After coming within seconds of missing my connection to Reykjavik from JFK due to a Delta flight attendant sending me to the wrong terminal, I am very happy to finally arrive in Reykjavik, Iceland for my workshop. Landed and wasted no time getting out to make some images in and around Reykjavik. It was Gay Pride Day which is a large festival where just about everyone comes out and the weather was perfect.

Geothermal storage tanks near the Reykjavik, Iceland airport.

Mineral deposits on lava at the Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa

Painting an apartment in Reykjavik

 Color everywhere

Color, color, color

Everyone chooses their own color:)

New Opera Center and Concert Hall

Reflections in water at Concert Hall

Massive job to clean all the windows

Patterns and glass are amazing

Back of a chair

Back of a waitress

Gay Pride Day in Reykjavik

Faces, faces and more faces

Reflections in water

Chain on rusted wall

Folks take a dip in the icy ocean at the Grotta Lighthouse

All ages take the dip but the youngsters had wetsuits…

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Perfecting your images takes work. Today almost everyone owns a camera. And, yes, the process of taking a picture has become so simple that even a child can do it. But it takes a truly special vision to capture the world in a graphically brilliant manner in 1/500 of a second. So over the years I have picked up many photographic exercises that I regularly practice, and that I teach my students to keep them in good visual shape and make them better photographers. When I teach a creative workshop we of course go to fantastic locations but the workshops concentrate on techniques to polish your images. We will also do daily critiques to help you further refine your techniques. Here are a few of my favorites:

Triangles in the Corners
When we are attracted to a subject we tend to look towards the center of the viewfinder and rarely pay attention to the periphery. It is in the periphery where we find the things that detract from the image. It may be the branch sticking in, or a pattern of color. As an exercise when you are framing an image take your eyes and glance to the periphery in the viewfinder. Look for triangles being formed, and if you see them it is a good indication that you need to move in tighter on your subject. If you have a triangle in the corner of one of your images and want to determine if it adds to the photograph or detracts from it, cover up everything except the triangle. If the triangle is important, keep it in. More than likely, though, the triangle will be an area of black or white or a branch and by itself is anything but a good image. In this case crop the image and remove the triangles. Space is defined and determined by shapes and forms. Positive space is where shapes and forms exist; negative space is the empty space around shapes and forms. For images to have a sense of balance use positive and negative space to counter balance each other.

Triangles of dead space in the upper right and left

Image is much cleaner and stronger without the triangles of dead space in the corner

Shadows

Shadows and light create drama and far too many photographers think that shadows ruin an image. Try creating images using shadows and making the shadows darker or lighter than they appear to the eye by controlling the exposure. Doing so can help truly create dramatic images. Without shadows, a subject has no form, or texture and appears flat. Shadows don’t have to be dominant and harsh to achieve the effects of form, and texture. They can be soft, to show the most delicate light, shape and form. Generally, harsh, black shadows cause problems especially in reproduction because of loss of detail but from a compositional standpoint, black shadows can be very useful in balancing a scene and directing attention to the point of interest. Harsh shadows can also be excellent for emphasizing texture and form, for creating interesting patterns, and for directing attention.

Lion prints appear concave with the image viewed this way

Same image and now the lion prints appear convex. This is simply based on how your brain perceives the shadow

We will study many creative exercises to enhance creativity. Learn more in one of our week long creative workshops:

Santa Fe, New Mexico  July 10-16, 2011

Iceland August 7-13, 2011

Mendocino with Greg Gorman Sept 11- 16, 2011

Patagonia with John Paul Caponigro, Arthur Meyerson, Eric Meola

Everybody has a workflow now, but do you have one that works?  Streamlines your efficiency?  Does everything you need within one application?  Allows you to find any of your images throughout your entire image collection in seconds with ease?  D65 has a workflow that works.

D65 4-day intensive digitial workflow workshop is coming to New York April 10-13 and there are only 3 spots left. We will equip you with the tools to manage your images efficiently, effectively and effortlessly. You’ll become an expert in keeping every image you shoot organized, optimized and archived.

The workshops are intensive, and lots of fun! By the end of the program, you will have the skills to create your own successful workflow in Lightroom. And, you’ll be armed with our comprehensive D-65 Lightroom 3 book.

Cost $1099

register.

“Seth and Jamie are a tag team of information you won’t find anywhere else.  Their teaching style is engaging, informative, and entertaining.”

D65's eSeminar on March 14th: Lightroom Workflow from Import through Export

D65′s Lightroom Workflow: From Import Through Export
DATE: Monday, March 14th
TIME: 8:00-9:30 PM (eastern)
COST: $50.00
With D65′s workflow, all of your files are imported, renamed, keyworded, captioned, ranked processed in a systematic, standardized methodology adaptable to any photographer’s needs. With this system, you will manage your worlfow, efficiently, effectively and effortlessly, allowing you more time behind the camera, and less time behind the computer.

In this eSeminar, we will go through importing images, organizing them in the Library Module, working on them in the Develop Module and exporting them in an organized, easy to follow workflow.

Space is limited in all of our eSeminars to ensure we can answer all your questions in our interactive Q&A.  Each participant also receives a recording of the eSeminar to view for 14 days to review the concepts covered.

Register Today!

Upon completion of your registration you will receive a separate email from Webex with a link you will use on to take you to your eSeminar. See you online!

Can’t make it?

Register to view the recorded session later by clicking on: Recorded Sessions

Seth Resnick

Seth Resnick
Photographer extraordinaire, lecturer, co-founder D-65

2-day camera workshop
Friday-Saturday, March 4-5
10 a.m.-4 p.m.

In this workshop, Seth will teach a detailed and efficient workflow to organize, process and transport your images to your family and friends. Learn all the tricks and tips you’ll need to work with Lightroom and spend more time shooting and less time computing.

Seth Resnick is co-founder of D-65, an organization teaching digital workflow workshops (visit www.d65.com for more information) and co-author of the Photoshop Lightroom Workbook Workflow not Workslow in Lightroom 2. He is at the forefront of digital technologies in photography, working with companies like Adobe, Canon and Xrite.

For Registration Information

DAY 12

We get up and in our camp there is not only a spectacular sunrise but elephants join us and are literally inches away from where we are having coffee.

Major gigage on this sunrise

The yellows in the African sky are awesome

Don't turn around but we have company for breakfast

Seth... you might actually want to turn around now...

No need to bring a long lens. I never thought I would photograph elephants with a 14mm

The sun isn't even up yet and I already need to download files

One more frame before I download. Wow and it isn't even 6:30 AM yet..

We eventually get into our vehicles and head out. For some reason there are ferocious flies in the area and even with the worlds strongest bug spray they are landing on us constantly. We have to put on ponchos or towels over our head to keep the flies away.

I invent a new fashion for keeping flies away

The fad catches on and soon everyone is wearing the new look, but no one shows it as well as Michelle

We find some lions, and zebras but the sun is blazing and we decide that we will head in early and edit images. Just before we get ready for our afternoon adventure a thunderstorm of biblical proportions lets loose. The lightning is hitting the ground in the camp and everyone can feel the vibration from the lightning. We make sure that our rooms are not on fire and wait for the rain to subside. It doesn’t subside so we work on pictures until dinner.

I repeat that I am not a birder, but I do photograph the famous Lilac-Breasted Roller

Ok I forget this guys name but I think it is called a Bateleur Eagle

Smile your on candid camera

Hey that is the front door to my tent. Do you guys want to move?

I guess that answer is NO

DAY 13

I got up at 3AM to edit pictures and we head out into the brush around sunrise. We have an intense deep yellow sunrise. We find a pride of lions in deep grass and pull into the grass. We are photographing the lions on the right side of the vehicle and I glance to the left and realize that we have almost run over a lion in the deep grass who is now about 2 feet from the vehicle and no one saw him. I go to photograph him but my 300 mm has a minimum focus distance of 12 feet and he is too close to focus on. I get a bit of a chill on my spine and end up photographing the lion with a 70mm.

I apologize Mrs. Lion. We really did not see you in the grass and now you are really really really close

We get special permission to go out with a guide named Poster who has been working with the introduction of rhinos into Botswana. Over 300 rhinos were killed by poachers last year and 30 just this month. Most are killed in South Africa and Zimbabwe. The horn of the rhino can fetch up to one million dollars. The poaching is highly sophisticated and controlled by organized crime which sell the horn as a ground powder in China where it is a highly prized aphrodisiac. Unlike many of its African counterparts, Botswana takes poaching very seriously. There is anti poaching patrol and the president has assigned military to assist as well. If you are caught poaching the penalty is 17 years in prison and a large fine and that is only if you make it back alive. The president of Botswana has given the military shoot to kill orders for poaching.

Bug spray is useless and we devise our own system of towels wrap around our heads held in place with a baseball cap. It actually worked.  We soon find our rhinos and they are truly amazing animals. We spend about an hour with them photographing the rhinos and joking about a bird named an ox pecker that has a symbiotic relationship with the rhino. Michelle, Jeff and I are cracking up as we realize we are waiting for the birds. Have we been converted into bird watchers? All of a sudden the rhinos move behind a bush and we maneuver the vehicle to go around the other side of the bush to face the rhinos head on. We again burst into laughter because we can’t find the rhinos. How in earth can we miss three 4 ton animals that simply went around a bush.

Poster and the Botswana Rhino Project

The rhinos are amazing and massive

really massive

Anti Poaching Unit has shoot to kill orders if you are a poacher...

Botswana is one of the few countries really trying to protect the rhinos from extinction

Rhino horns sell for over $1,000,000 each in china

In the afternoon we hook up with Russell who is the cousin of Steve. Steve and Brennan run Journey’s Unforgettable which is the company that set up this amazing trip and Russell is one of the owners of Wilderness Safari. They own and run the camps that we have been at. Russell is a fabulous guy and very interested in learning about Lightroom and went out with Jeff on previous safaris in Africa. We meet him at camp and we all hit it off. We immediately head out into the bush with Russell.We come across a bizarre encounter. We find a group of female lions and what we think is a male lion. The male lion turns out to be either a female with a mane or a male without a critical part. They actually do not know if it is a he or a she and will likely do DNA testing at some point.

It is a transexual lion

She and she are coming closer

Oh NO. There is that running little move right towards us

Really right towards us. Like two feet away

The cubs are so cute

Mom cuddles with cub

Mom tells other female to back off!

We want to take one home:)

As you can see, more major gigage on lions

Comical and cute

Way to cute

Ok already. I could show you 100 more lion images like this but time to move on...

Russell is an avid birder and even has an iphone app that he helped develop to identify all the birds in Africa. Michelle, Jeff and I are really getting scared that we are getting infected with bird watching. We can even call out the names of a few birds and the really scary part is that we admit that we may like it…..

LAST PART TOMORROW

We arrive back at camp hot, tired and dirty carrying hundreds of pounds of camera gear. The manager is at my room telling me that they are waiting for us for dinner. We tell the manager that we are going to shower and put down our gear and to bring us dinner in one hour. He says it is ready now and it will be cold in an hour. I tell him that he can reheat it if necessary but we are eating in an hour not now….We actually had a fantastic dinner on the veranda of my cabin drinking wine and editing images.

DAY 7

On Saturday we sleep in until 5 AM and head out into the rain for what started as a boring morning with no wildlife. The sun broke and we drank a few beers around 9 AM and saw a rock python and then we noticed or rather Lazi noticed lion prints. We followed the prints down a dirt road and into the brush where we found two large male lions together. Lazi thought that they were new brothers who had entered the area and might not know a vehicle. We joked about a 50/50 chance of getting eaten but decided to approach. Another amazing lion encounter and we were all of 8 feet away.

Fantastic optical illusion. These are lion prints that are indented but visually appear to be protruding from the sand. The image below is at a different angle and produces a different effect

Lion prints mean lions are near

Lions are definitely near

They are so cute you can tickle them

After the lions we had a tough time finding other wildlife and just to put it in perspective we are on a range that has one hundred and twenty five thousand elephants and we could not find even one. We head back to camp and have lunch and prepare to again go out in the afternoon. I didn’t mention it before but on most days we are up at 4 and in the bush until about 1 PM. We go back to camp for a small siesta and then we go out again around 3 PM and return to camp around 9 PM. The animals are the most active early in the morning and late in the day. Most folks used the siesta for a real nap but I found myself editing and keywording and writing down my thoughts every day during siesta.

In the afternoon we head out and while the day is spectacular we find only a few giraffes and zebras and a couple of hippos.

20110122_Savuti_0040 – Computer

We are definitely not a birding `crowd but we found ourselves laughing hysterically photographing a bird called a carmine bee eater. Lazi has an accent and I really thought the bird was called a “common wife beater,” Well that really started the jokes.. Anyhow these very colorful red and blue birds fly alongside of the 4×4 as they go near the water and eat insects kicked up by the dirt of the 4×4. They fly super fast but about a foot from the vehicle. They dart like a bat and it is tougher than hell  to get them in the viewfinder. We are all laughing when we find that we are photographing birds…

Carmine Bee Eater darting around our vehicle looking for bugs.YUM

There goes another bee eater

20110122_Savuti_0068 – Computer

We get back to camp on the way we come across another pack of nearly extinct wild dogs some giraffes, zebras and an amazing yellow sunset.

giraffes on the way back to camp

A young zebra and mom out for a sunset stroll

The beginning of another spectacular yellow sunset

I have never seen natural yellow in a sunset. It is an effect of south of the equator and atmospheric dust

My good friend Greg Gorman is in town for the opening of his show  A Distinct Vision opening January 18th at DCOTA in Florida. Greg and I got together last night and we started out with a 1994 Araujo and then went to the Delano for a little sushi and saki. Today I had the privilege of seeing the show. I am leaving for Botswana and won’t be able to come to the official opening but I can tell you that this is a show not to be missed. The prints are spectacular and the sheer quantity and depth of work is truly amazing. The show features four decades of Greg’s work with images of just about everyone who is anyone from Mick Jagger to Johnny Depp, Mark Wahlberg, Tom Cruise, Michael Jackson Leonardo DiCaprio and more. the show runs from January 18th through March 31.

Archiving Your Images

Register Here

On October 20, 2010 I will be speaking at The Photography Club of Lower Fairfield County. The event is free and opened to the public and titled R&R FOR DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHERS
Resilience & Rejuvenation, or How to Last & Love What You Do .

For additional info http://www.pclfc.com/

On October 21, 2010 I will be speaking at Adorama in New York. I will be showing images from Iceland and Antarctica as well as some Lightroom and Photoshop tricks. For additional info http://www.adorama.com/

Both events are sponsored by Canon as part of the Canon Explorer of Light program