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    • News and Notes – 2 Photoshop Classes Announced

    New Photoshop Classes added to my Workshop Schedule

    Beginning in February, I will be offering a series of one day workshops and classes at The Winston School San Antonio in San Antonio, TX.  These classes are open to the general public and are a great opportunity to master your photographic and digital media skills.

    The first two course offerings are:

    Photoshop – Level 1
    • Saturday, February 12, 2011 (9 am – 5 pm)
    • Join me in this exciting introduction to Adobe Photoshop.  Designed for beginning students who are just getting started in Photoshop or have some background with the program but seek to expand their knowledge and understanding.  This one day course will provide you with the tools you need to take your digital images to the next level.  Topics covered include the tools of Photoshop, layers and layer masks, tonal adjustments, and color correction.  We will also spend time discussing the key steps to making your images look their best.  Cost of the course is $125.  To enroll in the class, or for additional information, contact me at info@chrisgamel.com or (210) 723-5999.
    • Enrollment is limited to 11 participants.
    • Each participant will be provided their own iMAC digital workstation with Adobe Photoshop CS4 to use during the course.
    Photoshop – Level 2
    • Saturday, March 19, 2011 (9 am – 5 pm)
    • Building on the material covered in Photoshop – Level 1, this class will focus on selections and some of the more advanced features of Photoshop.  Topics covered include making and refining selections, digital compositing, advanced imaging techniques, and an introduction to portrait retouching.  Cost of the course is $125.  To enroll in the class, or for additional information, contact me at info@chrisgamel.com or (210) 723-5999.
    • Enrollment is limited to 11 participants.
    • Each participant will be provided their own iMAC digital workstation with Adobe Photoshop CS4 to use during the course.

    Upcoming Conference - Imaging USA

    This weekend (January 16-18, 2011) my home town of San Antonio, TX will be hosting Imaging USA.  Imaging USA is the annual conference for theProfessional Photographers of America (PPA) and a great place to go if you are into photography.  I attended this conference four years ago and the amount of stuff going on was overwhelming.  The presentations are highly educational, the tradeshow is huge, and the print display is enormous (over 2,000 images will be displayed this year).  Don’t be discouraged if you are not a people photographer.  The quality of the presentations and the work on display is outstanding and it is always a good idea to explore various forms of photography.  You never know where inspiration will come from.

    Upcoming Conference - North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA)

    In March (March 9-12, 2011), the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) will hold their annual summit in McAllen, TX.  The NANPA summit is a great educational experience with a focus on wildlife and nature photography.  I am also happy to announce the I will be presenting one of the breakout sessions this year: Wildlife Filmmaking for Still Photographers.  So join me in McAllen for a few days and don’t forget your camera, the Rio Grande Valley (south Texas for non Texans) is one of the best bird hotspots in the world.

    Written on January 12th, 2011 , Announcements, Classes, News and Notes, Photoshop
    Photoshop Text Tutorial

    Earlier this week I posted a image of Bryce Canyon using a text effect from Photoshop. This video tutorial walks you through how it was done.

    Written on November 26th, 2010 , Photoshop, Tutorial
    Image of the Day – Bryce Canyon

    Photoshop text effect. Bryce Canyon National Park viewed through an outline of the word "Bryce".

    (click on the image to see larger version)

    For the past two weeks my digital media students have been playing around with text effects in Photoshop.  This is an example of one of the effects I showed them.  For those who have never been there, Bryce Canyon is one of the natural wonders of the world.  The giant hoodoos that make up the canyon floor are works of art carved from the stone by centuries of erosion.  Perhaps it is best summed up by the famous words of Ebenezer Bryce (who the canyon is named after) who described it as, “A hell of a place to lose a cow.”  Placing the image inside of the text puts a new spin on a well photographed icon.

    The image was captured using a Canon 1Ds, 17-35mm lens (set to 34mm), at 100 ISO.  The camera was supported using a Gitzo tripod with a Kirk Enterprises’s ball head.  The image was taken just before sunrise.

    Written on November 22nd, 2010 , Digital techniques, Image of the Day, Photoshop
    Image of the day – hide and seek

    Digital creation of children playing hide and seek. Children appear multiple=

    (click on the image to see larger version)

    If you are a parent, I will warn you, never play hide and seek with your kids.  No matter how hard you look, you never find them.  It is almost like they can be in multiple places at the same time.  I never knew this game could be so hard.

    I came up with the idea for this shot a few weeks ago and my kids agreed to help me carry it out over the weekend.  The image is a digital composite, made up of four different images.  In the first three images, Kara and Tristan each hid in a spot where the camera could see them.  They then changed hiding spots for each image.  For the final image, I stood in the middle of the room and looked confused (little acting needed).  Tristan (age 3) pressed the cable release for me, so I guess he owns part of the copyright for this image.  The four images were then brought into Photoshop where they were stacked on top of each other.  Layer masks were then used to reveal portions of each layer so that I was surrounded by 6 kids.

    The images were created using a Canon 1Ds mark 3, 17-35mm lens, at 1000 ISO.  The camera was mounted on a tripod so that aligning the images in Photoshop would be easy and the shutter was triggered with a cable release (again, to keep the camera from moving).  Kara has decided that she wants to take a copy of the image to school for show-and-tell.  I wonder what here teacher will say when she can provide evidence that she was in three places at the same time……

    Remember, in addition to recording your inner vision, photography should be fun.  So let your creative juices flow and see what you can come up with.

    Written on October 18th, 2010 , Digital techniques, Image of the Day, Photoshop

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    Through the lens with Chris Gamel

    Musings of a photographic educator.