SEMINARS

Here is a sample line-up of the TYPES OF SEMINARS WE WILL BE PROVIDING
DURING THE DIGITAL SHOOTOUT

PHOTOGRAPHY SEMINARS

Basic Camera Menu Settings / Gear Prep Session – Jim Decker
This session will start with the general camera settings we recommend and will be followed by a hands-on gear prep session with all staff on site to help you assemble your equipment, update your menus, and repair any issues. Perform a full function test on your system with expert support.

Wide Angle Photography Basics – Berkley White
Wide angle can be the easiest form of underwater photography with a few basic rules. These are the fundamentals that will give you repeatable results with the fewest dials and buttons to turn.

Easy Macro 101 – Jim Decker
Everything you need to get started shooting macro. I’ll take a simple approach to macro shooting that will be the basis of all macro techniques going forward. In addition to focus, I’ll cover manual exposure and show how easy it is to do by changing only 1 setting in the water.

The DSO Changed My Life. It Can Change Yours Too – Erin Quigley (evening session)
I first attended the Digital Shootout in 2008 as a complete novice to underwater photography, totally insecure, and in awe of the photos I’d seen from the pros. I never thought I’d be able to shoot like them, but I still wanted to know their magic.

Close Focus Wide Angle – Berkley White CFWA images are the hallmark of underwater photography. We will break it down to it’s basics with a step by step guide to get your images standing out from the crowd.

Advanced Macro and Snooting – Jim Decker
In this class I’ll go over more advanced concepts such as adding in a second strobe, more lighting techniques, and thinking about backgrounds. I’ll simplify how to shoot with a snoot to take your macro shots to the next level.

The Zen of Underwater Strobe Placement – Jim Decker
I often get asked “Where do I put my strobes?” to which my response is “What do you want to light?” By asking this simple question, learn where to place your strobes for what YOU want to light and improve both your lighting and your composition.

The Greatest Underwater Images Ever Taken – Hergen Spalink (evening session)
According to Hergen’s Mom anyway. A look at some of these images and why she like them.

Split Images, Motion Blur, Black & White – Berkley White (evening session)
Take your photography to the next level. This evening session will teach you how to evaluate your shooting conditions to get the most creative results.

Optics That Will Inspire Your Imagination – Todd Winner
Todd will run through the inspirational optics available from Nauticam from macro to wide angle and in between. 

LIGHTROOM + PHOTOSHOP SEMINARS

Essential Lightroom 1 – The Library Module aka Don’t Cheat on Lightroom – Erin Quigley
The Lightroom Library is Mission Control for all things organizational in your editing workflow. It doesn’t sound sexy, but organization and asset management are Lightroom’s superpowers. Master the Lightroom Library, and you’ll never wonder where the #$@! your images are ever again.

Essential Lightroom 2 – The Develop Module aka the Artsy Part – Erin Quigley
The Develop Module is Lightroom’s darkroom. It’s where the magic happens. Learn to maximize the potential in your images with Lightroom’s amazing post-production tools.

Masking Magic in Lightroom – Erin Quigley
It’s rare that underwater images can be edited globally. A typical white balance corrects part of the frame, but throws the rest out of whack. Texture is an amazing tool for emphasizing detail, but when applied to the entire photo, it also emphasizes every piece of unwanted goo in your shot. Lightroom’s new Masking Panel changes everything, making it possible to edit specific areas of your photo independently from each other. The ability to add, subtract, combine, and invert complex AI-assisted selections has made this little old sorceress very happy, and I think you’ll feel all magical too when you harness the power of the Masking Panel in Lightroom Classic (v12 or newer).You’ll use these tools on every image. No kidding..

Getting Rid of Backscatter, Bubbles, and Bozos – Erin Quigley
There’s no magic bullet for getting goo out of your pictures in post. Lightroom’s object removal tool is woefully unprepared for the sheer volume of backscatter that underwater photographers throw at it. New tools in Lightroom add some AI to the process, but still nothing beats Photoshop when it comes to removing unwanted objects from your image. In this session, we’ll start with Lightroom, then introduce Photoshop’s smarter, more powerful array of dust dissolvers and dark arts.

Let There Be Light – Repositioning Your Strobes in Post – Erin Quigley
Lighting is hands-down the single most difficult technical element of underwater photography, as evidenced by the thousands of potentially heroic shots that we murder with poorly placed strobes, malfunctioning strobes, strobes at the wrong power, and every other crappy thing that can happen with strobes. Luckily, Lightroom is chock full of kickass lighting gear, and is happy to help you re-light your images in post. You’ve just got to know how to ask nicely.

AI For Good and Evil
At its best, Artificial Intelligence works to improve and speed up editing techniques that in the past could be accomplished with mere mortal ingenuity and elbow grease. Learn how to channel AI in your post-production workflow for good and of course for a little bit of evil too!

All Skill Levels Welcome Daily in The Creative Cave The Creative Cave will be open from approximately 1:30 pm – 4pm daily for all your personalized Lightroom, Photoshop & Premiere Pro questions. See program for more details. 

VIDEO SEMINARS

Underwater Video Basics – Berkley White
Learn how simple it can be to start adding video to your skill set. We’ll cover essential camera controls and settings for total beginners and intermediate shooters.

Video White Balance – The quickest way to better color – Hergen Spalink
Want better color in your video? Understanding the concept of white balance and its practical application is crucial. We’ll demystify this important tool and give you the tips and tricks you’ll need to start getting better looking clips in-camera and minimize your time in post.

Video Editing Basics – James Emery
Follow along as I show you my simple editing workflow, to create an engaging underwater video in Adobe Premiere Pro. I will cover the basics of Premiere’s new workspace and workflow. You will learn how to: import footage and create a new project, edit your footage to music, and export your video to YouTube.

Video Color Correction: Scopes, Wheels and Curves – Hergen Spalink
Not sure where to start when it comes to correcting minor or major color issues in your underwater video? Want to get consistent color across your clips? In this seminar you’ll learn to analyze, visualize and correct common color problems in post.

My 5 Biggest Tricks for Pro Video – Cristian Dimitrius
If you are passionate, driven, and focused in what you do, if you are good at it, people that matter will notice. These are the 5 ways I became successful as a professional cinematographer and you should use them too.

Behind The Scenes of Wild Filmmaking – Cristian Dimitrius (evening session)
Embark on a captivating journey into the wild with renowned wildlife filmmaker Cristian Dimitrius as he presents an evening filled with awe-inspiring stories and breathtaking visuals. Through his remarkable documentaries, Dimitrius transports audiences to remote corners of the globe, revealing the beauty, power, and fragility of the animal kingdom.

Telling A Better Story in Video – Cristian Dimitrius
What is the difference between professionals and amateurs? Professionals shoot sequences. Take your video to the next level and become a story teller.

Explore the World of Blackwater – Joel Penner (evening session)
Join Joel Penner for a magical experience diving into the dark and deep waters of the Philippines to film the amazing underwater world of blackwater. Watch video and see behind the scenes to learn how to capture this amazing type of diving.

Slow Motion and Time Ramping in Premiere – Joel Penner
If you want to play your videos back in real time, that’s fine. But if you want a more cinematic look, and slow things down or speed things up to add interest, then this session on

Time Manipulation is for you! Stabilizing Footage in Premiere – Joel Penner
It’s always best to nail the shot “in camera” but sometimes that doesn’t happen. In this session we’ll cover stabilizing your footage with Warp Stabilizer and learn about other ways to make your footage look as silky smooth as possible. We’ll also cover the Remix Tool, a Ken Burns Effect for adding motion to static shots, and Auto Reframing your Video for other aspect ratios such as 9:16, 1:1, 4:5 and more to optimize the social media experience. 

All Skill Levels Welcome Daily in The Creative Cave The Creative Cave will be open from approximately 1:30 pm – 4pm daily for all your personalized Lightroom, Photoshop & Premiere Pro questions. See program for more details.