Out of Chicago LIVE! Online Photography Conference and a Special Photo Challenge

January 23, 2022  •  1 Comment

I am excited to be teaching at The Out of Chicago LIVE! Online Photography Conference again this year. This is a once-a-year event where over 60 world-class photographers come together to teach and inspire through pre-conference photo challenges, general presentations by each instructor, team collaborations, image reviews, and tutorials. We have an impressive line-up of instructors this year and I am honored to be among them. During the conference weekend, I will be presenting “Bringing Your Flower Portraits to Life with Post Processing.” This will include post-processing demos of a number of flowers, simple to more complex. Although my true love is being in the garden, making photographs, I do feel even the simplest of post-processing steps can make a big difference in bringing our flower images to life. The images I process will cover the following concepts:

  • The concept of simplicity and elimination of distracting elements, making sure to draw the eye to the main subject.
  • Thinking about backgrounds while composing in-camera, and improving what you have in post-processing.
  • Working with black backgrounds in post-processing.
  • Adding a texture to an image.
  • Simple steps to further enhance Lensbaby images.
  • In addition to showing the steps I use in Lightroom and Photoshop, I will demonstrate the use of simple filters in DXO Nik software to highlight your subject, pull out detail and improve backgrounds.

This year I’ll be doing a pre-conference Photo Challenge on Friday, February 4th at noon CT - “Finding Beauty in the Winter Garden.” This photo challenge is free to the public - you just need to be on Out of Chicago’s mailing list to receive the link to view it live. It will also be recorded and available to view later on the Out of Chicago website. This is a lead-up to the conference and I will discuss the winter project I began in the winter of 2020-2021 and have continued this winter. It began during the early pandemic when many indoor spaces were closed to the public - the conservatories, greenhouses, and flower shows I normally photograph during the winter months. As someone who previously hated winter and being cold, I learned to dress warm, be comfortable outdoors, and embrace the beauty that is abundantly present in the winter garden. This project was transformational both in how I learned to see my subjects and in my attitude about winter. Join me for this free photo challenge. I will challenge you to get out and photograph the unexpected and quiet beauty of winter. For those that take on the challenge and submit images, I will give an image review of images by attendees during the conference weekend, but you do have to be registered for the conference to participate in the image review. 

The conference is a great deal for $300, with 100+ different presentations by over 60 amazing photographers. All presentations are recorded so if you can't view them live, you can watch them for up to a year after the conference. To learn more, sign up for emails, and register go to outofchicago.com. I hope you'll join me for what promises to be an inspirational weekend of photography and connecting with the Out of Chicago community of instructors and attendees. 

A few images from my winter project: PirouettePirouette

'Pirouette,' Lensbaby Velvet 56mm

Helianthus DancerHelianthus Dancer 'Graceful Dancer,' Lensbaby Velvet 85mm

 

Still DancingStill Dancing

'Still Dancing,' Lensbaby Sol 45mm


 

 

 

 


Comments

jacobo(non-registered)
I love how your photography captures both the big picture and the little details so perfectly.
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