Category: digital

The Basics
The Workshop: Creative Compositing: The Impressionistic Photograph
The School: Rocky Mountain School of Photography
The Instructor: Mark S. Johnson, Photoshop Guru and author of the beautiful and insightful Botanical Dreaming: Using Photoshop, Your Camera, and Your Heart to Create Inspiring Images
Assistant: Roxanne Duffy
Location: Boulder, Colorado
Dates: June 16 – 22, 2012
In Attendance: 12

Overview
For my 40th birthday this past January, my wife, Wendy, bought me a spot in the Rocky Mountain School of Photography’s workshop, Creative Compositing: The Impressionistic Photograph. Taught in Boulder, CO, by Mark S. Johnson, the workshop description reads:

If you are looking for a photographic experience to expand your vision and snap you out of your current way of seeing, this workshop is it. Through a combination of supportive photo evaluations and field shoots, Mark not only teaches macro photography, creative motion techniques and how to use multiple exposure, but he also rolls out the red carpet for you to explore your artistic side. Using Photoshop, he helps you to create impressionistic images that incorporate various montaging techniques, painterly effects, and HDR (high dynamic range). He fosters a supportive environment that encourages participants to help each other grow technically and creatively. Group critiques help bring into focus the lessons presented throughout the week and solidify your learning experience.

I suspect Wendy purchased this workshop because of the location (we both love Colorado and I’d never been to Boulder), the dates (I’m not teaching in the summer so I have time to spend away), and the description to “expand your vision” because I’m always trying to do that with my images. I also suspected that she might have picked up on the Impressionistic part of the title, as I have been working on an impressionistic series using Polaroid Chocolate film (and some in my Lum’s Pond series, as well).

I was, of course, very excited to receive such a wonderful gift, but I admit that I was a bit hesitant and more than a little nervous because most of my photography work lately has been with film. I also had no idea what “compositing” was and had what turned out to be uninformed ideas about HDR. Though I use Photoshop for touching up photos (mostly dust removal) and use some its other features, I’ve never been one who enjoys spending too much time there. My recent philosophy has been to record what I can through the viewfinder, avoid having to crop at all, and use Photoshop and Lightroom for only the most minor of edits that could have been accomplished in a darkroom, as well as dust removal. In that philosophy, Photoshop and Lightroom tend to be begrudgingly used accessories to the photographic process not a natural extension of the camera. Film photographers see (or, saw) the darkroom as the natural extension of the camera—the space where what was on the negative was made to appear on paper in a form that approximated as close as they could what they envisioned when pressing the shutter.

After completing the workshop, I understand how Photoshop and Lightroom (and Photomatix and the host of web sites that offer free textures and actions) can be considered in a similar way—and not just because of the phrase “digital darkroom” (which wasn’t used at all) but because digital photography affords different possibilities than does film, and Photoshop is a direct part of affording those possibilities. One makes creatively composited digital images with a mind toward post-processing in Photoshop. Recording the image in the DSLR is merely the first step in a long process of composing the image into something new.

The Instructor and the Course
To say that Mark Johnson is a wonderful instructor would putting it too lightly. He is , simply, incredible. His ability to recall the functions of Photoshop, Lightroom, Photomatix, and other applications was something to behold (and this is coming from someone who teaches instructional technologies at the college level). He has boundless energy and his enthusiasm for the creative processes that make up creative compositing was infectious. We all felt it and fed off of it. And even more importantly, he decided long ago that sharing his knowledge with those on the web—for free—was of utmost importance. I encourage anyone reading this to spend time on his web site and take in his Photoshop Workshop series, which has easy to understand video tutorials of just about everything you could ever want to know about Photoshop. They are free if you view them online and also available in DVD format. His book, Botanical Dreaming, which is part artwork, part macro photography technique, part inspiration, part life lesson, is 100% worth the cost, so I also recommend that to you. I’ve yet to read his other books, though I do have his HDR ebook.

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