Glenn Randall presents “Master Landscape Photography” workshop on Saturday, November 4, 2017 at 9am – 5pm, Lone Tree Civic Center.
Glenn Randall’s philosophy of teaching landscape photography can be summed up in eight words: master the craft, and the art will follow. This workshop will help low-intermediate to advanced-intermediate photographers take the next step in that journey.
For a landscape photographer, the meaning of craft goes far beyond such photographic basics as aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and white balance. It includes gaining an intimate knowledge of the terrain where you plan to shoot plus an understanding of key concepts in atmospherics optics, geography, astronomy, botany, meteorology, and psychology.
Understanding atmospherics optics, the science of light, will help you predict the most vivid displays of alpenglow, where rainbows will appear, and how polarizers will interact with reflections. Studying geography will help you understand how the angle of sunrise and sunset varies dramatically throughout the year. Learning about astronomy will help you predict where to go to shoot moonrise and moonset, the Milky Way, meteor showers, star trails, and lunar eclipses.
Understanding a bit of botany will help you refine your search for wildflowers. Studying meteorology will help you plan shoots and anticipate what may happen next. And learning how our visual system processes high-contrast scenes will help you create better photos of dramatically lit subjects.
So how does mastering the craft lead to creating art? Can a realistic landscape photograph actually be creative? The answer is yes, but to become more creative, you first have to understand where creativity actually comes from. For a landscape photographer, creativity does not emerge, fully formed, from the void. It emerges when you make a new, unexpected, but suddenly obvious connection between bits of seemingly unrelated knowledge already stored in your head. The goal in this workshop is to help you gain the in-depth knowledge of the craft of landscape photography that will allow you to unlock your creative potential.
Instructor will provide extensive handouts totaling 60 pages that will cover the key points of each lecture.
Schedule
9:00 am Scouting: the process of locating great landscape subjects. The instructor will discuss scouting techniques in the field and demonstrate the use of the Photographer’s Ephemeris and Sun Surveyor, two inexpensive, easy-to-use computer programs that make it much easier to be in the right place at the right time.
10 am Exposure: discussion of exposure, exposure meters, exposure danger zones, the four basic exposure strategies, and the universal exposure strategy
11 am Composition and light. This lecture will discuss the instructor’s three-step approach to composition, atmospheric optics (the science of how light interacts with our atmosphere), and controlling light using graduated neutral-density filters and polarizing filters.
12 pm Lunch break
1 pm The Rembrandt Solution: one approach to shooting in high-contrast light. This technique, first invented by the famed portrait painter, is still relevant in the digital age. Used properly, it can create the illusion of greater dynamic range in the print than actually exists.
2 pm HDR: promise and pitfalls. This lecture will discuss using Lightroom to create high-dynamic-range images. It will include a slide lecture on keeping it real with HDR.
3 pm Maximum sharpness: how to maximize sharpness through proper field technique; how to achieve deep depth of field through understanding hyperfocal distance; how to use a tilt-shift lens; and how to use focus-stacking techniques.
4 pm Take a walk on the wide side: how to setup, shoot, and stitch single- and multi-row panoramas. This lecture will include a demonstration of how to stitch panoramas in Lightroom as well as alternative approaches if Lightroom fails, such as PTGui and AutoPano Giga. The instructor will also discuss the best ways to deal with high-contrast panoramas, such as those including the sun.
5 pm Conclusion of workshop.
About Glenn
Since 1979, Glenn Randall has combined his love of wilderness with a passion for photography. His intimate knowledge of atmospheric optics, weather, and the landscapes he photographs allows him to find the intersections of magical light and stunning subject matter that produce exceptional images. His work has been published in Audubon, Avalanche, Barnes & Noble, Brown Trout, Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, and Runner’s World calendars and in Audubon, GEO, Outdoor Photographer, Outside, SKI, Los Angeles Times Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, New York Times Magazine, and many others. Prints of his fine-art landscape photographs can be found online at Glenn Randall Photography and in Art Mart, on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colorado. His photographs have also been used by many book publishers and corporate clients. At age 60, he has accumulated over 1,600 photo credits, including 80 covers, and sold over 10,000 prints. He was the sole photographer for three books of landscape photographs, Rocky Mountain National Park Impressions, Colorado Wild & Beautiful, and Sunrise from the Summit: First Light on Colorado’s Fourteeners. In spring 2015, Rocky Nook published his book Mastering the Art, Science, and Craft of Great Landscape Photography.
