Page 10 - Lightroom Magazine Issue 27

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portraits, so I had no idea how to set up a product- photography studio, let alone take the shots. But I knew Jim, so that’s who I called.
Jim, and his soon-to-be bride, the wonderful and talented Helene Glassman (a well-known, highly respected portrait photographer herself), flew down to Tampa to our headquarters for the day. They took me out to buy the materials we needed, came back and set it all up, and in one day literally built a small product-photography studio. Then they taught me how to light and shoot products for the magazine. This tiny tabletop studio was built right on the other side of the wall of my office; using the first studio lights I ever owned. While it didn’t look fancy or cost a lot, the product photos came out great, and it trans- formed the quality of our reviews in the magazine overnight. We wound up doing so much more for the magazine with that tiny little studio, from art- work for feature stories to shots for our ads and mailers. After getting the studio up and running, Jim and Helene spent the rest of the day, and into the night, teaching me portrait lighting: Helene teach- ing me posing techniques, and Jim talking me through all the settings in the camera.
Ijustcouldn’tgetoverthatthey’ddothatforme.Allon their own time, all on their own dime—they never asked for a penny in return. They were so patient, and answered my every question. Just an hour after learning the heart- breaking news that Jimmy had passed away, I stepped onstage in Dallas, Texas, to teach 250+ photographers how to light and shoot a portrait. It wasn’t at all lost on me that I wouldn’t even be able to stand on that stage teaching portrait lighting at all if it weren’t for Jim, Helene, and that day. I’ve written bestselling books, taught numerous online courses, and done many live workshops on studio lighting (this was my second year of teaching a Studio Lighting Master Class at PhotoPlus Expo in New York, and speaking about studio lighting in Canon’s expo booth), and that’s all from the seeds Jim planted that day.
Looking to Jim for guidance on my most-important book
After transitioning to digital myself, getting totally immersed in shooting again (I used to shoot film back in the day), and teaching so many photographers how to use Photoshop through my live seminars back then, I finally realized it was time to put all this into a book that would be called Photoshop for Digital Photographers. I had learned first-hand from the photographers who came out to my seminars what Photoshop challenges they were facing and what they were trying to accom- plish, and of course I’d include all that in the book. But if I wanted this to really be the book I wanted it to be— one that would help folks moving from film to digital to be able to really use Photoshop—it would have to include the stuff the pros would expect to be in there. I knew I needed to call Jim and get his guidance and input before I wrote the book.
A few days later, Jim and Kevin Ames (mentioned earlier), a new Photoshop World instructor who really knew his stuff from both the camera side and the Photoshop side, flew to Tampa to help me out. They spent the day with me listing all the techniques I should include. Getting this type of feedback from Jim and Kevin, two working pros, was unbelievably helpful. The outline for the book was really starting to come together, and I think the three of us all realized that this could be that breakout book to really help photographers start using Photoshop for processing their digital images. Then Jim said:
“You know what would really set this book apart? You should include a gray card in the back of the book! Maybe one that’s perforated so they could tear it out and use it on shoots.”
I looked at Jim and said, “What’s a gray card?”
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› › lightroom magazine › issue 27