Boston Sea Rovers – Saturday, March 16, 2024

check back for Time | check back for Room

$80.00 workshop fee, includes manual

Tom Easop has spent a lifetime photographing the underwater world. From this experience, he has developed Cardinal Rules and Core Concepts to optimize underwater image-making. Using these rules and concepts led to unique, optimized practices, techniques and workflows.

In this workshop I will teach you my rules and concepts as well as the resulting “hands-on” skills for optimizing your diving, underwater photography, post-processing and storage of your images.

Organized chronologically through a typical dive trip the topics include:

preparing and handling your cameras and lights
focus tactics – not wasting depth of field
speed light vs. continuous light
exposure & white point(s)
tripod?
automatic vs. manual tactics
power tactics
safe capture storage
pixel geography, compression & The Color Dimension
RAW development considerations
DNG? & file types
LR vs. PS and other applications for post-processing
combining digital tools
HDR
image masking
L*a*b* color & chroma variant spaces
HRLA USM
backscatter tactics
sharpening
non destructive workflow
cataloguing images & session folders

PLUS PLANNING, TESTING AND PRACTICING

This is by far the most valuable workshop I have ever developed, imparting the most important information I’ve learned through photography and retouching schools, shooting and print making workshops, research, underwater camera building, and most of all – 45 years of experience of underwater photography. It will be time well spent for any underwater photographer or videographer regardless of skill level.

Beyond Good Dive Practice, Beyond Good Photo Technique and Beyond Good Image Workflow: A Lifetime’s worth of U/W Photographic Cardinal Rules and Core Concepts

Boston Sea Rovers – Saturday, October 1, 2022, confirm

check back for time | check back for Room

$75.00 workshop fee, includes manual

Tom Easop has spent a lifetime studying and developing Cardinal Rules and Core Concepts to optimize underwater image-making. Implementing these rules and concepts led to optimized practices, techniques and workflows.

This workshop will teach you hands-on methods for:

Eliminating moisture
Not wasting depth of field
Speed light versus continuous light
White point(s)
Pixel geography
Compression & The Color Dimension
Tripods ?
Auto versus manual settings
Entering and exiting the water with kit
Batteries & chargers
Cards, cases & safe file storage
RAW development options
DNG
Image file types
When to use LR versus PS and other applications for editing exposure
Color
Saturation & contrast adjustment
Combining tools
HDR
Masking
L*a*b* color & chroma variant spaces
HRLA USM (High Radius Low Amount Unsharp Mask
Removing backscatter
Sharpening
Non destructive workflow
Cataloguing images & session folders

AND MORE !

This is by far the most valuable workshop I have ever developed, imparting the most important information I’ve gathered through photography school, shooting workshops, retouching school, printing workshops, research, underwater camera building, and almost 45 years of experience. It will be time well spent for any underwater photographer or videographer regardless of skill level.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Underwater Exposure & Lighting (But Were Afraid to Ask)

Boston Sea Rovers – Saturday, October 2, 2021

1:00pm – 4:00pm | Manchester Room

$75.00 workshop fee, includes manual

Unlike my ‘Advanced Fundamentals’ workshops, where light and lighting are only a part of the material (and featured after other topics) this workshop is dedicated to lighting underwater. And it is packed with real world examples and applications of lighting as well as some of the underlying fundamental concepts.

The goal is for everyone to learn:

EXPOSURE:
Camera settings
Balancing ambient and artificial sources

LIGHT:
Direction
Intensity / duration
Color
Specularity

WATER:
And it’s effect on light

PLUS:
Shooting manual
Shooting auto+
Speed-light (flash)
Continuous light
Color versus black and white
Multiple exposure
Long exposure

Beyond Good Dive Practice, Beyond Good Photo Technique and Beyond Good Image Workflow: A Lifetime’s worth of U/W Photographic Cardinal Rules and Core Concepts

Boston Sea Rovers – Friday, October 1, 2021

1:00pm – 4:00pm | Ipswich Room

$75.00 workshop fee, includes manual

Tom Easop has spent a lifetime studying and developing Cardinal Rules and Core Concepts to optimize underwater image-making. Implementing these rules and concepts led to optimized practices, techniques and workflows.

This workshop will teach you hands-on methods for:

Eliminating moisture
Not wasting depth of field
Speed light versus continuous light
White point(s)
Pixel geography
Compression & The Color Dimension
Tripods ?
Auto versus manual settings
Entering and exiting the water with kit
Batteries & chargers
Cards, cases & safe file storage
RAW development options
DNG
Image file types
When to use LR versus PS and other applications for editing exposure
Color
Saturation & contrast adjustment
Combining tools
HDR
Masking
L*a*b* color & chroma variant spaces
HRLA USM (High Radius Low Amount Unsharp Mask
Removing backscatter
Sharpening
Non destructive workflow
Cataloguing images & session folders

AND MORE !

This is by far the most valuable workshop I have ever developed, imparting the most important information I’ve gathered through photography school, shooting workshops, retouching school, printing workshops, research, underwater camera building, and almost 45 years of experience. It will be time well spent for any underwater photographer or videographer regardless of skill level.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Underwater Lighting (But Were Afraid to Ask)

Boston Sea Rovers- Saturday, March 7, 2020

1:00pm – 4:00pm

Unlike my ‘Advanced Fundamentals’ workshops, where light and lighting are only a part of the material (and featured after other topics) this workshop is dedicated to lighting underwater. And it is packed with real world examples and applications of lighting as well as some of the underlying fundamental concepts. The goal is for everyone to learn EXPOSURE: camera settings, balancing ambient and artificial sources; LIGHT: direction, intensity / duration, color, specularity; WATER: and it’s effect on light. Shooting manual, auto+, speed-light (flash), continuous light, color versus black and white, multiple exposure and long exposure are all topics covered in this workshop.

Advanced Fundamentals for Underwater Image Makers 3.0

Boston Sea  Rovers- Saturday, March 9, 2019

1:00pm – 4:00pm

This is a three hour workshop covering fundamental concepts of underwater imaging. These concepts are part of both modern digital imaging (capture, post processing) and age-old analog underwater photography limitations (color, focus, angle of view .) Understanding these concepts is vital if you are:

• Trying to optimize your image quality
• Researching a purchase of new equipment
• Fix particular problems in your images

Behind all the ‘bells and whistles’ tools, settings and product features available to the modern underwater image-maker, there are some fundamental concepts that will never change, and should be understood if you are to advance in making better and better photographs.

Why?

Most of these ‘bells and whistles’ are short cuts – ‘one size fits all applications’. They do not work on every image, especially the ones we want them to work on the most! You need to know how to get to the heart of the problem and fix it yourself .

Other ‘bells and whistles’ are simply best fit technology that is limited in the first place. But it is all we have so you need to know where it will and will not work. And know the work-arounds if available.

And of course there is ‘Marketing BS’ where camera, housing, lighting and software sales folks tell a story about their products which upon deeper looking, don’t quite hold up to scrutiny.

Have ever asked yourself:

• Why is the water column in my picture not smooth but instead has ‘banding’?
• Why can’t I get the color on screen or in a print to match the color I remember seeing on the dive?
• Why are my corners all blurry?
• Why does my underwater lighting look so harsh?
• Why does my camera / lighting system not work as planned on the dive?

To get answers, we will explore the ins-and-outs of underwater port optics, underwater lighting, camera features and settings, filter use, tripod use, color theory, color management, image noise, file types, workflow, and printing and displaying images.

Contact: Tom Easop +1 (603) 283 6630 or tom@EASOPhotography.com

Workshop Outline

In Water Analog

• Optics
  • Water Column
  • Ports
    • Flat
    • Dome
      • Entrance Pupil Alignment
      • Focus
    • Others
  • Shades
    • Inside
    • Outside
    • Custom / Combination
• Camera Settings
  • Aperture Size
  • Shutter Speed
  • Display
• Lighting
  • Speedlight (Flash)
  • Continuous Light
  • Color Filtering

In Camera and Computer Digital

• Color Theory
  • Color Modes
  • White Point
  • Color Space
• Color Technology
  • Capture Methods
  • Noise
  • Color Dimensions, Gamut, Tone Curve
  • RAW Image Development
  • Levels, Curves, Color Adjustments
  • File types
  • Color Space Changes

Diving In – Putting It All Together

• Preparing  – Research, Testing
• Best Practices Before, During and After the Dive
• A Hybrid Analog  – Digital Workflow

After reviewing all the photos I have made while diving the wrecks of the Ferndale and Parat in Sognefjord, Norway, I had been dreaming of making a photo featuring the side of the Parat looking up at the Ferndale. There is a distinctive curve to the superstructure that I wanted to capture. Being geared up for long exposure photography this last trip (summer ’16) I knew it might take a novel approach with the tripod if there were no wreckage jutting out into the water to simply clamp the camera onto. Confidence was low from my recollection of previous dives.

During a dive with just my camera to recon suitable clamping wreckage and finding none, I decided I would have to return with the tripod, but instead of it being vertical like its normally used, I would have to use it horizontally – sideways. Tying it in snug to the wreck would be enough to support the camera exactly where I wanted it.

There are two small port holes in the side of the superstructure and I thought I would use them to anchor the tripod spread onto the side of the wreck using a rope. A rope connected to the tripod, into the hole and then up to the top of the wreck to tie off or possibly just back down to the tripod was the plan. Camera, tripod, and rope while swimming next to the wreck could be a recipe for disaster.

I decided to stage my camera on the seabed and get the tripod set up first. I swam the tripod up to the side of the wreck with one hand and the rope in the other hand, and as I put the rope into the porthole I thought “How am I going to get the rope UP to the top of the wreck now?” I had noticed a torch inside the wreck while I was doing this, and then a hand appeared and like magic, I had a little help from my friend. All unplanned but executed to perfection, and with that momentum, I proceeded to anchor the tripod, clamp the camera, and make the shot.

And Chris got it all on his GoPro vid of the dive. Here is an edited version. Thanks Chris !

Advanced Fundamentals for Underwater Image Makers – BSR – Saturday, March 12 2016

9:00am – 12:00noon

This is a three hour workshop covering fundamental concepts of underwater imaging. These concepts are part of both modern digital imaging (capture, post processing) and decades old underwater photography limitations (color, focus, angle of view .) Understanding these concepts is vital if you are:

• Trying to optimize your image quality
• Researching a purchase of new equipment
• Fix particular problems in your images

Behind all the ‘bells and whistles’ tools, settings and product features available to the modern underwater image-maker, there are some fundamental concepts that will never change, and should be understood.

Why?

Most of these ‘bells and whistles’ are short cuts – ‘one size fits all applications’. They do not work on every image, usually the ones we want them to work on the most! You need to know how to get to the heart of the problem and fix it yourself.

Other ‘bells and whistles’ are simply best fit technology that is limited in the first place. But it is all we have so you need to know where it will not work. And know the work-arounds if available.

And of course there is ‘Marketing BS’ where camera, housing, lighting and software sales folks tell a story about their products which upon deeper looking, don’t quite hold up to scrutiny.

Have ever asked yourself:

• Why is the water column in my picture not smooth but instead has ‘banding’?
• Why can’t I get the color on screen or in a print to match the color I remember seeing on the dive?
• Why are my corners all blurry?
• Why does my underwater lighting look so harsh?
• Why does my camera / lighting system not work as planned on the dive?

To get answers, we will explore the ins-and-outs of underwater port optics, underwater lighting, camera features and settings, filter use, tripod use, color theory, color management, image noise, file types, workflow, printing and displaying images.

Contact: Tom Easop +1 (603) 283 6630 or tom@EASOPhotography.com

Workshop Outline

Analog

• Optics
  • Water Column
  • Ports
    • Flat
    • Dome
      • Entrance Pupil Alignment
      • Focus
    • Others
  • Shades
    • Inside
    • Outside
    • Custom / Combination
• Camera Settings
  • Aperture Size
  • Shutter Speed
  • Display
  • Offsets
• Lighting
  • Speedlight (Flash)
  • Continuous Light
  • Color Filtering

Digital

• Color Theory
  • White Point
  • Color Modes
• Color Technology
  • Capture Methods
  • Noise
  • Color Spaces, Gamut, Tone Curve
  • RAW Image Development
  • Levels, Curves, Color Adjustments
  • File types
  • Color Space Changes

Putting It All Together

• Preparing  – Research, Testing
• Best Practices Before, During and After the Dive
• A Hybrid Analog  – Digital Workflow