- Hi, I'm Rob Grimm with RGG EDU

and today we're sitting down with Michael Woloszynowicz,

which is the hardest name I've ever had to say.

- You nailed, no you

nailed it Rob. - Alright, that's good.

That's a difficult name.

- It's tough one.

- Anyway, we're just wrapping up three days

of shooting with Michael.

We've been working on his tutorial

and it's truly been a pleasure to watch.

I gotta tell you, working with you has been terrific.

You're setting a high bar for all other

instructors to come with our tutorials.

First of all, let's talk about your background.

- Sure. - I think that's one

of the things that people really like to know is,

how you got started.

Cause a lot of people are struggling

and wanting to get into the business.

So kind of walk us through your history of photography,

when you started, when it really clicked for you.

- Yeah.

So it was probably

I was maybe like 10 or 12

when I first picked up a camera.

Just shooting mostly landscapes.

I mean, you know just kinda going out with my dad

we were out in the Rockys you know, shooting stuff.

And so did that for about a year or two.

But every time I got the photos back--

- [Rob] This is back in the film days.

- This is back in the film days, yeah.

- [Rob] What kind of camera?

- It was an EOS 1, Canon EOS 1 actually, yeah.

So-- - Still have it somewhere?

- I do, it's actually still sitting at home.

Still works. - My first one

is sitting up there on the shelf.

- Nice.

- It's cool. - Yeah so I mean

I did that for about two years,

just you know kinda shooting some landscapes.

But every time I kinda send them off for development,

I got 'em back I just was kind of underwhelmed

with what I got and I don't know.

I just somehow never got into the dark room thing,

so just kind of gave it up I think after a while.

- [Rob] You never pursued the dark room?

- No.

- So you were sending off images--

- Yeah. - Being processed,

getting them back.

Were the results flat, just not interesting?

- Just, well I mean I think for me too it's...

I don't know, what I love about digital is that

kind of gives me some guidance as far as

like how I'm gonna build my vision around that photo.

Where as there, I don't know.

It was, I think and partially I wasn't really,

I didn't have enough understanding too about photography

to really you know, make sure to get

a great image out of camera.

So I don't think I really just dedicated myself

enough at that point.

It wasn't just, you know, the development.

- Right. - But you know

I was young and so it was something I enjoyed

tinkering with and then I decided you know what,

this maybe isn't for me.

But then many years later, I think it was

probably about three years ago,

I picked up my dad's Nikon D300--

- Okay. - And...

For no real reason actually.

I think I was just like browsing through.

He gave me like the 500PX app on his iPad.

- Is your dad a photographer?

Sounds like he's always had a camera.

- Yeah he's, I mean he's not like

a professional photographer or anything like that,

he's a structural engineer.

But he again, he enjoys the process of

you know, photography so--

- Mathematical mind. - Yeah.

- Photography is a very mathematical

business actually. - It is, yeah.

And I'm like my computer science background as well, right.

So again you know, a lot of math

and things like that. - Right.

- It's a very analytical.

But yeah, so you know picked that up

and I was just browsing through 500PX

and I was just amazed at like you know,

what you could do these days.

It kind of just never really dawned on me

on how great you know, the image are looking these days.

I was always thought that you know

digital, it's not gonna look that great.

So I started playing around with this camera.

Just you know, shooting some portraits

with like speed lights and just took it out

you know, streets of (mumbles)

always just shooting some stuff there.

And gradually I just noticed the images becoming

more and more interesting.

And then I realized essentially

that if I want them to look really great

I have to become good at Photoshop, so.

- The images became more interesting.

Is that because you started to see

that your eye was developing

and you were getting a better sense of composition

or-- - Yeah, I think so.

I think it was kind of lots of things all at once.

I think, you know, I started to understand

the possibilities with digital as well.

Before that, like it was just kind of

like point and shoot type stuff.

You know I had like a small Canon I was.

You know nonchalantly photograph things

while I was on vacation or whatever.

But never really gave it much thought right.

So. - Right.

- Once I started seeing these images,

I'm like wow, I'd really love to produce stuff like that.

So then I started getting more interested in it

and you know reading up on it

and actually just going out purely to shoot

for no other reason or traveling just to shoot and...

You know like I said, at the same time

I was developing my skills in Photoshop,

tryna see what I can do with these images.

How I can push them and you know how I can blend

multiple exposures together to create something

that's a little bit more interesting.

So I think my start was probably more in like architecture

and city scapes and stuff like that.

But somehow I really enjoyed lighting subjects.

I really enjoyed kind of playing around with lighting

and seeing you know what it can do.

So again, I had really basic gear at that time.

It was like you know a speed light

and a little lastolite box.

So the results weren't great,

but I could just kind of see things

getting gradually better and better.

And that just kind of kicked things off for me.

- It sounds like Photoshop was almost hand in hand,

if not slightly in the lead,

for you in the development of your

photography skills. - Yeah.

- Like you started to get some nice results

but then needed to push them in Photoshop.

- Right, yeah I think it was.

I mean it really, part of the reason why

I was photographing too was to have something

that I can edit off of, right.

So the two are kind of pushing each other a little bit.

But I think, I really enjoyed the process

of retouching images.

I mean...

You know again, I never really gave Photoshop much thought.

I kind of opened it up a couple times,

seemed way too complicated.

And I'm just like forget this you know.

So I just I left it alone

but I finally realized you know

I gotta get good at this.

So I was just again, watching--

- [Rob] So how did you get good?

- You know just kind of watching

the odd thing on the internet.

Just kind of tryna piece together

what's going on in there and then a lot of it

was just experimentation as well.

I mean ultimately, once you kind of figure out

where things are, as with most things with computers

you just click on a bunch of stuff

and see what happens.

- [Rob] Photoshop is a beast.

- It is. - And it's a beast

not because...

It's a beast because it's so damn powerful

and there are 200 ways to do the same thing.

- [Michael] That's just it, yeah.

- Right? - Exactly.

- [Rob] So having computer sciences background

must've really helped you.

Did you work in the computer sciences field?

Like what did you do? - Yeah I did.

I was a software developer, so--

- Oh you were?

- Yeah. - Okay.

- You know, writing web applications and things like that.

So I think it does help, cause then you kind of--

- It's a language.

- Yeah, and you don't just understand kind of...

You're not thinking about the tool of what the result is

but you're also thinking about how is it actually working.

Cause like I took like image processing and stuff like that

you know as courses back in college so.

- Okay. - You know,

I kind of have an idea of what's going on behind the scenes.

So I think it does help.

You know, just generally always been good with computers so.

Just always felt-- - So, all your Photoshop

skills are effectively

self taught on the web.

You went out on the web-- - Yeah.

- You were looking at other

instructors and-- - Pretty much, yeah.

- Picking up little YouTube videos

on how to do this and how that.

Was there anybody that really stood out in your mind

as an instructor that you're like,

that guy's got the goods?

Or was it a combination of so many different people

that you really kind of

developed yourself? - Yeah you know there's

combination of little pieces I think.

Like back when, like even three years ago

I think photography education

wasn't that great, you know.

I don't know, like it always seemed to be like

you see the images that the instructor's producing

and you're like, I don't know if that's really something

that I like, you know.

Or you'd watch a tutorial and you're like,

that's kind of weird what they're doing with the skin.

So I would you know take those tutorials at face value

and just kind of look at them

and see what they're doing and then just try and apply

my own spin to it and just kind of gradually refine.

- There are two touchstones

that you really just hit upon

in the last couple of sentences.

And one is, you know...

Retouching is a very difficult thing

and people don't always do it well.

They can get some interesting

kind of like eye candy results.

- Yeah. - But they're not

necessarily good results.

And going back to the cameras,

I think one of the frustrations that you were feeling is

you're working with a camera

and it's taking pretty good pictures.

But until you really learn to harness the power...

- Yeah. - That's inside of the.

I mean the cameras today are incredibly

powerful. - Right, exactly.

- But they are, like Photoshop, they are a tool.

And unless you know how to use that tool--

- Yeah. - You're not gonna get

great results.

And that's one of the things that's really interesting