It’s
time to talk about my upcoming fall and winter photography classes and
workshops. This year the planning has
been affected by my very hectic and over booked summer, including various
travels, getting our son moved into a new apartment in NYC and our daughter
into her new house in Medford Mass (in anticipation of the October arrival of
our first grandchild !!). Also, I am
preparing for the Annual Art in the Park which is coming up this weekend at the
Ashuelot River Park in Keene.
Finally,
my I’m packing for and exciting trip touring Ireland with a group of dear
friends and, since I will be away for a few weeks, I wanted to get the
information out, before I left. While
away I hope to have at least spotty email to answer questions and get people on
the lists.
Again,
I will be offering my Introduction to Digital Photography class this autumn
along with my annual Fall Foliage Photography Weekend Workshop. My Introduction to Adobe Lightroom Classic
will be coming up in March, in hopes of avoiding the worst of the winter
storms. Here are some details
So,
here is what is coming and please let me know if you have a comments or
suggestions for future programs.
Hope
to see you soon.
Introduction
to Digital Photography
Sponsored
by Keene Community Education
·
Date: Oct. 29 to Nov.
19, Tue.,
·
Time: 6-8pm (8 hrs.)
·
Location: Room 326 at KHS
Keene
High School
My
introductory class on digital photography has evolved over the years as I have
tried to find better ways to inform and excite students about the amazing
capabilities of digital cameras. The course includes 4 two hour classes
and two photo shoots. I cover a wide range of topics from understanding the
differences in camera types, to image file formats, file management and
archiving. Special emphasis is placed on exposure, composition and the use of
different types of light. All these topics are applied to the results of
the photo shoots. This class always fills very quickly, so sign up early
at :
Sorry, for health reasons, I have to cancel this year's Foliage Workshop
October
18th – 20th, 2019
Monadnock
Region and Southern Vermont
Saturday, we will head out early
to explore as many different locations as possible. My goal. Will be to
place the group in beautiful locations and then help them get the most from the
opportunities. Depending on the state of the color we may travel west to some
of my favorite locations in southern Vermont, such as Guilford and the magic
village of Green River, or we may explore the hills and farm around the
Monadnock region and my own village of Chesterfield.
In the evening, we will return to
the dining room table for an informal dinner of pizza and some gentle
critiquing of the day’s shoot.
We will head out again Sunday morning for more of our
exploration of color, and I will finally let people go around noon. I promise
you will come away exhausted but thrilled with the experience. I look forward to sharing my love for
photography in this special time of year.
The three-day program is $195, including the delicious
snacks and an elegant pizza dinner.
Please get in touch soon, by email or phone, to assure your place in the
workshop. If you are coming from outside of the area, I can send you a list of
some the best local accomodations.
jeffn49@myfairpoint.net
603-363-8338
Introduction
to Lightroom Classic – AND the Transition to Photoshop
Six
Tuesday Evenings March 3rd
through April 7th, 2020
?
Monadnock Imaging, Main Street Keene New Hampshire
For
the last couple of years, Monadnock Imaging has provided facilities for my
classes, but I haven’t been able to confirm that the store will still be
available after their business transition.
The alternate site will be around my comfortable dining room table in
Spofford.
I am a dedicated long-term user of
Photoshop, but over the last few years I have become increasingly impressed
with the power of Lightroom, in terms of both its image management tools and
its sophisticated editing capabilities. I still bring almost all my
images into Photoshop for final tweaking, especially when complicated masking
is required, but I now use Lightroom for 80-90% of my global editing.
Given its power and ease of use, for the majority of digital photography
enthusiasts, Lightroom is likely all they will need to get started with image
management and editing. 
During the last
couple of years., I have offered a comprehensive introductory course covering
all the essentials of Lightroom. I run the class as a live demonstration.
Students are encouraged to work along on their own laptops, but a
computer is not necessary to benefit from the material. I’ve had a great
time and, as is always true of teaching a course, I have learned a ton.
Over the last couple of years Lightroom has evolved and grown, with increased
capabilities, and I have worked to keep up with the changes.
Recently Adobe has complicated our lives by splitting
the Lightroom Program in two. There are many good discussions of the
differences between these very different programs, but simply speaking, the
new Lightroom CC is an entirely new cloud-based program.
With a simpler interface, but significantly pared down capabilities.
It is designed for more casual photographers, and those who work
primarily through a mobile interface. For more serious photographers who
store larger image archives locally on hard drives and who want to use the full
features of the “old” Lightroom, the new program has no significant
place.
For me and most serious photographers, the “new”
choice is called “Lightroom Classic”. It sounds disconcertingly like the
old “Coke Classic”, but Lightroom Classic is just the old Lightroom CC with all
the amazing features and functions and a few new tricks. This split seems
to be designed to create a simpler path for mobile, and other smart phone
photographers, without stripping the power of the “Classic” Lightroom program.
Adobe promises to keep up with innovation on both versions of Lightroom.
We will be watching.
If you, like many, are still confused, just know that
the CC and Classic versions are both included among the options in the Adobe
Photography Subscription Plan, and still for $9.99/month.
My course will be covering the full power of the
Lightroom Classic Program.
I initially thought that that four, two-hour classes would be
enough to cover the program's many features, but because of my tendency to
ramble and lots of great questions, I subsequently added a fifth class to cover
the Slide Show, Book and Web Modules.
A Sixth Class
Lightroom is a great program which covers most
organizing and editing needs of the majority of photography enthusiasts, but
there are many aspects of fine tuning that can be performed best from within
the scary confines of Photoshop. My Lightroom
students frequently ask, “When are you going to do a course on
Photoshop?”. The prospect of trying to
organize a comprehensive course on this massive program scares me to
death. But perhaps an easier approach is
to take a smaller bite of the pie. Some
time ago I added a fifth class to my Lightroom course and last year I added a
sixth session.
In this additional session I focused on the transition
from Lightroom to Photoshop. Starting
with pictures which have been optimally edited in Lightroom, I will again
examine some of the important ways that Photoshop can refine those images using
more precise selections, layers and compositing. Consider it a chance to dangle your toes in
the ocean of possibilities that is Photoshop, but for many who already own
Photoshop as part of the Adobe Photography Plan, it can be an encouragement to
take the plunge.
There will be. not five, but six, two-hour, evening
sessions, and of course, snacks will be provided. The expanded course will be
$225. Please get in touch by phone or email as soon as possible to
reserve your spot on the list.
Stay tuned for this coming spring’s offerings
including the Spring Waterfall Weekend Workshop, my Introduction to Digital
Photography Course.
Jeffrey
Newcomer
jeffn49@myfairpoint.net
603-363-8338
