Photographic Society of New Zealand

Instilling Emotion via Photoshop
2024-03-15 12:00 - 2024-03-17 16:00 (Pacific/Auckland)
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 Penny Room of Risingholme Learning in Christchurch starting at 12.00 noon Friday 15 March and ending Sunday 17th March at around 4.00pm.

Friday 15 March 2024 (12pm)We begin the workshop by looking at ways of getting the most from your photography as an introduction to the coming days and revising essential Photoshop skills. 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 16 March 2024 (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 17 March 2024 (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.

Fabulous Fabric Portraits
2024-02-24 12:00 - 2024-02-25 15:00
Charlotte E. Johnson is a photographic artist and educator, working full-time in Auckland as a digital imaging specialist. In her artworks, she captures original images filled with emotion: contemporary portraiture and landscapes. Her art has gained a national audience within Aotearoa-New Zealand as part of several exhibitions, books and magazines, and international publications. Her pieces are held in the New Zealand Maritime Museum, the McGregor Museum, and private collections.

Charlotte’s teaching style is encouraging and supportive. She loves to share her knowledge and believes that continuing our personal development is how we stay inspired.

In this workshop, you will learn how to put-together creative portraits featuring fabulous dresses and flowing movement using just a length of fabric and a camera, as well as how to process your shots for maximum impact. This two-day workshop includes setup and image capture on day one, and post-processing on day two.

On Saturday, we will commence at 9.00 am at the Kumeu Arts Centre and spend the day learning and practising the same techniques Charlotte used to create the images in her recent exhibition. Charlotte will demonstrate how natural light can be used to set mood, and the basics of working with models. Learning will be through hands-on practical sessions interspersed with short tutorials. You will work in rotation with all three models which we will style. The day will end at around 3.00pm.

On Sunday, we will begin at 9.00 at the Kumeu Arts Centre and spend an hour refreshing fundamental Photoshop skills (tools, layers and masks). Experienced Photoshop users are welcome to join the day from 10.00. You will then learn how to make composites from the images you captured on Saturday by bringing together the best elements of several photographs into a single polished image. Topics covered include:

Selecting images from your shots

Canvas expansion

Generative fill to remove unwanted elements

Compositing an image by bringing together multiple images that feature the best flowing fabric elements and model posing.

This workshop is suitable for all levels. Charlotte will provide assistance where needed, whether it’s camera settings, artistic direction, troubleshooting Photoshop, or general support.
