Online photography lessons & affordable photograhpy seminars for photographers of all skill levels

As you may or may not know, I frequently host very rudimentary photography classes in the community. These are for clubs, organizations and even schools. I’m not good at many other things so this is something that I can do togive back to the community that I love so much. On that note, if you are reading this and think that a photography class (intro or advanced) would be great for your club or organization then shoot me an email at inlightinworkshop at gmail dot com.

As a matter of fact, I will be teaching an Introduction To Digital Photography class at our local Gilda’s Club of Western New York today from 6:00pm-8:00pm. This class will be talking all about the basics of digital photography and is heavily geared towards point and shoots (what to look for, how to use one, etc…)

Way back when, I got the chance to try out Prezi which absolutely blows Microsoft’s Powerpoint out of the water. If you do ANYTHING that involves public speaking or giving presentations then I would highly stress that you try out Prezi.

Anywho, I embedded the Prezi Presentation for everyone to check out at their own leisure.

~ Enjoy!
Mike

… you heard me.

Before you lay down the cash on your next lens consider purchasing something that will make your images look better.

The device pictured above is one of the many monitor calibrators that are out there today. I included a picture of the ColorMunki by X-Rite and it is my personal favorite. The ColorMunki is affordable (under $400) and not only allows you to calibrate your monitor, your projector and even your printer as well. This is great because you are ensuring that your images are accurate from capture (use a gray card) to your screen and finally to the print. What you see is definitely what you get.

So why am I stressing a monitor calibrator over getting that new camera or lens that you have been drooling over? Simple. I want your past, present and future images to look good. Chances are that your monitor is not properly calibrated so all the images that you have been editing on it are probably way off from what their true colors should be. They may look good to you on the screen but wait until you get a print back of one!

Here’s the nitty gritty details on why you should calibrate your monitor:
All computer monitors are not created equal. The settings and colors are pretty out of whack by default. The big problem comes down to when you are editing your pictures. Say you used a gray card and took a properly exposed image using an accurate white balance setting… Great. However, you may get back to your computer and the image will appear too cold or too warm. Definitely not how you saw it on your camera’s LCD… So you have no worries and make the image warmer or cooler and then send it off to print.

When you get the print back it is totally screwy and the colors are WAY too cool or WAY too warm. Must be your camera right? Time to get a new one… WRONG!

It is because your monitor was fooling you into thinking your image was incorrect. You over compensated when you shouldn’t have and the only way you can tell is in your print.

A monitor calibrator ensures that this does not happen anymore. All you have to do is re-calibrate your screen every month and you should be all set and on your way to better looking pictures.

A monitor calibrator will prevent your images from looking like crap! See, back in the film days, your photo lab would process and develop your film for you. They were your post-processors and you didn’t have to do a thing. With digital, WE are each on our own. Now if you don’t have a monitor calibrator then you have not been

Hello fellow inLIGHTin’ed Ones!

Long time no see. How has everyone been lately?

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am always thinking and brainstorming… For example, I should be editing a wedding right now. Instead, I have finally came up with where I want to direct my inLIGHTin Workshops. Before I get going, these are all good things! I am in no way, shape or form stopping these workshops so you can let out that sigh of relief now haha ;P

Now in my head I always seen a ‘loop-hole’ in my workshops so to speak… I basically held up a sign that said, “come to me if you want to know anything and everything about photography…” That was ideally what my one-on-one workshops did. You came to me with what you wanted to learn and I taught it. However, in my 5 year plan, I planned on doing more speaking engagements, group workshops and team learning (both locally and on a national level)… How can I get to that point when I only affect one photographer at a time? Also, do I want to be known as the guy who is like the Bob Villa of photography or do I want to be known for being an expert in my strengths and passions? Why give you an overall general knowledge base of things when I can hone into the nitty gritty and provide you with more concentrated content. These are the questions that I have been racking my brain on and here is my answer!

I have a new direction for the inLIGHTin Workshops which will be effective immediately:
All future inLIGHTin Workshops will be conducted in a group environment and the topics of these workshops are now divided into four categories: Lighting, Post-Processing/Workflow, Photography 101 and Nature/Landscape Photography. These are the disciplines that I am most passionate about and love to teach. My lighting workshops cater to my passion for portrait photography. The nature/landscape workshops combine my love for traveling, sight seeing and fine art landscapes. Post-processing and workflow lets out the inner geek in myself and the photography 101 courses will be my way of giving back to the industry. We all started off somewhere so these Photography 101 workshops will get my students more comfortable with their cameras and hopefully help them to acquire a new found love and passion for photography.

Take a look at the following link for more information on what these workshops entail: http://www.inlightinworkshop.com/about/

I will most definitely still offer one-on-one workshops but they will come at a premium and on a more limited basis. Please contact me at Mike(at)inLIGHTinWorkshop dot com for more information.

I also hope to start taping these workshops and am looking to partner up with a videographer to help this vision become a reality. If you miss the workshop then you can always have access to it via these videos.

All in all, I have big, big plans for The inLIGHTin Workshop and I thank you for being on-board! If you are interested in hosting an inLIGHTin Workshop in your neck of the woods then please email me at Mike(at)inLIGHTinWorkshop dot com .

These workshops have always and will still be 110% about YOU. Therefore, I would love to hear your thoughts and comments so please comment on the blog below and let me know your feedback.

Thanks for reading and for all your support!
Michael