Fine Art Digital B&W inkjet printing

Since the evolution of photography from the darkroom to digital processes is occurring rapidly and affecting everyone involved to some degree. This course address the following concerns:

• Bringing forward the high standards and unique qualities of the medium into the new materials and working process
• Becoming familiar with the various materials and methods in this new and evolving technology
• Specific working procedures with regard to input, file editing, and output focused on B&W

Photoshop is the most widely accepted and evolved tool for file preparation and adherence to color management practices, so it will be the tool of choice and a working knowledge of it will be a prerequisite. This will not be a Photoshop course, working knowledge will be required with an emphasis on adjustment layers and masks.

Friday (Afternoon/Evening)
We will look at a lot of work, many examples of different kinds of output, papers, inks and hues, and printers. Tyler will show work and explain the concerns about working process and personal methods. Attendees will show work as well, hopefully problems to bring as well as an indication of what we're all up to...

Saturday
Working methods. We will go over input procedure, both capture and scanning. Then considerable time will be spent on Photoshop procedure and technique. Color management and how it applies to B&W and output will be discussed as well. Photoshop takes time, but we'll move into some printing on Saturday if possible.

Sunday (all day)
We'll spend time with attendees files, printing as much as possible all day, roving working one on one with attendees particular issues.

Attendees should bring prints to show, including problem prints, and files to work on.

Instructor Bio for Tyler Boley

One of the most important things that any digital photographer can do is develop a solid image management plan to help speed the processing of their digital photographs and arrange them in an archive that can be easily searched.

Day One, we will explore a clear workflow for digital asset management (DAM) and cover dealing with your digital camera files from download through batch renaming, the application of bulk and image-specific metadata, sorting, rating, keywording, initial raw processing and archiving. Programs that will be discussed are Adobe Bridge CS3, Photoshop Lightroom and iView Media Pro. The benefits of the Digital Negative (DNG) raw format and establishing a crash-proof backup system will also be discussed.

Day 2 we will embark on an in-depth exploration of Adobe Camera Raw 4.2 in Photoshop CS3. Every feature in the eight tabbed panels of the dialog will be fully explained to help you get the most from your raw files. Speeding up your raw processing by taking advantage of batch processing capabilities and using saved presets will also be discussed, as will specialized techniques that are only available with raw files such as Dual Process Raw and High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging. The raw workflow in Bridge/Camera Raw will be compared to the features in Lightroom to help you decide if Lightroom is a program that would benefit your workflow.

Instructor Bio for Sean Duggan

Fran’s fabricated photographic realities suggest an unfinished story or a snippet from a dream, and the photographic collage technique is perfectly suited to portray the imagined world of idea, memory, and emotion.

Fran will show some of her photographic collages and discuss how these are constructed from the alchemy of photography, scanner, and computer.

In this intermediate workshop, students will use Adobe Photoshop CS3 to explore the multi-faceted art of the photographic composite. Our explorations may range from combining two or more exposures of the same scene to control contrast, or incorporating visual materials into existing images, to create dream-like montages. In all cases, students will explore Photoshop’s capabilities for image layering and montage and each student will work on developing his or her own style and individual works of art.

Students will experiment with Photoshop’s painting and layering tools and learn new techniques and technical shortcuts. Students will use a range of options for making global and local adjustments to images, such as color correction, creating black-and-white images, sepia toning, and retouching, and additional tools such as filters, sharpening, and compositing. Other topics will include: selection tools, masking, adjustment layers, layer groups, layer organization, blending modes, image transformation tools including Free Transform and Warp, Smart Objects that preserve flexibility, simple collages based on image overlays, and multi-layered creations woven from various sampled sources.

Our hands-on class atmosphere is energetic and supportive. We encourage experimentation, discovery, and the open exchange of concepts, ideas, and techniques. Participants receive continual assistance and feedback on works in progress, and we encourage sharing our works as they progress.

In addition to your own laptop loaded with Photoshop CS3 (you can download a trial version for 30 days), a mouse and mousepad, bring along any materials and digital projects you want to share, discuss, explore or refine. Fran will provide additional images for students to use, if you prefer.

Instructor Bio for Fran Forman