Speakers

This year’s lineup of over 60 speakers, returning vets and newbies alike, are here to deliver an incredible experience for all ShutterFesters! 

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Shutterfest 2027 Speaker Lineup

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Renee Smetters

Specialty: Post-Production, Editing, Retouching, Compositing

I spent over a decade in emergency dispatch listening to other people’s crises; now, I just use photography to bring the strange, beautiful voices in my own head to life. As a conceptual artist and an 11-year ShutterFest regular, I specialize in avant-garde styling, moody lighting, and digital composites with a decidedly dark, cinematic edge. My teaching style is a mix of Hollywood Art Institute technique, battle-tested practical workflows, and just enough dark humor to keep things interesting. Let’s skip the boring normal portraits and go straight to building something gloriously weird.

Follow Renee Smetters:

Website | Social Media

Renee Smetters’s Classes:

Fear and Loathing in Photoshop: From Raw to Radical No-BS Editing & Compositing

Lecture   

Intermediate   

Class Description:

If you’re still clinging to Lightroom out of fear, or if the mere mention of Generative AI makes you want to close your laptop, it’s time for an intervention. Welcome to the ultimate post-production class designed for intermediate photoshoppers who are ready to stop clicking around randomly and start creating dark, ethereal magic — or maybe just something different.

We are skipping the Lightroom catalog headaches and going straight to the undisputed, easy-to-use powerhouse: Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) for your foundational light and color work. From there, we’ll dive headfirst into the ultimate Photoshop toolkit. You’ll learn how to breathe new life into classic tools like the Mixer Brush, Liquify, and custom Clipping Masks, while effortlessly mastering cutting-edge tech like Generative Fill, Expand, and AI retouching.

Through a start-to-finish breakdown of my own complex avant-garde composites, we’ll demystify everything from creating custom actions and brushes to utilizing intimidating third-party plug-ins like Boris FX, ON1, Portrait Pro, and Evoto. You’ll leave this class with a notebook full of sanity-saving keyboard shortcuts, a blueprint for brainstorming and mood-boarding your wildest ideas, and the confidence to make Photoshop your absolute bitch.

• ACR Dominance: Why Adobe Camera Raw is the superior, headache-free alternative to Lightroom for initial color and exposure grading.
• Old School Meets New School: Creative workflows that blend time-tested tools (Liquify, Content-Aware, Mixer Brush) with modern AI features (Remove Tool, Generative Fill/Expand).
• The Blueprint of a Composite: A step-by-step deconstruction of award-winning fantasy images from initial concept and mood board to the final pixel.
• Plug-in Demystification: How to fearlessly integrate powerful external tools like Evoto, Portrait Pro, ON1, and Boris FX without destroying your workflow.
• Speed & Efficiency: Custom actions, specialized brush creation, and the essential keyboard shortcuts that turn editing from a chore into second nature.

What to Bring to Class:

Laptop or tablet, to have Photoshop open to follow along, but it is not necessary.

Primary Topics: Editing – Composites, Editing – Photoshop, Editing – Retouching
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Early Bird Tickets

April 22-25 2024 | St. Louis MO.
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SKILL LEVELS

Beginner: Just starting out or relatively new to a given subject matter. Basics will be covered and the course will move at a slower pace. The instructor will spend a little more time trying to explain concepts to ensure everyone is following. On a scale of 1-10 consider this level a 1-3 on the given topic.

Intermediate: Has a grasp of some basic concepts. This course level will move at a faster pace and assume you have basic knowledge covered on the given subject matter. On a scale of 1-10 consider this level a 4-6 on the given topic.

Advanced: You have working knowledge of the given subject matter, but are looking for more fine-tuning and some advanced topics to take your work to that next level. DO NOT expect instructors to explain basic concepts in this course. On a scale of 1-10 consider this level a 7-10 on the given topic.

Class Types

Hands-On

These are shooting courses. You will be shooting and working. Bring your camera, gear, or whatever you need for the course and to create create images. Expect to have some level of shooting.

Live Demonstration

These are instructor-led courses where you will see a live demonstration of what the instructor is teaching. You can still bring your camera to these courses and you can photograph, but the goal of the course is NOT for you to shoot or to ensure you get a shot. The goal is for you to see how and why the instructor does what he/she does in order to get the final result.

Lecture

These are non-shooting courses. Typically classroom-based, bring your laptop and notepad and focus on learning!