Only
the dunes at the far right are richer in color be-
cause they were hit from the direct sun, and the
floor of the dried lake bed was also struck by
the mid-morning sun. In both of those areas,
I selected them using the quick selection tool in
Photoshop and then applied desaturation with
11
 POST-PROCESSING
online course

by Jim Zuckerman

In this photo, I added the foreground dune to cover up the multitude of foot prints
in the original sand that had blown in from the desert. Kolmanskop, Namibia

Learn how to process your images to give them visual impact. You will be introduced
to Photoshop techniques that go beyond what you see and even beyond what you can
imagine. This four-week course is invaluable to making your pictures look as good as the
photographs you envy!

The great thing about online courses is that they can fit into any schedule. Life gets in the
way at times, and Jim puts no limit on the time you can submit your work for his critiques.
CLICK THIS PHOTO to read more about this course.

12
the pulldown menu command, Image > adjust-
ments > hue/saturation.
Then, I replaced the sky. Here are the steps:
I opened the cloud picture and chose Select >
all, then Edit > copy. This put the storm clouds
photo into Photoshop’s invisible clipboard.
I followed this by selecting the original blue sky
with the magic wand tool, expanding the selec-
tion by two pixels with Select > modify > ex-
pand, then feathering the selection with Select
> modify > feather (one pixel), and finally using
the command Edit > paste special > paste into.
My photo tour group wanted to take pictures of
the Milky Way at Deadvlei -- the site of the dead
trees in Namibia -- but the park rules prohib-
ited us from being there at night or early in the
morning. I explained to them that this wasn’t
a problem because, using the same principles I
just explained, we could take pictures in morn-
ing when the sun was behind the dunes and
the trees and then simply replace the sky with
the stars. So, we took photos of the Milky Way
from our lodge and replaced the morning sky
with the night sky.
In the composite on page 11, I also desaturated
the landscape and added a touch of blue as well
to simulate the look of night time photogra-
phy. To add a bluish cast, I used the Photoshop
command Image > adjustments > color balance.
The photo below left shows a sleeping leopard
in a tree, and I love the shot except for the ter-
rible background. This was early morning, and
the low angled sunlight on the land was beauti-
ful. However, from the vantage point my photo
tour group had, the backlight and the mass of
branches were terrible. Since the cat was shaded
from the camera’s point of view, it was a simple
matter to replace the distracting background
with out of focus foliage. I used the same steps
as described for the Deadvlei landscape.
Collect background elements
I suggest to clients who take my photo tours
that they should have two folders in their photo
library devoted to two different kinds of back-
grounds: skies and out of focus foliage. Shoot
all kinds of skies, from puffy white clouds
against a blue sky to storm clouds, rainbows,
sunsets and sunrises, lightning, etc. Similarly,
photograph various types of out of focus foli-
age -- backlit, front lit, and side lit, and capture
various degrees of blur. You never know what
is going to look good behind subjects which
need new backgrounds. §
13
w

UPCOMING PHOTO WORKSHOPS

Carnival in Venice workshop

Outrageous costumes in a medieval en-
vironment! Venice is great to visit and
photograph any time, but during carnival
it’s magical. There is nothing like it any-
where in the world. Exotic masks, stunning
colors, classic images.

Feb. 23 - March 1, 2019

Frog & Reptile Workshop

Close-up encounters with poison dart
frogs and exotic reptiles such as chame-
leons, geckos, snakes, and more in St.
Louis, Missouri. This is a macro work-
shop in which everyone consistently gets
amazing pictures.

Oct. 20 - 21, 2018

Photoshop workshop
The setting is in my home, and in this two
day workshop you’ll learn enough to be
truly dangerous in Photoshop! How to
replace a sky, how to fix all kinds of photo-
graphic problems in your pictures, how to
handle blown highlights, how to be incred-
ibly creative . . . and more.

November 16 - 17, 2018

14
10
 Neutral Density filters
I have stopped using filters altogether because
virtually all of the effects they offer can be done
in Photoshop. The one exception to this are
neutral density filters. I carry two 10-f/stop
ND filters to fit two filter sizes I need -- a 77mm
diameter filter for my 100-400mm telephoto
zoom, and an 82mm ND filter for my 16-35mm
wide angle.
Neutral density filters are exceptionally dark.
They are designed to let very little light into
the camera, thus forcing the shutter speed to
be long. A 10-f/stop ND filter reduces the light
by 10 full f/stops. A variable ND filter allows
you to vary the amount of light reduction -- say
from six f/stops to 10.
The purpose of a long shutter speed is to blur el-
ements in the scene that are moving. The beauty
of this technique is that when the camera is on a
tripod, all of the stationary parts of the picture
are sharp while the elements that are moving
become blurred. This juxtaposition of motion
blur in contrast with sharply defined subjects is
dramatic.
The iceberg I captured on the Ice Beach in Ice-
land, below, is an example. I used a 10-stop
ND filter in conjunction with a low ISO -- 100
in this case -- and an f/stop of 7.1. This forced
the shutter speed to be 30 seconds, and in that
time the surf swirled around the glacial ice and
left an artistic blur that engulfed the blue ice.
15
Obviously in that exposure time, the ice didn’t
move. I used a 100-400mm telephoto lens for
this shot, and I zoomed all the way to 400mm
for a tight composition.
The photo above is the beautiful skyline of
Shanghai. My photo tours to China begin in
this amazing city so clients can photograph
this stunning scene. I’ve photographed it many
times, but it turns out that my favorite version
is this 14mm shot also taken at 30 seconds. The
f/stop in this case was f/13 and the ISO was 100.
With wide angle lenses, the amount of blurred
abstraction you get requires longer exposure
times. In this shot, you can still see some tex-
ture in the water. The next time I shoot the
skyline, I’ll use 60 seconds or perhaps two full
minutes. To do this, you need a locking cable
release since the maximum exposure time on
16
our digital cameras is 30 seconds.
The ND filters are so dark that it’s impossible
to focus on a subject or scene when they are
screwed into the lens. Therefore, you must fo-
cus on the scene before they are added. Use
the automatic metering system in the camera
to determine exposure, but it may be neces-
sary to use the exposure compensation feature
to adjust the exposure with the filter in use .
ND filters are gray so they don’t introduce any
color bias. There is no need to make any kind
of color corrections when using one of these
filters.
If you like the technique of blurring clouds as
they move in the sky, you may need a 15-f/
stop ND filter because the sky is quite bright. §
 Sensor Cleaning
M
ost photographers are very hesi-
tant to clean the digital sensor in
their camera for fear of damaging
it. When I clean mine, I feel like I’m doing brain
surgery -- one mistake and the patient dies or
at least it will cost a lot of money. Nevertheless,
it needs to be done, and it’s very inconvenient
and expensive to send the camera to the manu-
facturer for this service.

Therefore, you need to learn to do it yourself.

The first line of defense for cleaning the sensor

is a hand blower, and I carry this with me all
the time. It is pictured at lower right. It costs
less then $10 online and weighs nothing. The
procedure is simple: Take off the lens, set the
camera up for manual sensor cleaning, hold
the camera opening downward so the dust falls
out of it, and squeeze the hand blower several
times all across the sensor. Be mindfull not to
touch the red tip on the sensor. If stubborn
dust spots or other grime persists, then you
need to go to Plan B. My Plan B consists
of what you see above and to the left. This
is the VisibleDust Quasar Plus 7x Sensor
Loupe. With the battery operated LED
lights to clearly illuminate the sensor (take

17
of the lens off, of course) and the 7x magnifica-
tion, you can see all of the offending particles
that drive you crazy when you open the images
in Photoshop. One, two, or three dust spots are
no big deal, but photography becomes no longer
fun when it takes a really long time to eliminate
dozens.

Once you can see the dust on the sensor, there

are two liquid solutions you need to have, also
from VisibleDust (visibledust.com):

Sensor Clean and Smear Away (pictured lower

right).

Sensor Clean removes water spots and moderate
dust, while Smear Away cleans oil spots (such as
from too much oil on the metal blades compris-
ing the lens aperture that might have happened
during manufacture).
90% of the dust spots can be removed with Sen-
sor Clean, but stubborn dust and other particles
and oil must be removed by Smear Away. If
needed, first I apply the Smear Away, and then I
finish the procedure with the Sensor Clean solu-
tion.
Then, turn the swab over and swipe again us-
ing the other, unused, side. Then discard the
swab. Don’t use it again.
Examine the sensor with the illuminated 7x
loupe, and if you still see dust, streaks, or oth-
er specks, repeat the cleaning process.
There are various types of swabs available, in-
cluding one specifically for corners. §

To apply these solutions, you need a package of

Sensor Swabs, upper right. You can buy them in
packets of 12, 50, or more from Visible Dust.

The procedure

With the sensor exposed, place 3 or 4 drops of

solution on the edge of the swab. Wait a moment
for them to disperse. Gently insert the swab into
the camera so it just fits snugly at one end of the
sensor. Make only one swipe from one side to
the other, conscious to include the corners. Use
a gentle pressure as you make the swipe. Keep in
mind that you are not touching the sensor itself.
You’re cleaning the thin glass covering it.
18 15
Expand your photographic artistry with
eBooks
Click on any ebook to see inside

18 19
 eBooks continued
Click on any ebook to see inside

Fantasy Nudes is in production and is coming soon

20 19
 PHOTO TOUR to C H I N A
Dec. 29, 2018 - Jan. 8, 2019

The incredible Harbin Snow & Ice Festival Siberian tigers Blue-faced monkeys Terra-cotta soldiers

21
23
 What’s wrong with this picture?

T
here are three things wrong with the photograph of this well-know his-
toric site in Clinton, New Jersey. It is the Red Mill, and it opened in
1810. It deserves to be rendered perfectly.

First, the horrible orange sign is obnoxious. They were advertising some kind of
program, and I hoped they had good attendance. From a photographer’s point of
view, though, it’s visually offending. The large ‘nightmares’ sign at the far right is
also detracting.

Second, the electrical lines that cross the roof above the orange sign need to be
removed, as does the pole supporting them. Additionally, the small signs at the
far left don’t add anything interesting or artistic to the picture, so they need to be
eliminated as well.

And finally, while the background isn’t bad, it’s not inspirational. I was in New

22
Jersey just as autumn colors were beginning to show and the trees behind the mill
were still mostly green with a tinge of yellow. I thought it would be a lot more dy-
namic to show a beautiful hillside with the colors we all love in the fall.

Removing the orange sign was the biggest challenge. I had to select the part of
the wooden fence that I could see by enlarging the image to 100% and using the
pen tool. I copied the selection and pasted it over the orange sign. For the ‘night-
mares’ sign, I simply cloned the background over that part of the picture, thus
totally eliminating that small shed on which the sign was hanging.

I used the spot healing brush to clone out the wires and the pole, and I used the
same tool for the small signs at the far left.

The final result is exactly what I wanted. §

23
 SHORT AND SWEET
1. I took this image in my frog and reptile workshop.
This is one of the props I use on which frogs and rep-
tiles are placed. It had a unique pattern, so I experi-
mented: I placed my ring flash behind the plant (while
the base of the unit was still in the hotshoe of the cam-
era) and fired. The backlighting looked great.
3. Birds close to the ground require a low angle. Lie
on your belly or use an articulating LCD screen so the
camera is placed on the ground. This provides an in-
timate and compelling portrait. Also, when depth of
field is a serious consideration due to close proximity,
wait until the bird’s head and tail are equidistant.
24
2. Birds that fly away from the camera rarely make
strong pictures. This tawny eagle in South Africa was
perfectly poised on a branch, but it decided to fly in
the wrong direction from the camera’s point of view.
This isn’t a terrible picture, but it’s not an award win-
ner, either.
4. Not all pretty subjects make great pictures. This is
in front of my house, and I loved the pink flowering
peach tree against the white crab apple tree. But all
this scene has going for it is color. This isn’t enough.
It’s busy, it doesn’t have a compelling graphic design or
composition, and it’s visually confusing. §
 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.

Q: Jim . . . I took this shot of a wild dog on your photo tour to Namibia and South Africa. Was it wrong
to crop the animal as I did? What is the rule for cropping the legs -- i.e. the bottom portion of a subject?
Also, what about the grasses at lower right? Should they be left in or cloned out?
Boo Hardy, Lexington, Kentucky

A: All good questions, Boo. In my opinion, the cropping is correct. You did so decidedly. It’s never a good
idea to crop the tips of things, such as feet, tails, ears, etc. But here you force the viewer to focus on the wild
dog’s unique head and torso, and I think it looks great.

Regarding the grasses, good photographers can differ on this. If this were mine, I’d leave them in because
they add to the natural environment. But for an ultra clean and ultra graphic look, they should be taken out.
The graphic design of the dog is so dynamic that it can stand on its own. But as I said, according to my own
sense of aesthetics, I would leave them in. Beautiful shot. §

© Boo Hardy 2018

25
 w
Partial list of Photography Tours
2018 - 2020
THE PANTANAL, BRAZIL BURMA CHINA
Nov. 2018 Nov. 2018 Dec. 2018 - 2019

YELLOWSTONE IN WINTER SNOWY OWLS ICELAND

Jan. 2019 Feb. 2019 Mar. 2019

PATAGONIA SCOTLAND KENYA

April 2019 May 2019 Aug. 2019

OREGON COAST UZBEKISTAN & KYRGYZSTAN WINTER WILDLIFE

Aug. 2019 Sept. 2019 Jan. 2020

For a complete list of all the photo tours/workshops Jim conducts, go to his website: www.jimzuckerman.com.
26
w

Scotland Photo Tour

May 17 - May 28, 2019
awesome landscapes ancient ruins great castles adorable cows

29
27
 Student Showcase
Each month, Jim features one student who took beautiful and inspiring images on one or more of his pho-
tography tours or workshops. It’s really fascinating how photographers see and compose such different im-
ages even though we may go to the same places. Everyone gets great photographs on Jim’s trips.

Dr. Ed Cohen, Marco Island, Florida Palouse workshop, Namibia photo tour, Cuba photo tour, Pho-
toshop workshop

© 2018 Ed Cohen

28
28
Student Showcase, continued

© 2018 Ed Cohen

29
29
 Student Showcase, continued

© 2018 Ed Cohen

37
33
30
 Student Showcase, continued

© 2018 Ed Cohen

34 31
 KENYA PHOTO TOUR
August 1 - 11, 2019

Rothschild giraffe, Masai Mara Conservancy, Kenya

32
 PHOTOSHOP WORKSHOP
in my home
Sat. & Sun., November 16 - 17, 2018
Photoshop is a photographer’s best friend, and the creative possi-
bilities are absolutely endless. In a personal and ‘homey’ environ-
ment (I have a very cool classroom setup in my home), I start at
the beginning -- assuming you know nothing -- but I quickly get
into layers, cutting and pasting, plug-ins, using ‘grunge’ textures,
replacing backgrounds, using layer masks, blend modes, adding a
moon, and a lot more. I promise to fill your head with so many
great techniques that you won’t believe what you’ll be able to do. I
go over each technique several times to make sure you understand
and can remember it.
Photoshop instructors approach teaching this program from dif-
ferent points of view. My approach is to be as expansive in my
thinking as possible in creating unique, artistic, and compelling
images. In addition to showing you how to use the various tools,
pulldown menus, layers, and so on, I spend a lot of time giving you
creative ideas that will inspire you to produce amazing images with
the pictures you’ve already taken.
I live in the Nashville, Tennessee area, and if you fly into the airport
(airport code BNA) I will pick you up. If you drive, I’ll give you my
address and you can find my home on Mapquest or with a GPS.
For the $450 fee, I include one dinner in my home (prepared by my
wife who is an amazing cook and hostess) and two lunches, plus
shuttling you back and forth from my home to your nearby hotel.
Contact me if you would like to participate in the workshop and
I will tell you how to sign up (photos@jimzuckerman.com). All
you need is a laptop and a lot of your pictures. If you don’t have
a laptop, I have two Mac Book Pro laptops I can loan out for the
duration of the workshop. §
33
 Click on the past issues of
PH OTO I N S I G HTS
you would like to read.
Nov. ‘12 Dec. ‘12 Jan. ‘13 Feb. ‘13 Mar. ‘13

Apr. ‘13 May. ‘13 Jun. ‘13 Jul. 13 Aug. ‘13

Sept. ‘13 Oct. ‘13 Nov. ‘13 Dec. ‘13 Jan. ‘14

Feb. ‘14 Mar. ‘14 Apr. ‘14 May ‘14 Jun.‘14

34
 Click on the past issues of
PH OTO I N S I G HTS
you would like to read.
Jul.‘14 Aug. ‘14 Sept. ‘14 Oct. ‘14 Nov. ‘14

Dec. ‘14 Jan. ‘15 Feb. ‘15 Mar. ‘15 Apr. ‘15
Jim Zuckerman’s

PH OTO I N S I G HTS
January 2015

• Topaz Glow
• A different approach to composition
• Photographing puppies
• Kaleidoscopic images
• Online photo course
• Student showcase
• Photo tours

May ‘15 Jun ‘15 Jul.‘15 Aug.‘15 Sept.‘15

Jim Zuckerman’s

PH OTO I N S I G HTS
June 2015

• Realistic HDR
• Selective focus
• Simulating bokeh
• Sepia & Dark Contrast
• Online photo courses
• Student showcase
• Photo tours
1

Oct.‘15 Nov. ‘15 Dec. ‘15 Jan. ‘16 Feb. ‘16

35
 Click on the past issues of
PH OTO I N S I G HTS
you would like to read.

Mar. ‘16 Apr. ‘16 May ‘16 Jun ‘16 Jul. ‘16

Aug. ‘16 Sept. ‘16 Oct. ‘16 Nov. ‘16 Dec. ‘16

Jan. ‘17 Feb. ‘17 Mar. ‘17 Apr. ‘17 May ‘17

Jun ‘17 Jul. ‘17 Aug. ‘17 Sept. ‘17 Oct. ‘17

36
 Click on the past issues of
PH OTO I N S I G HTS
you would like to read.
Nov. ‘17 Dec. ‘17 Jan. ‘18 Feb. ‘18 Mar. ‘18

Apr. ‘18 May ‘18 Jun ‘18

37
 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
Aerial photography Jun. ‘13
African safari May ‘16
Airplane windows Mar. ‘16
Alien landscapes Jan. ‘13
Anatomy of 8 photographs Jan. ‘16
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
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
Black velvet Mar. ‘14
Black and white conversions Mar. ‘17
Black and white solarization Sep. ‘17
Blown highlights Feb. ‘18
Blur technique Oct. ‘17
Bokeh Jun. ‘15
Butterfly photography Jul. ‘14
Camera setting priorities Jun. ‘17
Capturing lightning Jun. ‘13
Catchlights Jul. ‘16
Cheap flash stand Apr. ‘13
Children photography Jun. ‘14
Chromatic aberration May ‘13
Cityscapes Aug. ‘14
Cityscapes May ‘16
Clone tool, fixing an issue Sep. ‘17
Composites and Light Dec. ‘17
Composition, different approach Jan. ‘15
Contrast vs. exposure Jul. ‘15
Creating a star field Jan. ‘14
Creating a Sketch Dec. ‘17
Creative blurs Jan. ‘14
Dawn photography Jan. ‘17
Dawn photography Feb. ‘17
Dead center Jan. ‘13
Dealing with smog Oct. ‘16
Decay photography Sep. ‘15
Depth of field Aug. ‘16
eBook, how to make Jan. ‘13
Embedded in Ice Oct. 17
Energy saving bulbs Sep. ‘14
Exposing for the sun Sep. ‘16
Exposure, the sun Jul. ‘13
Exposure technique Sep. ‘13
Exposure, snow Jan. ‘14
38
Exposure triangle Nov. ‘14
Exposure, to the right Apr. ‘15
Exposure compensation Sep. ‘16
Extension tubes Dec. ‘13
Fill flash Sep. ‘13
Filter forge Feb. ‘13
Fireworks Jul. ‘13
Fisheye lenses May ‘13
Fisheye lenses Feb. ‘15
Flash backlighting May ‘15
Flash, balancing exposure Oct. ‘15
Flat art Sep. ‘16
Flowers May ‘15
Flowers in harsh light Jul. ‘16
Focus points Mar. ‘15
Focus stacking Mar. ‘17
Focusing in the dark Oct. ‘16
Foreign models Jun. ‘13
Fractals, generating Sep. ‘13
Framing May ‘17
Freezing ultra action May ‘17
Fun with paint Oct. ‘16
Fundamental ingredients Apr. ‘13
Garish imagery Dec. ‘15
Great subjects Apr. ‘15
Green screen Mar. ‘13
Grunge technique 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 panoramas Jun. ‘16
High wind Apr. ‘17
Highlights Apr. ‘14
Highlights, overexposed Feb. ‘15
Humidity Oct. ‘13
Hummingbird photography Apr. ‘13
Hyperfocal distance Jul. ‘13
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 Jan. ‘15
Keystoning, correcting Aug. ‘15
L Bracket Feb. ‘18
Landscape photography Dec. ‘12
Landscape photography Apr. ‘14
Landscape photography Nov. ‘16
Light fall-off Feb. ‘14
Lighting a face Oct. ‘13
Liquify Feb. ‘18
Low light photography May ‘15
 Subject index for past Photo Insight issues
Macro flash Nov. ‘12 Photoshop, paste into Nov. ‘16
Macro flash Sep. ‘14
Macro flash Aug. ‘15
Mannequin heads Apr. ‘16
Metering modes Nov. ‘16
Meters, when they fail Dec. ‘16
Middle gray Nov. ‘15
Model shoot Jan. ‘17
Moon glow Oct. ‘16
Mosaics Jun. ‘17
Museum photography Mar. ‘13
Negative space Jan. ‘16
Neon edges on black Aug. ‘14
Neutral Density filters Jun. ‘18
Night photography Feb. ‘14
Night Safaris Jun. ‘18
Night to Twilight Dec. ‘17
Noise reduction Feb. ‘17
Optical infinity Jun. ‘16
Organization of photos Mar. ‘18
Paint abstracts May ‘13
Painting with light Sep. ‘15 Selective focus Jun. ‘15
Panning motion Dec. ‘16
Pano-Mirrors with a twist Jan. ‘18
Parades Sep. ‘13
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 Topaz glow Sep. ‘17
Photoshop, enlarge eyes Nov. ‘14
Photoshop, darken the periphery Dec. ‘14
Photoshop, mirror images Dec. ‘14
Photoshop, beam of light Apr. ‘15
Photoshop, polar coordinates Mar. ‘15
Photoshop, chrome May ‘15
Photoshop, actions palette Nov. ‘15
Photoshop, cut and paste Nov. ‘15
Photoshop, geometrics Oct. ‘15
Photoshop, plugins Oct. ‘15
Photoshop, multiple selections Apr. ‘16
Photoshop, sharpening Apr. ‘16
Photoshop, Flood plugin Apr. ‘16
Photoshop, Desaturation Aug. ‘16
Photoshop, making a composite Aug. ‘16
Photoshop, the pen tool Feb. ‘16
Photoshop, canvas size Jan. ‘16
Photoshop, using the earth Jun. ‘16
Photoshop, define patterns May ‘16
continued
Photoshop, b & w with color Feb. ‘17
Photoshop, open a closed door Apr. ‘17
Photoshop, palettes May ‘17
Portrait techniques Nov. ‘15
Portraits Mar. ‘13
Portraits, mixed lighting Aug. ‘14
Portraits, side lighting Sep. ‘17
Portraits, window light Mar. ‘15
Portraits, outdoors May ‘17
Post-processing checklist Dec. ‘13
Post-processing: Contrast Aug. ’17
Problem/solution Apr. ‘17
Problem with cruises Jan. ‘18
Protecting highlights Dec. ‘12
Puppies Jan. ‘15
Puppy photography Feb. ’18
Reflections Feb. ‘13
Safari May ‘13
Safari strategies Jul. ‘15
Seeing as the lens does Nov. ‘14
Selective filtering Mar. ‘18
Self-critiques Jul. ‘13
Self-critiques Oct. ‘13
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
Silhouettes Jun. ‘13
Snow exposure Nov ‘17
Soft light Jan. ‘13
Stained glass Mar. ‘17
Star photography Jul. ‘16
Star photography and noise Jan. ‘18
Stock photography Sep. ‘14
Tamron 150-600mm Apr. ‘14
Topaz glow Jan. ‘15
Topaz Impression Sep. ‘15
Topaz Remask 5 Oct. ‘17
Topaz Simplify 4 Dec. ‘12
Topaz simplify 4 Jun. ‘14
Topaz Studio Apr. ‘18
Travel photography Feb. ‘13
Travel portraits Mar. ‘14
Travel tips Apr. ‘14
Travel photographer’s guide Jun. ‘17
Tripods Mar. ‘18
Two subject sharp rule May ‘14
Ultra distortion May ‘18
Warm fingers in winter Nov. ‘15
Water drop collisions May ‘18
What NOT to do in photography Apr. ‘18
White vignette Aug. ‘15
White balance Feb. ‘15
39
 Subject index for past Photo Insight issues
White balance, custom Mar. ‘16
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 frames Feb. ‘16
Winter photography Dec. ‘12
Winter bones May ‘13
Winter photography Dec. ‘15
Workflow May ‘13

40
 PHOTO INSIGHTS®
published by Jim Zuckerman,
all rights reserved
© Jim Zuckerman 2018
email: photos@jimzuckerman.com
snail mail address:
P.O. Box 7, Arrington, TN 37014

Leopard, Masai Mara National Park, Kenya with replaced background 38

39 41
41