Tell a Photographic Story – Every Picture Tells a Story review

By C. Calder – April 24, 2010

Steve Kossack’s “Every Picture Tells A Story” is an excellent photography workshop DVD that will help your photography move to the next level. Steve is very enthusiastic about his subject and his approach is to help you analyze your surroundings in regard to light and composition–to tell a story! He suggests making many shots, with and without image enhancers and to vary the shots which will increases the possibility you will get the shot you want.

He is full of many, many tid-bits that will enable you to critique your own approach. An important concept he emphasizes is the idea that when you plan and go on a shoot, the conditions you wind up with may not be what wanted…, so you must adjust to the conditions you are presented with. He is filled with many ideas and shares them with the viewer. He analyzes every shot he makes and takes you through his thought process in arriving at the point to make the shot. Changing the angle, including debris and other vegetation helps you to tell the story.

I own works by Zuckerman, Sweet, Reichmann, Cooper, Smith, Barker and many others. Each photographer approaches the subject different but is filled with knowledge as a result of their many years of experience to share with the viewer. I enjoyed Kossack’s workshop DVD and have watched it many times. You will come away with many new ideas to include in your next photo shoot. Well worth the money!!!

He is full of many, many tid-bits that will enable you to critique your own approach. An important concept he emphasizes is the idea that when you plan and go on a shoot, the conditions you wind up with may not be what wanted…, so you must adjust to the conditions you are presented with. He is filled with many ideas and shares them with the viewer. He analyzes every shot he makes and takes you through his thought process in arriving at the point to make the shot. Changing the angle, including debris and other vegetation helps you to tell the story.

I own works by Zuckerman, Sweet, Reichmann, Cooper, Smith, Barker and many others. Each photographer approaches the subject different but is filled with knowledge as a result of their many years of experience to share with the viewer. I enjoyed Kossack’s workshop DVD and have watched it many times. You will come away with many new ideas to include in your next photo shoot. Well worth the money!!!



More Reviews...

Visual Artistry – Review

Amazing!!!, October 19, 2010

This was the first photography video that I’ve purchased and it set a very high bar.

Every Picture Tells a Story – Review

Tremendous, August 18, 2011

Steve is a talented photographer who has a great communication style. He has thought provoking compositional commentary as well as reviewing his image making style. The film crew did a wonderful job with the area and in getting the most out of this format of film. Very well done, instructive, and useful.

Completing Your Outdoor Photography – Review

Landscape Photography at its best!, April 5, 2010

Completing Your Outdoor Photography with Landscape Filters DVD video is really informative! This package contains 2 DVD, one for the field and one for the studio. The field trips takes you along on 7 separate photo shoot each having Adam Barker illustrating the use of various filters into your shooting. All photo shoots are very scenic and Adams illustrates many techniques to improve your shooting in the field, just like a pro. This is an awesome video. You will enjoy watching it time and time again. Many of us may never go to these locations but through this excellent DVD we can visit there with Adam and learn his techniques.

Completing Your Outdoor Photography – Review

Easily understood and presented, June 3, 2010

For me, I am a visual person who needs to see how things work to fully understand their benefits. Mr. Barker presents that wonderfully in this instructional video, especially in regard to how filters work and their added benefits. Furthermore, how a dynamic image is tamed by use of a filter and without is demonstrated with photos to show the real gains. For the money, it is worth it to watch the film to see if investing in filters is worth the expense to you. If you already have filters, then this is a great how-to video on how to use them properly.

Like sitting side-by-side with a master – Photoshop Guru Review

D. Parker

It’s like sitting side-by-side with a master while he works, April 29, 2010

Amazing, absolutely amazing. If you’ve ever wanted to look over the shoulder of a master photographer in his “lab”, this is your chance.

Jim moves these projects along at a perfect pace, explaining the how’s and why’s as he goes. He has a real easy going style and is very articulate. As someone said earlier, you can watch these videos over and over again.

I also purchased Jim’s “Dazzling Photoshop” video, and feel the same about it. In that DVD, he emphasizes particular photo projects with the way he groups the lessons, rather than by different skills as in this one. Both are packed with information and technique.

While these videos are not specific to any particular version of Photoshop, they are geared somewhat toward the most recent versions up to CS4 — I can hardly wait to see what Jim does with CS5!