SUMMARY

Visit photo gallery

All of the previous frog and reptile workshops have sold out because the people who participate get incredible pictures. Come join me for this extremely exciting workshop. We will photograph spectacularly colored poison dart frogs and primitive-looking exotic reptiles in a two day shoot in Franklin, Tennessee at my home. There will be several shooting stations with natural looking plants, flowers, leaves and bark as background environments, and the images will look as if they were taken in nature.  Actually, they will look better than you can get in nature because these creatures are hard to find, and even when you find them, the lighting isn’t perfect, you can’t get close enough, and the background is usually busy and distracting.

You will have total control in that the lighting will be perfect, the backgrounds flawless, the colors outrageous, and you will be able to maintain complete depth of field to show all of the stunning details in these amazing creatures. I will begin the weekend with a presentation on macro photography, lighting, and exposure to discuss the technical challenges with this kind of shooting, and then I will help you get some of the best macro pictures ever. Check out the photos in the gallery — you will get pictures just like this!
Dates: Saturday and Sunday, June 23 and 24, 2012

Maximum number of participants: 12

Please see photos of past students who took this workshop: click here.

Tour cost: USD $965.00

Included: Lecture on macro photography and lighting for macro, access to ring light and studio strobe equipment, two days of photography of some of the most intriguing macro subjects you’ll ever find, critiques on demand, plus 2 lunches and one dinner in my home.  My wife is an incredible cook and hostess. I will pick you up from the airport if you fly to Nashville (airport code BNA) and shuttle you back and forth from your hotel to my home which is only about 8 to 10 minutes.

Not included: Transportation to Nashville (the closest airport to my home), hotel.

TOPICS

Among the many topics Jim will cover are:

1. How to expose when only inches from your subject

2. How to protect the highlights from blowing out in your pictures

3. The RAW workflow

4. Equipment options for macro photography

5. Professional way to replace a background with Photoshop

6. Understanding lighting ratios with a ring flash

7. How to replace unwanted reflections in eyes and reflective skin

8. How to get maximum depth of field for the very small frogs

SKILL LEVEL

The workshop is open to people of all skill levels and experience. You need a digital SLR that allows you to change lenses and to use a flash other than a popup flash.

RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT

– Macro lens or some way of focusing very close, such as extension tubes or a Canon 500D diopter (this will fit any camera system and any normal or medium telephoto lens — you purchase it according to the ‘filter size’ of the lens you’ll be using).

– A ring flash or a flash system with two small flash units on either side of the lens. If you don’t have one of these and don’t want to buy one, contact me and we can talk about the type of lighting options open to you, including equipment I can loan you for the workshop. I have four loaner flash systems for Canon users and two for Nikon users.

– A tripod is only needed for one subject in or workshop — the scorpion that we photograph with a black light and it turns an outrageous cyan color.

 

Photographic Workshop Cancellation Policy

In order to make the necessary arrangements for each workshop, we must rely on each participant’s commitment to participating when they sign up. We have chosen to keep the classes small, and registration will be on a first come first serve basis. Please notify us at least 30 days prior to the workshop starting date in the event you are unable to attend a workshop in order to allow another person to apply. In order to reserve your space at the workshop, a full payment is required. If participants want to cancel, there will be a $100 charge, from the date of booking, up to 45 days prior to the workshop. After 45 days, the balance of the workshop is non-refundable.

Reserve your place now!

You can reserve your space by mailing a check to: Jim Zuckerman, P.O. Box 7, Arrington, TN 37014. Please include your email address along with your check, and you will receive a written confirmation of payment. You will also receive a schedule of the seminar. Please also include the equipment you plan on bringing, such as the camera system you use and any flash equipment you may want to bring.