contact info all in one place

Trying out something new. I’ve signed on to Dot.cards and added my contact information. This is the easiest way to share all my contact stuff to your phone. Scan the QR code and you’ll have links to my commercial, art and photographers websites plus my email and phone number. Pretty cool right?

Scan the code to download all my contact info to your phone.

If you are interested in using this service yourself you can learn more here. https://dot.cards/signup

new dates for next year 2024

new dates for next year 2024

Had a blast with my last couple at the Milky Way and Night Sky Photo Workshop here in Sedona. We had two clear nights with the Milky Way making an appearance both times. It was a test run to see how the class would go.

Here’s feedback from June workshop attendees Cindy and Paul…

“Bob,

Thanks for the resource page, I’m sure Paul and I will use it many times.  We thoroughly enjoyed the class and learned quite a bit during the few days we were there.

Here are my thoughts on the class: The Milky Way and Night Sky Workshop was very useful and enjoyable. Things we learned included planning, star stacking, focusing technique, and composition.

You were knowledgeable on different cameras and helpful finding needed camera settings for our cameras.  

Holding the course in the red rocks area of Arizona provided an excellent opportunity to implement all the techniques learned. I now feel confident in shooting the Milky Way and highly recommend the Bob Coates MW Photography Course.

Thanks again and take care.” Cindy

Paul and Cindy getting set up for the Blue Hour capture. Check comments on the class from Cindy above.

The four hours of instruction on the first day is just about right to cover all of the shooting and camera setup bases.

Dinner was great at Sound Bites Grill. SBG set up a limited, but extremely varied menu for my workshop guests. We even had live music. Then it was off to hike to the Milky Way location with time to scout out foregrounds and practice with the PhotoPills APP.

Day two was downloading and processing images from the night before and answering questions that popped up from the previous night’s shoot. Five hours in the classroom was plenty. Break time and dinner on our own meeting for night two of night sky photography. Off to bed and then an early morning session with extra Photoshop processing and answering final questions.

New dates have been posted on the Milky Way Workshop page. Take a look and let me know which dates work best for you.

Milky Way Night Sky Workshop

Milky Way Night Sky Workshop

It’s official I’m cleared to teach my Milky Way and Night Sky Photo Workshops. I’ll be your instructor in the classroom and your guide on the Coconino National Forest. Had to go through a number of things to become an approved temporary guide. One of those things was to renew my First Aid Certificate. I thought, ‘Man I’m pretty cool with First Aid.’ And I was but the review was a solid brush up on CPR and emergency procedures.

Join me

I’d like to have you join me for some time under the Bortle Four starry skies of Sedona, Arizona learning techniques to capture and process your files of the Milky Way, star trails and more in among the red rocks. Learn about the Bortle Skies scale.

Milky Way in Sedona, Arizona

More information

Get in touch with me for a special discount for the June 21-23, 2023 Milky Way and Night Sky Photography Workshop. Learn more about the workshop.

Yours in Creative Photography, Bob

webinar replay artistic actions

I co-hosted a webinar with UK Photographer Gavin Phillips. He has been building Photoshop actions for creating artistic images for over twenty years. In this webinar he shares five actions and how to find and use some very up-to-the-minute new features in Photoshop 2023.

Artistic Actions in Photoshop

Watercolor image started with the watercolor action.

The image above was made starting with Gavin’s watercolor action. What I I like is the action is only a starting place for creating the image. You have plenty of room to massage the photo to make it all your own.

Webinar links

Here’s a link to the webinar. https://fotoeffects.net/webinarbob/webinarbob.mp4

If you weren’t signed up for the live webinar you can watch but you won’t have a link to the special deal that Gavin put together for you. You’ll have to use this link to get it. https://fotoeffects.net/webinarspecial.html

If you have any questions give me a shout. Have fun!

Yours in Creative Photography, Bob

photoshop artistic actions webinar

photoshop watercolor action from gavin phillips
Here’s a watercolor action. I find they are a great starting place for working on the next level of your images.

Webinar with Gavin Phillips

I’ll be teaming up with UK photographer Gavin Phillips to share a Photoshop webinar on artistic Photoshop plug-ins that he has designed for creating watercolors and paintings from your photographs. When you sign up for the webinar you’ll get two backgrounds as a bonus. If you can’t make the live event you’ll be able to view the recorded version. Learn more and sign up here. photoeffects.bz/webinar.html

oil paint photoshop action
Oil paint Photoshop action designed by Gavin Phillips.

April 5th 2023

Even if you can’t make the live event you get a link to watch the webinar at your leisure. Hope you can join us on April 5th at 11AM pacific and 2PM eastern time. If you have any questions give me a shout or drop me an IM.

Yours in Creative Photography, Bob