from Sunday's workshop

Hi fellow photographers! Lisa and Tom Cuchara here of LisaandTomphotography.com. This past Sunday was an awesome workshop, all kinds of photo ops, still life, black-light, double polarization, water drops, dancing paint, food coloring water, fruit drops, smoke, etc. etc.

This event is a macro, flower, still life, set-up, and HiJinx photo opportunity that is something we do once or twice every winter. During the winter there are fewer landscape and flower opportunities, urban locations are cold and hard to plan with the New England weather. So we look forward to this indoor event as a way to quench our creative spirits and keep our photography interesting.

Now only will you come away with some interesting photographs but you will be inspired to set up your own table-top photography

I only had time to post-process a few images, but wanted to share them with you because we all had sooo much fun!!

When you have a favorite bottle and it breaks, do not throw it away :-)

My good friend Drea Koval taught me that last week !!!

Blacklight photography can make for some very interesting images. Tonic glows (imagine if we could look inside our bodies after we drink it??) we so you can put tonic water into intersting glassware and get some interesting effects

Vegetables and fruits always make for interesting subjects as well. I want to set up a vegetable/fruit shoot this winter and just concentrate on them! 

Some gear to help you with your indoor photography...

• Savage Luminous Pro LED Video Light 
• This is our favorite LED light This LED light by Savage is awesome!  
• You can adjust the color temperature and the intensity
• http://tinyurl.com/cuchara-savagelight 
• or www.huntsphotoandvideo.com/detail_page.cfm?productid=LED204&mfg=Savage&show=yes&sp=0T8PJ  
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• Savage Macro Art Dual LED ARM Light
• This light is also great for getting light just to where you want it because it has adjustable arms. 
• www.huntsphotoandvideo.com/detail_page.cfm?productid=LGHTF&mfg=Savage&show=yes
• I actually attach it to a Gorillapod, not to my camera, which increases stability and allows me more flexibility and creativity with my compositions. 
• Joby Gorillapod Focus with Ballhead 
• www.huntsphotoandvideo.com/detail_page.cfm?productid=JB00158CEN&mfg=Joby&show=yes

• An extension tube is also great for getting in close. First, focus without it and then place the extension tube between your camera and your lens and get in closer by decreasing the minimum focusing distance.
• Savage Macro Art Variable Auto-Extension Tube (Canon EF Mount; they sell a Nikon mount as well) www.huntsphotoandvideo.com/detail_page.cfm?productid=AETC&mfg=Savage&show=yes
• Set of three Kenko extension tubes Part Number: AEXTUBEDGC     http://tinyurl.com/cuchara-hunts-extensiontubes
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• You can also use this light tent, We keep one set up so we can place things inside and photograph them.
• Savage Luminous Pro LED Shooting Tent (23.5")
• Two daylight balanced LED light strips run from the front of the box to the rear ensuring shadowless light. The flicker-free LED color corrected (5500k + or - 200k) light source is designed to bring out the true colors of jewelry, collectibles & commercial products. The LED bulbs are low energy & long lasting, eliminating the need for frequent bulb replacement. 
• www.huntsphotoandvideo.com/detail_page.cfm?productid=PC23&mfg=Savage&show=yes

We love purchasing our photo gear from Hunts Photos – they are big enough to have what you need but small enough to help you and stand by their product. Contact Alan Samiljan (asamiljan@huntsphoto.com or 781-462-2383) and let him know that you attended a class or a program or workshop with us (and/or read our blog) and he will give you discounts on the gear that we use.  Hunts Photo 100 Main St. Melrose, MA 02176 (781-662-8822). 

If you are not subscribed to our Blog, then please join our email list to find out more about photo classes, tours, workshops, photo ops, gear, etc.  http://eepurl.com/b9P2IH

and check out our galleries here : LisaandTomphotography.com

Ghost Towns Our West

Nevada and many areas of the West have awesome ghost towns and buildings and belongings left behind. Tom and I have been exploring these ghost towns for the past few years. And we just got back from leading a photography workshop in Nevada. We had a jam-packed itinerary and photographed towns, cars, sand dunes, ghost towns, landscapes, and even a few local animals.

We photographed this building during the day, light painted it at night and photographed it from the inside too (third photo)

Racetrack

Tom and I went to Racetrack this year. It is such an interesting place and we will be adding it to one of our Nevada photography workshops.

Lisa Cuchara Earns Craftsman Degree from PPA

Hamden Photographer Earns Craftsman Degree Lisa Cuchara recognized for helping to advance the photography industry

Hamden, CT, January 2017 — Lisa Cuchara, PhD, HonNEC, has earned the photographic craftsman degree from Professional Photographers of America (PPA). The degree was conferred to Cuchara by PPA president Lori Craft, Cr.Photog. January 10th 2017. This degree is not merely a piece of paper. It means that Cuchara has met the standards of excellence set by PPA. She has been awarded the photographic craftsman degree in recognition of her service to the photographic profession as an orator, author and mentor. Cuchara‘s  degree—and all the expertise it requires—illustrates her accomplishments and talent as one of a select few.

About PPA Professional Photographers of America (PPA) is the largest international nonprofit association created by professional photographers, for professional photographers. Almost as long-lived as photography itself, PPA’s roots date back to 1869. The nonprofit assists nearly 30,000 members through protection, education and resources for their continued success. See how PPA helps photographers be more at PPA.com.

Rim Frost

I have seen Rim frost (I have also seen it referred to as Rime frost) on leaves, but never on non-nature items. 

Tom took this image a couple of weeks ago on our walkway from our the house in the morning. 

I took this second one at ~6000 feet out West in a Ghost Town on our recent workshop out West. At first I thought that it was slat or a mineral but I picked up another item from the pile and the frost quickly melted by the warmth of my finger tips. Our lcas name is Cuchara which means spoon, so it was fun to find the frost lining this spoon!

Nevada: Death Valley, Sand Dunes, International Car Forest, etc.

Tom and I have been going to Nevada to photograph for many years. Last week we taught our first workshop out West. It was great, we went all day and into many nights.

We went to Death Valley, a bunch of Ghost towns including Rhyolite and the International Car Forest, where we were treated to some wonderful SNOW. Seeing snow on the Joshua Tees was really cool!

International Car Forest -- and we had some snow!

Labyrinth, light painted at ~10pm

Open air museum, light painted 

We did a lot of light painting! I love the sky during our long night exposures. 

Tom painted this wagon, love it!

Tom captured this touching scene of momma and her baby 

in a herd of Burros on the way to Rhyolite.

lots of verticals went into creating this panorama of Mesquite Sand Dunes

I love the patterns and textures in the dried mud!

panorama at Chincoteague

Panorama at Chincoteague

16 verticals (see third image)were combined in Photoshop CC ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) to create this evening image at Chincoteague.

When you have a panorama image sometimes you are further inspired to create a "tiny planet" from it, filter, distort, polar coordinates.

These 16 verticals, 24mm (24-105mm lens) were used to create the final panoramic image in ACR.

"No egrets" with this Painted Egret

Here is the final edited image of an egret that I photographed at Chincoteague. I applied two textures to the photograph and then went back into Adobe Camera RAW (as a filter) and used the radial filter. See this and a few more photos from our last workshop here http://www.breaphotosgalleries.com/Locations/DelMarVA/

You can see my progression. Starting from a good image I added a texture, and then a second texture (to warm it back up), and lastly darkened the edges using the radial filter in the ACR filter

above, with the ACR radial filter, below, without...

Longwood Gardens at Night

For the past few years Tom and I have led workshops in December at Longwood Gardens during their Christmas lights at night. Every year is different: the flowers and colors inside, and the lights and arrangements (and weather) outside.

This year Tom and I went back to Longwood for ourselves for the three day New Years Weekend.

Here is my interpretation of the large Tree near the main building...

Canon 5D Mark III Canon 24-70mm lens.
Tripod
Long exposures (to get rid of the people, warmer nights mean more people, be careful what you wish for, lol)
and some Fun with post-processing

Every year this tree is different, but always a constant focal point...

The inspiration for this image was the year that it rained in December during our workshop. People were dedicated and got some great images. Interestingly enough the images were drastically different from any other year -- because the rain created awesome reflections. 

No rain this year, but I had this image in my head from that one rainy night.

Kaleidoscope

SnowGlobe

I love finding old lightbulbs during our Urban explorations, so I created this wintery light bulb scene...

 

 oh what fun! I wish that we lived closer to Longwood...

Happy New Year!