Yanik's Photo School » Tips & Tricks

Off Campus Learning Links Has Ended

Yanik — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:20:18 +0000

For the past year or so I’ve been posting monthly links to other great photography learning posts and articles across the Web. Stuff that I found to be of value to you, my loyal readers.

Since the arrival of Twitter, things have changed in the way I send you Off Campus Learning Links. I see great stuff popping up on my Twitter feed on a daily basis and I retweet them right away to all that are following me. For the last few months, I would basically copy some of those links into an Off Campus Learning Links post. This was quite redundant for me not to mention a tad more time consuming. So I’ve taken the decision to stop posting Off Campus Learning Links.

I encourage you to follow me on Twitter and I guaranty that you’ll get at least 10 times the amount of links that I would post here. Not to mention seeing my daily iPhone photos as a bonus.

As you can see, I’m still sharing important photography learning stuff with you guys but in a more efficient way. You get more bang for your buck! If you’re still reluctant to sign on to Twitter, you can follow my last 3 tweets in the blog’s sidebar.

To follow me on Twitter just CLICK HERE.

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Sessions With Joey L – DVD Review

Yanik — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:05:27 +0000

As you guys know, Yanik’s Photo School is all about photography education through various tutorials, tips and tricks. But once in a while I’ll take the time to review off campus educational materials so that you may make a conscious decision about acquiring certain products.

Today is such a day. I’ll be reviewing the latest DVD tutorial package by famous pro photographer Joey Lawrence. After the success of his 1st tutorial DVD back in 2007 called Joey L Behind the Scenes, he’s back with brand new didactics entitled “Sessions With Joey L“. I’ll start off by describing the content of the DVD then I’ll give you my thoughts and critique on each section. Before I get to it, I invite you to listen to his promo clip just to put you in the mood….

What You Get

The DVD is roughly 4 hours long and is divided into 5 major themes:
- Lighting Theory
- Photo Shoots
- Business
- Travel
- Photoshop

1- Lighting Theory explores the way Joey defines his lighting style as well as enumerating what equipment he uses and how and when he uses it.

2- Photo Shoots brings you behind the scenes of 5 photo shoots with an insight on lighting and shoot management.

3- Business glimpses into Joey’s vision of building a successful career as a high end photographer.

4- Travel whisks you away to Ethiopia with Joey and his assistant and shows you what it takes to successfully shoot remote tribes.

5- Photoshop walks you through 7 detailed tutorials based on the DVD’s content.

What I think

Having seen his 2007 DVD, I was really looking forward to “Sessions With Joey L”. And I must say that I wasn’t disappointed.

Presentation

The DVD’s look and feel is just as professional as any other high end learning product out on the market. I have the downloaded version so I can’t comment on the hard copy’s packaging. The design is clean, simple and visually inspiring. Navigation is user-friendly and clear. All videos are Quicktime. One thing that wasn’t visible was the control bar to pause and play the movie. I found this annoying since I could pause the movie just by clicking on it but I couldn’t get it to play again by clicking on it. I eventually found the invisible play button on the left but it’s so small that it was hit and miss. Maybe it’s a PC thing but the control bar doesn’t show up in both Firefox or Explorer. The movies are shown in 720 x 420 which I find to be perfect for desktops and laptops.

Joey’s Teaching

Having over 10 years adult teaching experience, I was pleasantly surprised to see Joey’s teaching skills. He is very comfortable in front of the camera and his elocution is clear. His though process is organized and he stays on subject. I had to keep reminding myself that this kid is only 19! If he gave live workshops, I wouldn’t hesitate to sign up!

The Content

1- Lighting Theory: A very informative section that will please beginners and advanced photographers alike. I learned a few tricks as well! It’s not just about what he uses or where he places lights. He also touches on the “why” he uses certain modifiers or lights.

2- Photo Shoots: A nice add-on to the DVD that gives you a behind the scenes looks at how Joey works. It’s a great practical learning walk-through. Knowing what Joey has shot, I would have liked to see more high profile shoots but he probably didn’t have permission to shoot video tuts or use them for commercial projects. I know 5 shoots is a lot on a DVD but I enjoyed them so much, I wanted more!

3- Business: I can understand why Joey added this section to the DVD because I’m sure he often gets asked how he managed to build his successful photography business so quickly and at such a young age. He gives a strong message that is inspiring to any amateurs dreaming of making a living with photography. But I was left wanting more. It’s the shortest section on the DVD and seems out of place compared to the 4 other sections. Maybe I would’ve called it a “Bonus” section instead of putting it right in the middle of the DVD.

4- Travel: This was my favorite section of the whole DVD. Maybe because I’m a nomad at heart and I can relate to Joey’s adventures but I found this section awe inspiring! Not just for aspiring National Geographic-type photographers but for any photographer that wants to achieve his visual dreams. I would love it if Joey would give talks on his world adventures. I’d be buying the first ticket.

5- Photoshop: What I liked about this section it that he based his tutorials on shoots described in the DVD. It added a nice continuity. I would rate the Photoshop tutorials as intermediate with some advanced stuff exploring things like blending modes and color correction. It’s interesting to see Joey’s perspective on certain Photoshop techniques that I have done here on YPS like using the Refine Edge Tool and Using RGB Curves.

In Conclusion

I have to say that this is a great learning tool on many levels. It’s more than just lighting and Photoshop. It’s about a photographer who’s sharing a part of his life with you.

This is a well-rounded product that you’ll want to go over again and again. His vision on life and photography is refreshing and will put a smile on your face. It has a documentary style to it with Joey answering many of the commercial photo industry’s questions through his personal experience.

Is it worth the current promo price of $250? In my opinion… without a doubt. Even when the price will be at $299 on November 1st, it’ll still be a fair price for the quality and quantity of content given.

What would’ve been a nice added touch, knowing that Joey likes to goof off, is a bloopers section. But that’s just me.

All in all a great product produced by a great photographer! I strongly recommend it to anyone wanting to perfect their photography skills in Photoshop, lighting and beyond.

For more info and purchase options, click HERE.

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Disclaimer: I’m in no way affiliated or receiving financial compensation for this product. This review is based on my professional opinion as a teacher and photographer.

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Top Free Lightroom Presets

Yanik — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:18:14 +0000

One of the great things about Lightroom 2 is the ability to create presets and share them with the world.

If you’re not familiar with presets, it’s basically a saved series of photo adjustments that you can then apply to any image. Kind of like actions in Photoshop.

In this post, I thought I would share with you the many places where you can get a ton of free Lightroom presets to play with. But before I list them all, you’ll need to know how the install them. It’s actually pretty easy.

1- Put your downloaded presets in a folder somewhere on your computer (a place you’ll remember).
2- In Lightroom, right click on “user presets” in the Presets tab located on top left

3-You’ll be given 2 options: New Folder and Import. Feel free to create a new folder if you want. Once you’ve done that right click again on your folder and choose Import.
4- Select the presets from where you saved them in step 1.
5- You’re done!

Top Free Lightroom Presets

Lightroom Killer Tips has lots of great presets. Don’t forget to click on “previous entries” for more.

Check out the preset list (top right) on Inside Lightroom.

Over 140 presets from OnOne software. The 1st set I ever downloaded!

LightroomPresets.com has a growing list of presets. Some of them are quite nice.

I found some very interesting presets over at Seim Effects.

Did you like the picture effects in the movie 300? Then you’ll love this 300 preset!

Watch CSI Miami? Love the look? Get it HERE!

PresetHeaven.com has one of my favorite sepia presets called Sepia Chic. Love it! More presets here.

A nice collection of presets from Nelkas Art.

The Warming Vignette preset from albertdebruijn.com is a must! Check out the other presets as well.

More presets from CameraDojo.

Some nice presets directly from the Adobe Website.

Some pretty cool presets from Laconic!

There you have it! Those should keep you busy for a while! Experiment, have fun, and feel free to post photo link of your tests in the comments!

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Off to Greece! :)

Yanik — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:24:35 +0000

Tomorrow is the BIG day. I’m flying from Montreal to Athens changing planes in Munich. I’ll be island hopping for 31 days discovering culture, food, architecture landscapes and seascapes! Woohoo!

Off course I’ll be bringing my brand new Nikon D300s and I intend to shoot lots of video including a few tutorials.

I’ll be keeping you guys up to date via Twitter so make sure to follow me to get all the juicy details including lots of iPhone photos!

Don’t worry, I’ll still be posting tutorials on YPS while I’m away. It’s all part of the plan.

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Off Campus Learning Links for September

Yanik — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:43:44 +0000

That time of the month again to round up some uber cool photography tutorials from around the web. It’s always a fun experience for me to write this post for you since I learn so much every day from talented photographers like you. It’s one of the reasons I love my job so much!

Photo Tidbits has a very detailed tutorial on the depth of field (DOF).

For the more advanced Photoshop users out there, TheDesignCubical has an awesome Color Correction walkthrough.

Peta Pixel has the simple steps to taking good humming bird shots. On the same subject, you can also check out Yanik’s Photo School’s tutorial on taking perfect bird photos.

If you’re a parent wanting great photos of your kids, check out these 8 tips from Digital Photography School.

Photoritic.org has an eye-opening article on the Dirty Tricks of Food Photography. A deliciously fun read.

Imaging Professional has a great tutorial on stacking high ISO files in Photoshop to reduce the final noise output. Very cool!

Photographer Derek Powazek has a Savy Approach to Copyright Messaging. Nice!

Last but not least, a superbe post by one of my favorite photographers Chase Jarvis on things to do when your creativity is stale. Quite inspirational!

How to easily start up and market your own
profitable photography business