Trey's teaching

methodology in terms of

the exploration. It's not about, "Do step one, step two, step three; now look at the result."

It's about experimentation.

Hello. I'm Trey Ratcliff.

Here at Stuck in Customs we get thousands of requests from people all around

the world who want to take better photos, whether they're landscape photos

travel photos.

Maybe you're in these amazing places, and you

take photos, and they come out just kind of "blah," and you want them to be more magical and more interesting.

Well, this is the tutorial for you.

Basically we went all around New Zealand, and I set up in many different kinds of

situations - everything from sunrise, to the middle of the day, to sunset.

And we show you how to set up your camera.

We show you how

to compose different kinds of shots,

and then later

we get on the computer, and in post-processing

you'll also see how I spend time massaging the shot

to make sure that I get the right light levels,

that it has the right feel in the end.

And as I go through the steps

you'll get to know these tools very well.

We have many tutorials for various levels, whether you're a beginner or quite advanced.

We do start out very slow, and the first tutorial kind of

goes in slow-motion,

where I show you all the basic tools that you need to process a photo and make it look magical.

And I make sure that I take time on each of the sliders

so you understand where to click and what to do.

Then we jump into more intermediate and advanced techniques.

Maybe you're going to go in this direction someday.

I think you'll really surprise yourself with how easy this is, once I show you how these tools work.

It'll basically allow you to take a photo which is kind of "blah" and make it really magical,

so that when you share it online you'll impress your friends and your family, whether you're sharing it on Google+, Facebook, or wherever.

Most importantly I think you'll really impress yourself with how easy this is

and how this adds a really nice layer of art and photography into your life.

This is my second workshop of Trey's.

In this experience

I learned an awful lot

in post-processing. It was a great time,

a great learning experience.

I really wanted to improve on my landscape photography.

That's always been a weakness. I've learned so much.

It's one thing to see it with your own human eyes and take the picture yourself,

but to then see the magic that Trey creates

and being able to apply that same magic to your own photos,

it's just a rare opportunity.

I stumbled across HDR,

found Trey's free tutorial, and it really just grew from there.

I religiously go to his website every day to look at his next photograph and things like that.

So when I saw this opportunity, it was just too good to miss.

Wow, One word, really.

I'm pleased with what I took away, not only on-site and with camera, but also in processing as well.

Trey may be one of the best photographers in the world, but he doesn't make you feel he is.

I took a lot of great notes, too.

It's almost like flash cards that I can go to in those weird situations, should I ever

encounter a fire dancer

on the side of the road. From sunrise to sunset and from mountains to no clouds to

wildlife,

All of these things are all different, and they're all great, and they're all so

unique. But it really helps you become a better photographer

I feel that's probably the biggest shock:

getting better the whole week. Maybe I was looking at the downside and thinking, "Ah, it's never going to happen for me,"

but sure enough, it did.