My friend Scott Stulberg will teach a class on how to use Photoshop plugins, layer masks, and other retouching techniques to enhance your photographs, whether you wish to extract a more realistic effect or play with extreme effects. The class runs August 29-30, 2009.

Working on your own computer in class and a Wacom graphics tablet, you learn how to:

* Correct color casts
* Add beautiful blurs
* Selectively sharpen
* Dodge and burn
* Convert photos to rich black and whites
* Create painting effects
* Tone down noise
* Master layer masks
* Use blend modes
* Retouch Portraits – make the eyes pop, whiten teeth, soften wrinkles, smooth the skin and more.

The class will also focus on many of the best third-party filters available for Photoshop and cover creating useful actions to speed up your workflow. We will provide trial versions of the software.

Scott brings unmatched enthusiasm to his classes. He regularly teaches at the UCLA extension, leads photo trips for Julia Dean, and is represented by Getty and Corbis.

If you want a broad introduction to enhancing photographs in Photoshop, I recommend two day intensive class. It will be fun.

Check out Tips, Tricks, and Photoshop Magic in Learning on artwolfe.com for more information. And, to see the range of Scott’s photography, visit his website, www.asa100.com.

The June photos were all about atmospheric conditions and showed a marked increase in quality of work, making it harder to decide which were my favorites. Nearly all the images were unique and engaging and made me feel like I was standing next to the photographer. The images all demonstrated fresh, new approaches with high technical quality. Three photos in particular inspired me this month:

(To see all photos submitted in June 2009 on Flickr, click here.)

The photos submitted during May were fantastic! Thanks to everyone for their time and interest. It is really inspiring to see how people capture locations I’ve been to many times in a completely different way, all conveying their own interpretation of what the location means to them. This month two photos in particular caught my eye:

(To see all photos submitted in May 2009 on Flickr, click here.)

When Tim Grey taught at our classroom, he paused to record his thoughts on the life of a photographer and the advantages of digital photography for our Expert Interviews, found under Learning on the site. He also talked about targeted adjustments in Photoshop CS4, found under Tips in Learning. Check them out.

People are often surprised when they see me holding my graduated neutral density filter in my hand instead of putting it in a holder. The reason is simple: speed. When conditions are changing rapidly, or even when they aren’t, it’s a lot faster to hold the filter in front of the lens. If I change lenses, I don’t have to take the time to remove holder from one lens and place it on the other. I can reframe or switch from horizontal to vertical in an instant.

You need to watch out for reflections, though. The filter will reflect light if pulled away from the lens too far.

I drove to the Skagit River flats last weekend. The area had flooded and I heard that the bald eagles were congregating in trees on high ground. It was a grey day, drizzly and dark. The reports were true. We found 15 eagles in a tree, and as soon as we stepped out of the car, we saw why. Voles swam in the flooded fields, scurried under the car, hid in the tall grass. A few drowned voles lay on their sides in the water. It was a buffet for eagles, and they acted showed no interest in further dining. I never touched a camera. Exposing for the black backlit eagles would have pegged the histogram to the right, blowing out the sky. Without light, natural or artificial, there is no shot. Sometimes the experience is enough.