Bernskiold Learning » Photography

#26: Photo Editing in Lab (Photoshop)

Erik Bernskiold — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 07:00:04 +0000

In this weeks episode of the Creatively Using the Creative Suite podcast it is all about photo editing in the Lab color mode to enhance colors and contrast.

You can watch it by selecting either version (low-res or HD) below, or by subscribing to either version in iTunes, iPod/iPhone or HD.

49 Photo Tips: Part II

Erik Bernskiold — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 07:00:24 +0000

Learning is endless within most subjects. That does not mean however that you should not try and learn new things. You can easily pick up tips and tricks in Photography, and here is another way to help through an ebook with 49 photo tips to help you learn something new.

Content

As you have probably guessed by now, the ebook contains 49 different photo tips to help you improve. The tips are in different photography styles, mixing everything from nature to food, black and white and portraits (and more too). You are sure to find some tips in here that will catch you thinking: “Why haven’t I done that?”

Each tip has gotten its own page in the book and is explained in text together with an image to further enhance and show the result of the tip.

Design

An area where I think this ebook is lacking in is the design. It does not have the full complete feel to it that one would expect and in some cases, the design makes you loose a bit of focus on what you are reading. One example is the italic text which is tiresome to read in body text.

Giving the typography and page design an overhaul for the third part is probably a good idea and then sticking to the template for eventual upcoming sequels.

Conclusion

Even though the design is a bit tiresome to read from, it is a book with tips and thus it is something that you can overcome. It is priced at a fair $4.99 which works out to be just 10¢ for each tip—a very good value.

If you want to learn some good tricks in different fields of photography, I would recommend that you pick up a copy of this ebook.

Author: Jason Anderson

Price: $4.99

Website: www.canonblogger.com

Rating: 4/5

New in PS CS5: The Useable Sharpen Tool

Erik Bernskiold — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:32:52 +0000

In Photoshop CS5, the old Sharpen Tool has actually become useful. In this tutorial, Erik will show you how to now be able to use it with good results.

Camera RAW Basics

Erik Bernskiold — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:00:45 +0000

For editing photos, opening them and doing the edit in Camera RAW is very powerful. In this basics tutorial, we learn how to start using Camera RAW.

Friday Website Tip: Mountain Photography by Jack Brauer

Erik Bernskiold — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 07:00:46 +0000

A friend of mine sent me a link to the portfolio of Jack Brauer who is a Mountain and Fine-Art Photographer, shooting mostly mountain scenes. The photos he does are absolutely gorgeous. Go ahead and jump over to Mountain Photography by Jack Brauer and take a look at his portfolio with some seriously beautiful sceneries and photographs.

Tuesday Talkin’ with Nicole Young

Erik Bernskiold — Tue, 25 May 2010 07:00:27 +0000

Nicole Young

This week, I am here with Nicole Young, a full-time commercial photographer in Salt Lake City who sells much of her work through iStockPhoto.

Nicole, thank you for taking the time to participate.

Thanks for asking, Erik!

How did you get into photography?

When I was a kid I was really into anything artistic—drawing, painting, etc, so creativity has always flowed through my veins. In High School I was required to take an art class and I chose photography, thinking “oh, this could be fun!” I instantly realized that I had a knack for it … I was quick to understand aperture, shutter speed, etc. and loved working in the darkroom. I used a Pentax K-1000 as my first camera, then eventually got a Nikon F4 and shot primarily black-and-white film. I was involved with the yearbook, newspaper and got a job at a photo lab where I learned how to print in a color darkroom, and even started using Photoshop for the first time.

You do many different types of areas in photography, which one is your favorite?

The majority of the images I create are stock photos, and so I tend to photograph a lot of people in real-life situations. I enjoy working with adults but there’s something fun and challenging about working with children in this environment that I just love. I try to find situations where they can just be themselves and don’t try to pose them too much … natural smiles and realistic expressions make better images.

I also really love to style and photograph food. It’s always a good feeling to sit down and be excited about editing photos (which for me can be the most tedious part of being a photographer) but when I create food images I am usually creating something that looks super delicious and tasty so it’s fun to look at them hours at a time on my computer.

Do you have a nightmare shoot that you have been on?

I can honestly say that I’ve never had any horrible experience at a photo-shoot. I sometimes get those “how am I going to do this?” moments, usually when setting up lights in a new location, but I always seem to find a way to make things work.

You are a big iStockPhoto user. How did you start on that site?

Four years ago while I had a different full-time job (active duty in the US Navy) I wanted to get serious about photography, but wanted something to “push” me and give me a reason to take photos. I considered taking a few classes but had a tough time finding something that fit well with my skill level, and so one day I was reading a photo magazine and that’s where I found out about microstock photography. I immediately saw it as something to get me to start taking more photos, and thought maybe I could make a few bucks in the process. I started slow, like most people do, but learned a lot in the process and now I’m doing it full-time. I never thought that it would be the stepping stone to allowing me to be a full-time professional photographer … a job I’d always dreamed of doing but never thought it would be possible.

How do you feel when you see one of your photos being used?

It’s always a really great feeling when I see one of my stock images used. I don’t always find them on my own … oftentimes people will either recognize an image of mine in use and let me know about it. I’ve had images used on billboards, cereal boxes, store displays, product packages and websites. I think that the models in the images are usually more excited to see their photo used, especially when it’s a little kid.

Is there a dream shoot that you would like to do?

Since most of my work is spec shooting (meaning I create images hoping they will make me money, not because someone hired me to create them) then I have the luxury of coming up with my own ideas and concepts. I have a lot of photo-shoots on my “to-do” list, but one that’s pretty far out of reach would be traveling out to Antarctica on a National Geographic Expedition. I love to travel and I think that, photographically, that would be at the top of my list.

Thank you for taking the time! Do you have any closing thoughts to share?

If you’re passionate about something, then pursue it! I gave up on being a photographer before I even knew what my odds were … I thought it was too competitive and didn’t realize what I could accomplish and how far I could go. I’m very thankful for the opportunities I’ve had over the last several years and realized that it’s never too late to start something, especially if it’s something you love.

Tuesday Talkin’ with Glyn Dewis

Erik Bernskiold — Tue, 11 May 2010 10:00:19 +0000

Glyn Dewis

This week, I am sitting down with my good friend and talented photographer, residing in the UK, Glyn Dewis.

Erik: Glyn, thank you for taking the time to participate.

Hey no worries, thank you for asking me.

Erik: How did you get into Photography?

Well I actually became involved in the editing side of things before getting involved in photography.

A few years back now my Uncle who has always been the ‘family photographer’ showed me this piece of software he was using that could…wait for it…remove red eye! Man I was blown away…lol Now I’d always been in to computers and tinkering around so I decided to get hold of my own copy of this software and start learning more; needless to say I soon became hooked. Oh and if you’re wondering what the software was that I’m talking about it was Photoshop 7.

I developed this real urge to learn more and more about what could be done using Photoshop so I started buying books from Amazon and such places like it was going out of fashion, but then one evening I was surfing the net when I just happened to stumble across a company called the N.A.P.P. Now these guys seemed to know what they were talking about (understatement of the Century or what) so out of blind faith I immediately signed up as a member and began watching their tutorials and participating in the forums, which if I’m not mistaken Erik is where we first ‘met’.

Anyway, long story short with the help of the N.A.P.P. and it’s members my knowledge grew so I then, for no reason other than personal satisfaction, took the Adobe A.C.E. Exam in Photoshop and passed and shortly afterwards began getting paid work editing for Photographers.

Now I gotta admit I soon became quite bored editing other peoples work and was finding myself frequently thinking ‘I can do better than that’ so I had to prove it to and went out and brought my first digital camera, a Nikon D200 and enrolled on a few courses. I’ll never forget the first course I went on in the UK, down in Bournmouth. On the very first day of a 2 day course being all excited about what was in store I asked the Instructor ‘Do you still get that buzz when you turn out a great photograph and show the client?’ to which he replied in a tone that would have made ‘Droopy’ sound positively hyper active ‘No, not really’. So, not the best introduction to the world of Photography Workshops. Anyway, not one to be put off easily I went on another course out in the beautiful Cotswolds and this was alot better with an Instructor that clearly had a passion for what he did.

The turning point for me however was making the trip over to Las Vegas to attend the N.A.P.P. Conference and Expo; incidentally my first ever trip to the United States. It was just the most incredible 4 days and a time in my life that I’ll never forget for a whole host of reasons. Getting the opportunity to attend classes by Joe McNally, David Ziser and Scott Kelby to name but a few totally blew me away and confirmed more than ever that ‘Photography’ was where I wanted to be.

I made some incredible friendships out in Las Vegas; friendships that since that time have continued to grow so apart from the massive learning curve I’ve alot more to be thankful to the N.A.P.P. for. Geez, listening to myself Erik it sounds like I’m on commission to promote the N.A.P.P but you gotta understand that I really don’t think I’d be in the position I am now without them. Photoshop and Photography could have ended up being a passing ‘fad’ and I would have probably carried on Bodybuilding to the extent I was or maybe something else.

Do you ever get the feeling that this is something you’re meant to do? Well that’s exactly how I feel about Photography and Photoshop. I absolutely 100% believe I’m now doing what I was meant to do. Don’t get me wrong I’m not anywhere near the level I want to be, but I’m constantly open and looking to learn so who knows where this will take me. One thing I do know though is that I’m totally enjoying the journey.

Oh yeah, the Uncle I mentioned about earlier…hasn’t spoken to me since…families huh?

Erik: If you get to pick either on location or studio, which would you pick? Why?

I’d have to say on location and there’s a whole host of reason’s for that. First of all I just love the variety that the outdoors brings. It’s basically a free studio with unlimited props and set ups; all you have to do is scout out locations. Don’t get me wrong I do enjoy photographing in a studio but it’s a totally different experience. You start with a completely blank canvas and build up from there which is great but for the majority of my work I do tend to be outdoors. Now there is one draw back with this and that’s the UK and it’s forever changing weather…rain one day, drizzle the next (lol)

I get a real kick out of scouting locations for a shoot and then taking the client there. Sometimes the looks I get from them are clearly questioning my sanity but when they see the final images I love it when I hear ‘I can’t believe that was taken there’; does wonders for the confidence I can tell you.

I think because I’ve always worked outdoors or on location that’s why I prefer it. I’m not one of those people who can stare at a blank canvas and create something from nothing. I have to be somewhere and then I start seeing in my minds eye what I want to do. I generally study the client I’m working with getting to know the kind of person they are, what looks they have, if they’re a musician/band what kind of music they play and then I scout out the location that’s going to fit the whole ‘feel’ of what I want to do. It’s this whole ‘location scouting’ part of the process that I love.

Another big plus for me with working out on location as opposed to in the studio is that I don’t own my own studio so when I am in one I’m renting the space out. Working out on location cuts out this cost and so reduces my business expenses.

Erik: Tell us a little bit about a really cool shoot you have done.

Cool you say? How about freezing? (lol) One that really sticks in my mind was from November last year when clients Michelle and Dave Caton-Richards specifically asked to be photographed in a river with Michelle wearing her Wedding dress. Now we’re not talking warm crystal clear water, beautiful white sandy beaches and blazing hot sun, oh no…we’re talking the River Thames, muddy river banks and temperatures not far above freezing.

Thankfully husband Dave (that’s him holding the lighting) was into all sorts of outdoor activities so came prepared with both wet & dry suits for him and Michelle. However despite this, there was no getting away from how devilishly cold it was. Michelle was only going to be able to withstand the freezing cold water for a couple of minutes at most so we rehearsed again and again on the river bank so we knew exactly where the lighting was going to be. Once we were 100% happy it was all systems go. Michelle made her way slowly into the water taking care not to trip on the dense weeds below the surface and we started shooting. Little over a minute later, Michelle was out of the water and the shot was ‘in the bag’.

This was without doubt a memorable photo shoot; great fun with a great clients who were willing to try anything to get photos that weren’t ‘run of the mill’.

Erik: You are working on your own workshop series, tell us a bit about it.

Yeah this is something I’ve been working on for quite some time now and have been running what I’ve been calling ‘tester’ workshops where I’ve been inviting people to come along for free and pay me in the form of brutal, honest feedback. There are so many photography workshops out there now so what I don’t want to do is a.) rush into it and b.) copy what someone else is doing. I think I’m now at the stage where people can recognise my work so what I want to do is to pass on the knowledge that I have and am continually looking to expand on.

I’m certainly under no illusion about being a great photographer; far from it but I really do get alot out of teaching. I guess I’ve always taught in one way or another; from my Bodybuilding days when I would teach people how to train with weights and how to diet, and up to more recent times when I would teach certain aspects of Photoshop. One of the biggest ‘payments’ I’ve ever received was at one of my recent ‘testers’ when one of the guys that came along, when we all having a debrief (aka a pint of the good stuff) said that he’d never dreamed he could take the kind of photos he had done on that day. Now, granted the images weren’t going to win any awards because we had been covering basic lighting using just the one light, but to him, armed with a little more knowledge he’d made the best photograph ever. The basic overview of the Workshop will be to cover from meeting the client and discussing the shoot through to editing the images ready for ‘delivery’.

One thing that I really want to stress in the Workshop is about developing your own style and that despite only using one light it doesn’t mean that everyone’s photos will be the same.

Ultimately I want to develop the kind of the workshop that I would want to go to. I’ve been to enough to know what doesn’t work and I’ve also been to some of the best (Zack Arias, Joe McNally) to know what does.

With regards to when I’m looking at ‘going live’ I would expect that to be later in the Summer this year, but I’ll keep you posted through the blog.

Erik: Finally, what do you see as a challenge going forward for a portrait photographer?

I think the main challenge for portrait photographers or any kind of photographer come to think of it is the same now as it’s always been and that’s about developing your own unique style.

I had a long chat recently with Photographer Tim Wallace of Ambient Life about this very same subject and he too is very much of the same opinion that the most important and hardest thing of all is to develop your own style.

What is it that separates you from every other photographer out there? I remember a short while back when I was having my new website designed by Livebooks the Project Leader asked me to pass on links to other sites that I liked the look of to glean an idea of what it was I was after. I looked through the website gallery of one particular web design company here in the UK that is used alot and was shocked by how many different looking websites there are out there but with the exact same style of images within them. It might just as well have been the same photographer with over 100 websites. That is what you need to avoid because if all you’re doing is the same as everyone else then the only reason a client is going to pick you is because you’re the cheapest; and for a photographer running a business that is not good.

Your style is something unique to you. It reflects who you are as a photographer, what you’re saying and how the subject you’re shooting makes you feel so with this in mind how on earth can we just ‘copy’ someone else’s style? Sure, we’re all influenced by those we look to, we’ll take certain ideas from them but from that point on we need to put our own personality and experiences into it.

This kind of leads me onto another point about your ‘style’ and that’s about identity. What kind of photographer are you? Portraits? Weddings? Commercial? Food? Landscape? Fashion? … what is your speciality? In the past I was guilty of saying I was ‘all of the above’ not realising that by doing so I was actually damaging my business.

A perfect example of this was a couple of years ago when another photographer was chosen for a commercial shoot over me. I was later told by an employee at the company concerned that the reason I wasn’t given the job wasn’t because the photographer they chose had a more appealing portfolio, but because the Marketing Team didn’t know what I was i.e. a Portrait Photographer, a Commercial Photographer, a Fashion Photographer or whatever.

Over the past couple of years I’ve grown into knowing what my area of photography is and since doing so have landed a new contract with that very same company…Air New Zealand working with them on a new Worldwide Marketing Project.

Erik: Thank you for taking the time! Do you have any closing thoughts to share?

Practice, practice, practice and try not to let a day go by when you don’t have your camera in your hand; even if it’s your iPhone. In the past I’ve been like I said earlier a bit of a ‘serial book purchaser’ but there’s nothing that beats getting out, camera in hand and pressing the shutter button. Only by getting out ‘in the field’ will you build up knowledge and experience of all things photography…light, composition and so on, and that’s the time when you’ll develop your own unique style.

Be humble. Accept that this is something you’re going to be constantly learning from and don’t put a price on education. Nobody knows it all. If there’s an opportunity to learn from the best then take it. I flew from the UK to Atlanta to attend a one day workshop … Zack Arias’ OneLight Workshop. Sure it was tiring but I can’t put a price on what I learned.

Finally, and this is something I feel strongly about…Don’t be average! Don’t settle for second best! and to take words from my friend Tim Wallace never say ‘That will do’!

Get out there and be the best ‘You’ that you can be. Sure you may never be the next Joe McNally but be the best ‘You’ that you can be otherwise what’s the point? Anyone can be an ‘Average Joe’.

Thanks Erik.

Friday Website Tip: Glyn Dewis Blog

Erik Bernskiold — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 11:00:18 +0000

Glyn Dewis Blog

I am very glad to say that we are resuming the Website Tips, now making it a Friday Website Tip. Today I want to direct you to my buddy Glyn Dewis’ blog.

Glyn is a very talented photographer based in the UK, shooting mostly portraits both in studio and on-location. On his blog, he shares stories about the shoots, describes techniques and shares tips on how to get the photographic results. These are not only done through text, but also through videos.

Take a moment and head over and check out Glyn Dewis’ blog. Not only will you see some stunning photography, but learn a lot on the way.

Three-Up Photo Print Template in InDesign

Erik Bernskiold — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 11:00:41 +0000

In this tutorial we are utilizing InDesign to make a three-up photography print template that you can fill with your own photos at any time and export for print.

The Guide to Shooting Fireworks

Erik Bernskiold — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:22:56 +0000

Like I always do on New Years and for my american readers this time of the year, here is how to shoot these wonderful fireworks:

Fireworks is a lovely thing to photograph but it may seem hard at first. I’ve been doing it for the past three years now and really feel that I’m getting the grip around it! I hope it helps to clear up some stuff if you are unsure since I’ve gotten a lot of questions about it this year, and that you go out and try it tonight, it is really cool and fun.

How To?

First off, dial in Manual mode and set the aperture to f/11 or f/13 (run some tests to see which is better), then set the shutter speed to Bulb, usually indicated by a B. Now when the firework explode, press the shutter and then when the burst has exploded and is wearing off, you let go of it. This usually makes for a nice picture of a firework.

If you wish to capture many in one frame, just keep it pressed and make sure the frame is pitch black until the next firework goes up. Adjust the aperture as fits between the shots.

Equipment?

It’s best to have a camera that you have full manual mode on but special firework modes can work, although best result is given with a full manual mode. It’s really necessary to have a tripod because you’ll be working with second long exposures that you simply can’t hand-hold. Also learning from own mistakes, never extend the center column on the tripod, even if it feels like you need to, I did it last year only with a good sacrifice in quality in the images.

It helps if you have a remote control so you don’t need to look into the viewfinder all the time when shooting, plus, it’ll give you more stability.

Depending on your location to the fireworks, either a zoom lens (70-200) or a normal zoom (18-55) is the right lens. For organized displays, I’ve found that you might get closer than you think with a 18-55, which allows you to get close enough in the sky (if you are close) and also to get some foreground in there as well if you want to, without changing lenses, something that is a no-no! You just won’t have the time.

Position and Preparations

Get to the fireworks display in time and make sure that you know where they are going to be shooting from and set up in a good place where you can see the display and if you want also include some foreground such as the water or something alike. Also make sure you have clean memory cards that are formatted and that they work, also make sure to have your batteries charged and working!

I hope this little article can benefit you and it is really fun to photograph fireworks! Questions? Leave them in the comments!