Please note that all workshops under the PSNZ Workshop Series are only available to PSNZ Members. If you wish to attend a workshop, but are not a member of PSNZ, you can join us by completing our online application form. 

Please remember to read our Cancellation Policy, below.

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Instilling Emotion with Photoshop

23 May 2025 @ 12:00 PM – 25 May 2025 @ 4:00 PM

Helen McLeod is a Fellow of the Photographic Society of New Zealand, an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society and holds a Gold Portfolio Distinction with the Photographic Society of America. She has been tutoring photography for many years in tertiary institutions and runs six Landscape workshops annually in central Otago.

In this workshop you will learn The What, Why and How of Photoshop Image Enhancement including:

  • Basic Photoshop means of enhancing the images captured from any genre of photography;
  • Why this is important – a way to instil the emotion you felt at the time of capture, to pull out the hidden potential of any photograph; and
  • How we can bring to life any image and let our uniqueness shine through our photography.

Check out this AV which gives numerous before and after examples.

The workshop will be held at the Vintage Car Club rooms, Hickling Park A C Baths Avenue, Taupō  at 12.00 pm on Friday 23rd May and end on Sunday 25th May around 4.00pm.

Friday 23rd May (12pm)

We begin the workshop by checking that everyone has their laptops set up correctly with Photoshop. Then we will venture out with our cameras to capture some images that you will process during the workshop.  (You are also welcome to bring some unprocessed images with you as well to work on.)

Saturday 24th May (9am – 4pm)

Helen will demonstrate her approach to the assessment of her images and how she brings them into line with her vision at the time she pressed the shutter button.  During this time she will provide a brief explanation of Photoshop’s basic features (such as layers, adjustment layers and masks) and how they are employed to instil the emotion back into our images to bring them to life and really make them our own.  Images will be supplied upon which we will work together encompassing several techniques.

Sunday 25th May (9am – 4pm)

Using examples from her own work we will look at some slightly more advanced, or alterative, methods of enhancing our images (painting like a Renaissance painter, darkening versus lightening, adding lens flares, working non-destructively, cropping, vignettes).  You will then apply all your newly found skills to your own images on your laptops, revealing the hidden potential you captured.  From here we will briefly touch on more artistic means to bring our personalities to our images (overlays/textures, borders).

What to Bring

  • Camera, tripod, and your favourite landscape lens
  • Laptop with Photoshop downloaded and installed.  Please make sure you have loads of space on your laptop as Photoshop images can get large quickly.  Working on and from an external hard drive is a great way to work and makes your laptop run quicker.
  • A USB (Windows compatible) stick upon which images supplied will be loaded to work on as a group.
  • Images taken previously that you would like to process.
  • A sense of fun and a willingness to learn!
  • (Chocolate for your tutor/educator!)
  • Water bottle, snacks, and lunches for both days.

Please note:

Meals and accommodation are not included. The nearest option for lunch is the Village Bakery and Café at 258 Spa Road, about three minutes’ walk away. We will have a Workshop dinner on Saturday (pay your own).

$325
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PSNZ Cancellation Policy

Due to the nature of the PSNZ Workshop Series and that the workshops are generally for small groups and often over-subscribed, cancellations can have a significant financial and attendance effect on the workshop, as well as creating a lot of further administration work.

Although we do everything possible to ensure our workshops proceed, sometimes there are things beyond our control.

  • PSNZ reserves the right to postpone or cancel a workshop due unforeseen circumstances e.g. facilitator illness, venue access issues, etc. In the event we do cancel a planned workshop, we will attempt to inform attendees as soon as possible and in most cases you will be given an alternative date to attend or provided with a full refund of the workshop costs.
  • If a workshop is postponed, the first right of refusal will be given to those who were already booked on that workshop for the rescheduled workshop.
  • Should a workshop fail to attract a required minimum number of attendees to make it viable to run, PSNZ reserves the right to cancel the workshop.
  • PSNZ will not accept responsibility for travel and accommodation costs incurred by attendees.
  • Attendees may cancel their booking if they give 60 days’ notice prior to the commencement of their workshop and receive a full refund less a $20 administration fee.
  • If attendees give less than 60 days’ notice, then we will do our best to fill your place from the waitlist. If we are able to do this, we will refund your fee less a $20 administration fee. Otherwise no refund will be made.
  • PSNZ may give a full refund if there are exceptional circumstances involved in a person not being able to attend.

(updated November 2024)

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