Starting this fall I will be teaching several customized courses in Photoshop. These workshops will consist of either private or small group classes and will be taught at the various skill levels of Photoshop. Ottawa Photoshop Classes
Ottawa Photoshop Classes
October 18th, 2009Photos from the Ottawa Fall Workshop
October 15th, 2009
Last evening was the final classroom session of the Fall Ottawa Photography Workshop. We had great shooting conditions on the field trips for both of the weekends despite the ominous weather forecasts that had been predicting rain. And like this past spring and summer, it was also colder than normal this fall. I’ve posted a small photo gallery with 15 of pictures that I took on the workshop here.
During the winter months I will be teaching classes on Photoshop, details of these workshops will be posted to my web site this coming weekend. The next photography workshop in Ottawa will be this spring in May 2010.
CAPA 2009 Annual Digital Competition
October 2nd, 2009
Today I’ll be judging the 2009 CAPA (Canadian Association for Photographic Art) annual digital competition. I’m very honoured that I’ve been asked to judge this national competition again, this is the second time within recent years that I’ve been a judge for it. This year’s topic is “Windows and Doors”, the photo above isn’t the winning entry, it’s a photograph that I took during one of my workshops to Greece.
Discount Coupon Codes – Nik, Photomatix and Topaz
September 9th, 2009Looking to save a little money on some of the best Photoshop plug-ins? I’ve arranged for the following software discounts:
15% off Nik Software use Promo Code: GBLACK
15% off Photomatix use Promo Code: garryblack15
15% off Topaz Labs: this discount is only available to participants of my workshops – present and past. Please send me an email gblack@garryblack.com for instructions on how to get this discount.
Use the promotional discount coupon codes at checkout.
Upcoming Workshops and Seminars
September 3rd, 2009
Desert Landscape at Sunrise – Richersveld, South Africa
Over this past summer I conducted a number of private one on one photography classes in Ottawa. Ranging from beginners learning the technical skills on how to properly use their camera controls (not on Auto or Program) to full day outings with some very advanced and very experienced photographers wanting to improve their creative vision. I also taught several sessions of post-processing images with Photoshop as well as HDR images in Photomatix.
Next week I’ll be in London for a presentation “The Creative Image Making Process” for the London Camera Club. Followed by a 2 day workshop with outings around the city and classroom sessions for critiquing and Photoshop instruction. At the end of September the Fall Ottawa Photography Workshop begins. With the weather that we’ve had this summer, this year’s fall colours should be spectacular!
Later in the fall and also during the winter months I’m planning to hold small group (2 to 3 people) classes on Photoshop and HDR using Photomatix. What I’ve learned from teaching Photoshop is that it’s best taught targeting each student’s needs rather than trying to teach a large group of people everything that the program can do.
Ottawa SuperEX
August 30th, 2009This past week I went to the Ottawa SuperEX a couple of times, not to win a Teddy bear or to go on any of the rides, but just for photography. The last time that I had been at the SuperEX was nearly 20 years ago, when I was the photographer for the Ottawa Rough Riders. Usually one of the home games coincided with the EX. I think it was only called the EX back then, but then we don’t have a professional football team anymore either. Times change, but do you know what, a lot of the rides that I photographed back then are still here, maybe under different names but they’re still the same rides.
If It’s On The Internet, It Must Be Free!
August 28th, 2009This is a follow up to my last post of unauthorized use of photography. Many people, probably most people, think that just because something is on the Internet it’s free. This has to be one of the biggest misconceptions about the Internet and copyright. In the case of the photos below they seem to think that if you give credit to the photographer that’s all you have to do, then you can do whatever you want to with the pictures. The person that’s used my photographs from Tahiti on their web site at least said “Pictures are taken from Garry Black Photography”. I get a kick out of “taken”, yes they were taken and without my permission. I have several options, I could ask that the pictures be removed; I could invoice them; or do nothing at all. What would you do?
For some of the starfish infringements I sent a take down notice. One person who was using it as an avatar on a wedding forum site was quite upset when she found out from the administrators that she couldn’t use it any longer. This is what she wrote on the forum “Anybody else get their avatar deleted for copyright reasons? I had mine up for almost 2 years and now I lost it since I don’t “own” the image. I get it, but really, I mean it was just some random image of a starfish, I’m sure nothing they ever would have gotten sued over. Now nobody will know who I am since I will have to put up a new avatar.” The funny thing is that this person is also from Ottawa, my hometown.
I’ve removed the web site’s URL and name from this photo.
People Just Love My Pictures
July 13th, 2009
Recently while browsing the web I’ve found several different photographs of mine being used as avatars. And I definitely know that these haven’t been licensed (paid for). So I decided to do a search for one photograph in particular, the star fish on the beach, using TinEye. It came up with over 75 results of where this picture was being used on the web, and not one was a licensed usage. I’ve posted 4 of them below. Now, it’s very flattering that people love my pictures so much and would want to use them, but it would also be nice if they paid for them as well.
I’m quite sure that most of these people don’t realize that they’re breaking the law with copyright infringement by using these pictures and that they can be invoiced/sued for the usage. Just because you find something on the web, that doesn’t give you permission or license to use it as you see fit, it’s not free! This isn’t anything new in the world of copyright, if you’re interested in finding out more legal information a good web site is Photo Attorney by Carolyn E. Wright.
Now Goggle has just made it easier and faster for people to steal photos with OffiSync 2.0 which is a plug-in for Microsoft Office. If you have any photos on the web and particularly if you make your living from photography, I would strongly suggest that you make sure that they are copyrighted in the IPTC Description data field and I would also put a visible copyright or your name on the image. In the past I’ve put my name on only a few photos, thinking that it distracts from the picture. Well from this date forward all of the images that I post will have my name visibily on them and then I’ll start to work my way back through the rest of them.
Every month on my sales statement from the stock agency that represents me, there is at least one invoice to a company that has had an unauthorized use of a photograph. There was one case where a photographic supplier had lifted my entire article, text and photos on photographing fireworks, without asking permission or even giving me a credit line. They PAID for that!
Click for larger view
Trip Planning
July 8th, 2009
Before we head out on any trip there’s a considerable amount of time spent in researching and planning the itinerary of that trip. As a stock photographer, the first and also the most important decision is where to go? I have a few favourite places in the world that I’ve visited several times over the years and also some others that I’d like to return to. But if I keep going back to the same locations over and over again, I’ll end up with a fantastic (huge) collection of photos from that place, but then on the other hand that will also definitely limit my sales to only those locations. Since I’m self funding all of these trips, I have to think about the potential financial returns from the photographs that I’ll take on any trip and whether it’s worthwhile to invest my time and money on that trip. To date I’ve chosen wisely, every trip has more than paid for itself.
Once we’ve decided on a location, my work is pretty well done at least until we start packing for the trip and I’ll hear are your cameras packed yet? However up until that time Valerie will have spent endless hours in researching the trip. She uses the Internet (who doesn’t) but I mean she really uses it, she has travel magazine subscriptions and she also buys travel guide books. The funny thing about all of this, is that usually on the next edition of those guide books one of my pictures is being used on the cover, as in the 4 covers above.
Right now I’m at home in Ottawa trying to make some headway on the backlog of pictures I’ve taken over the last couple of years. While I’m doing that, Val is doing some preliminary research for potential trips to either Brazil/Argentina, Egypt/Jordan or Indochina. I’m not sure which one of these we’ll go on, hopefully we’ll get to all of them some day.
