Jim Zuckerman

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Newsletter
Amusement Parks At Night: Lights At Night Are Fantastic!
Jim Zuckerman  |  Nov 18, 2013
Multicolored neon lights turning and spinning at night are irresistible to a photographer. Even though I have photographed amusement parks at night for years, it’s still exciting to do it again because the pictures I take are never the same. The colors are always dazzling, and the abstracts are captivating. Sometimes I am happy with these images as I shoot them, like (#1 and #2), and other times I use them as composites as in (#3, #4 and #5). When I took the latter image I immediately thought of a black hole, so I added “stars” to complete the concept. The star field is actually a picture of glitter sprinkled on black velvet.
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Newsletter
Aquarium Photography: Getting Close Without Getting Wet
Jim Zuckerman  |  Nov 18, 2013
Underwater photography is a specialty that most of us don’t delve into, but I think it’s fair to say that most nature photographers are intrigued with the creatures seen in public and private aquariums. They are beautiful, bizarre, mysterious and often ethereal. Photographing them can be challenging because there are technical issues to deal with in order to get the best possible images.
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Newsletter
Architecture At Night And Twilight: Using The Best Light For The Best Results
Jim Zuckerman  |  Dec 11, 2012
Architecture is one of the subjects photographers love to shoot at home and abroad. Even if your passion is shooting landscapes or people, it’s hard not to get excited by a stunning work of architecture such as the B’hai temple in New Delhi or the twin towers in Kuala Lumpur. From impressive city skylines like New York and Philadelphia to a Navajo Hogan in Monument Valley, and from the interior of a Buddhist temple in Thailand to a Bavarian castle in Germany, architecture is awe inspiring. It is art in the form of stone, steel, wood, and glass. It is often a glimpse into our past, and it is so varied throughout the world that it is endlessly intriguing.
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Nature Photography How ToOutdoor Photography How ToPro Techniques
Beautiful Bones: Beauty In What Remains
Jim Zuckerman  |  Jun 20, 2014

Most people find the bones of animals fascinating. Nature photographers are usually drawn to them like a magnet, and when they are in a particularly beautiful environment, they make captivating subjects. Too often, though, bones are scattered in an unattractive way or they are laying in dirt or underbrush that isn’t especially appealing. In that case, it’s a simple matter of arranging the various elements so they are more pleasing.

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Newsletter
Black Acrylic Glass: Magical Reflections
Jim Zuckerman  |  Nov 18, 2013
Studio photographers have used black acrylic glass to create subtle reflections in product shots and portraits for many years. It’s a wonder prop because it adds an elegant quality to the photographs of many different types of subjects, from people to glassware to flowers.
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Newsletter
Blacklight Photography: A 60s Technique Made New
Jim Zuckerman  |  Dec 11, 2012
The ultra intense colors emitted from phosphorescent paint under a blacklight grab everyone’s attention. These colors exist nowhere in nature and any photographer who loves to think outside the box should experiment with the amazing possibilities this technique affords.
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Lighting
Bounce Flash: Indirect Lighting For Softer Effects
Jim Zuckerman  |  Feb 24, 2014

On-camera flash is convenient and very fast to use, but it’s not a flattering type of light. It’s a flat type of lighting with seemingly no depth, it creates unattractive shadows, and any surface that has sheen to it will reflect the light back into the lens.

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Lighting How ToPro Techniques
Bubble In A Bubble: Color & Design Close Up
Jim Zuckerman  |  Jun 20, 2014

Previously I discussed photographing bubble solution stretched across a frame. You can get the same swirling pearlescent colors in the spherical surface of a bubble as it’s sitting on glass. When I was experimenting with this a few years ago, I discovered that you could even blow a bubble inside a bubble and then another one inside of that. Image (#1) is a picture of a bubble in a bubble in a bubble in a bubble.

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Newsletter
Buying A Lens; Tips On Making The Right Choices
Jim Zuckerman  |  Jun 16, 2011  |  First Published: Jun 28, 2011
After you buy a good camera that allows you to change lenses, it will become obvious to you that it is not the camera that enables you to be creative in photography. It is the lenses. The features on your camera, like fast auto focus, a large LCD screen, accurate Metering modes, and various custom functions are all important, but it is the lenses that have everything to do with the artistry of the images you take.
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Newsletter
Capture Cultural Details: A Photographer’s Eye
Jim Zuckerman  |  Dec 18, 2013
After I had been taking pictures seriously for two or three years, I realized that photography taught me to see things I had never noticed before I picked up a camera. I had been fairly oblivious to contrast, the shapes of shadows, details, texture, light, color, and graphic design. The camera helped me finally pay attention to all of these things. It is truly remarkable how much you can miss. For example, BP (Before Photography) I would have walked right past the overturned cart in a rural area of Missouri and not given it a second thought. It wouldn’t have occurred to me that this had any artistry or beauty. Similarly, BP I would have missed the bold graphic design, warm color, and rich texture in the detail of a cathedral door in Strasbourg, France.
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