This year at PhotoCamp Utah I taught a Photoshop class. I had a LOT of fun teaching it and hope that the participants learned a thing or two. :) I showed everyone how to create one of my “Headache” composite images using CS4 (here’s a link to the final image).

For those of you who would like to give the tutorial a try I created a PDF file and have the two images needed to complete it available for download:

- Tutorial.pdf
- Headache.jpg
- Egg.jpg

(You are free to use the above images non-commercially for use in the tutorial above, and if you would like to post the image online somewhere I would appreciate a link back to this post … thanks!)

Here’s one of my video tutorials on the same thing with similar instruction … I changed a few things around with the live demo but it gets to the same end-result.

Yesterday I posted a photo asking what you guys thought it might be “saying” to you, and then someone put the idea out of making it a “caption” contest. I even put the image up on my Facebook page and got a few replies to it there, too. Well, it wasn’t really a contest cause there are no prizes, but here are a list of my favorite replies and captions:

Alicia: “I’m sorry, but being a teenager is not a treatable illness”

Theasis: “Don’t worry – people superglue their hands to their faces all the time”

Nate: “I would venture to guess that she just found out her daughter is actually her son”

And the winner (my favorite) is …
dav.d: “Its not mine! I swear!”

Canon 7D, Canon 24-105 ƒ/4L IS lens, 1/125 sec at ƒ/4, ISO 100

I created this image at a recent stock photo-shoot and was curious what you think the “bad news” that the doctor just told the mom could have been. Let me know by leaving a comment below!

Caption contest, anyone? ;)

Yesterday I received my print in the mail from MPIX for the Photocamp Utah print display. I’ll be giving a Photoshop demonstration during the event and I thought it would be a good to use one of the images that I’ll be presenting, and it also happens to be a very meaningful and favorite photo of mine.

If you’ll be at the event it’s not too late to get yours printed! You will probably have to go with a local printing company to get it done in time and there are several options (Repliolor is one of the sponsors of #PCU2010 – be sure to check them out!).

Here is some more information on the Photocamp Utah 2010 print display.

Canon 7D, Canon 24-105 ƒ/4L IS lens, 1/15 sec at ƒ/4.5, ISO 640

Panning is one of my favorite techniques to use when photographing fast-moving subjects. Basically what you are doing when you make a panning shot is you are following the subject and moving your lens along with them while pressing the shutter. Here are some tips for creating great panning shots:

1. Slow shutter-speed is the key. Using a slower-than-normal shutter speed will help you to effectively add motion-blur to the background. It’s usually a good idea to shoot in shutter-priority mode when creating panning photos.

2. The speed of the subject determines shutter-speed. Most of the time you won’t know exactly what your shutter speed should be in order to get a desirable image, and one factor you need to consider is how fast your subject is moving. To create a good amount of movement in the background and still keep the subject sharp a fast-moving subject will need a faster shutter-speed than a slow-moving subject.

3. Use a flash. Another useful tip is that if you have a flash or some sort of strobing light-source available then use it! It will help freeze your subject and allow you to use an even slower shutter-speed than without one. In the image in this post I wasn’t able to use a flash so I had to do my best to keep my camera steady and moving with the skater.

4. Follow-through to get the shot. Just like with kicking a ball or swinging a golf club you need to make sure that you follow the subject the entire way through the shot, and only stop once you are sure that your shutter is closed. This will help you get smooth lines in your background.

5. Use manual focus. If you know the spot that your subject will be passing by then pre-focus your lens. If you rely on auto-focus then your camera might not catch focus quickly enough, which means you would miss the shot altogether.

Panning requires a lot of trial-and-error, which I think is why I like it so much. You never quite know what you’re going to get and oftentimes you can be surprised when you review your shots. :)

Canon 7D, Canon 24-105 ƒ/4L IS lens, 1/125 sec at f/4, ISO 100

Here’s a sample from a medical stock photo-shoot I did this past weekend, and this is one of my faves. The little baby was just a doll the entire time I was photographing him! And Christine did a great job as a doctor – when I was done shooting she was still playing with him for about five or ten minutes, lol. :)

Canon 7D, Canon 50mm ƒ/1.8, 1/2000th sec at ƒ/4, ISO 100

Yesterday the speakers and some of the staff from the upcoming Photocamp Utah got together at the Moran Eye Center to go over our presentations and some other info, and I decided to get there early and go on my own little photo-walk. I didn’t just walk around randomly taking photos, I gave myself a theme to look for – angles. I didn’t know what I was going to find and initially got some mediocre shots, but as I walked around I looked up and saw a beautiful reflection on the windows on the front of the Moran Eye Center’s building. I didn’t see just one angle, but several lines and angles going lots of directions (along with some nice color in the mix, too!).

Composing this shot was difficult and I took a lot of photos before I found one I really liked. It was a challenge since there were lines and angles going in every direction. I eventually decided that the curve of the building was the most important part and went with the composition that favored the curved lines but still balanced well with the other aspects of the scene.

I think I’m going to do this more often and give myself a specific theme when I go on photo-walks in the future. I’m also going to try real hard to bring my camera with me everywhere. I usually shoot with a battery grip and a 24-105mm lens, but I just acquired an old 50mm f/1.8 from a friend who upgraded and it looks real nice (and is much easier to haul around) on my battery-grip-less 7D. :)

BTW sorry for the delay in posting all this week … I was without internet for a week after moving to a new place. All is back to normal again so I’ll be posting regularly again starting next week! :)