Jim Zuckerman

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Exposure Modes: Choosing The Right One To Match The Scene
Jim Zuckerman  |  Oct 17, 2013
You have several Exposure mode choices on the camera, and they affect the exposures you get when using flash. They even have a bearing on the color balance in your pictures. For example, notice in the picture of my wife and Rexie, our great Pyrenees, that the color of the light in the background is yellowish while the lighting in the foreground is white without any apparent color shift. I was able to do this because I used Aperture Priority to choose a narrower aperture which, in turn, forced the shutter speed to be slower. Av helps to give you a correct exposure not just for the light emanating from the flash, but it helps make the ambient light in the room expose correctly as well. In so doing, it picks up the color of the room lights. In this case, since I was using a daylight white balance (which is the same WB as for flash—it correctly balances light that is 5500k degrees Kelvin) the tungsten lights in the room turned out yellowish.
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Nature Photography How ToPro Techniques
Feathers: The Beauty Of Birds, Close-Up
Jim Zuckerman  |  Jul 21, 2014

The beautiful designs and colors that can be found in the feathers of many species of birds offer wonderful photo opportunities. You can create frame-filling shots of unique patterns, and it’s also possible to make interesting arrangements of the feathers that become a unique art form unto itself.

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Newsletter
Flash Basics: Power And Position
Jim Zuckerman  |  Jan 21, 2014
To fully understand your flash, there are some basic principles and definitions I need to explain. When I start discussing how to be creative with your flash, you will know what I’m talking about with this information under your belt. Flash is not difficult once you understand some fundamental principles. I will start from the beginning and take you step by step to the point where it will seem like no big deal to get excellent flash pictures.
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Nature Photography How ToPro Techniques
Floral Photography: The Beauty And Variety Of Nature’s Designs
Jim Zuckerman  |  Jul 21, 2014

I’m sure that everyone who has ever owned a camera has taken pictures of flowers. It’s impossible not to. Flowers are too beautiful to resist, and there are so many species and varieties that you could devote your entire life to shooting nothing but flowers and hardly scratch the surface.

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Newsletter
Flowers And A Soft Drink: Bubbles And Color Together
Jim Zuckerman  |  Mar 15, 2012
We don’t normally speak of soft drinks and flowers in the same sentence, but there is a very cool technique that brings these two unlikely subjects together. Actually, you can use any kind of seltzer water or flavored water that is carbonated. Put the carbonated clear liquid in a glass or plastic container with clear and flat sides, and when you submerge the flowers in the liquid the bubbles cling to the petals. This is a unique subject matter for macro work, and with dramatic lighting the results can be quite beautiful.
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Newsletter
Food Coloring In Water: Floating Abstracts
Jim Zuckerman  |  Feb 15, 2013
You can create remarkable multicolored and monochromatic abstracts by dropping individual drops of food coloring in to water. The way the color mixes with the water is endlessly fascinating, constantly changing, and it produces images that are worthy of being framed.
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Newsletter
Frozen Leaves: Pattern And Design
Jim Zuckerman  |  Jan 22, 2013
I live in Tennessee, and in this part of the country it doesn’t get cold enough in autumn to see colorful leaves frozen in local rivers. When I first moved here, I had been hoping to get shots like that, and I was disappointed that it wasn’t going to happen. I came up with an idea to get the shots I wanted, though, and it worked out quite well. I was able to create artistic and colorful macro shots in which I had total control as opposed to finding beautiful patterns serendipitously.
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Newsletter
Gaining Access: Ask And You Might Just Succeed
Jim Zuckerman  |  Jul 18, 2011
There are many situations that you will encounter in your travels domestically as well as internationally where picture taking is prohibited. It’s a constant problem. One of the things I’ve learned over many years is that permission can often be granted to allow you to take the pictures you want. It just takes time, perseverance, sometimes money, and always luck.
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Newsletter
Geometric Light Trails: A Penlight, A String, Some Gels And You’re In
Jim Zuckerman  |  Feb 15, 2013
Photographing geometric light trails is so much easier than it was with film in the past because now I can tweak the results based on the immediate feedback on the LCD monitor of the camera.
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Getting The Light Right: Exposure Dilemmas And Solutions
Jim Zuckerman  |  Jul 21, 2014

Everyone is insecure about getting the correct exposure. We have good reason to be insecure because too often we’ve experienced over- and underexposures when we didn’t expect it, and that leaves a lasting impression that exposure technique is a mysterious and elusive thing.

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