Toning Tutorial with Casie: Interview with Casie Zalud
Casie Zalud is a master at using her toning process to add even more life to her beautiful images. We are thrilled she is one of our DFP Education Instructors and has created a tutorial about toning for our Learning Library members.
In her tutorial, you can watch and listen to Casie as she tones images in Lightroom in both color and black and white.
Before you head to the Learning Library to watch the tutorial, learn a little more about Casie.
What is photography for you?
Photography is a way for me to tell creative stories.
What’s typically in your camera bag?
Two bodies, four prime lenses, a bunch of flashes, batteries, battery chargers, cards of all styles and sizes, 3 pocket wizards that I rarely use, a handful of lens cloths, lens spray, and a Cliff Bar that has been there since the summer of 2018.
From your point of view, what makes a good picture?
A photograph that connects with the viewer and elicits a reaction from them.
What or who influences your work the most? Where do you draw inspiration from?
EEEEEEEKKKK…this is hard. Do I have to choose just one person or thing? I will try not to ramble, but here goes. I am influenced by other photographers, other artists, my family, my friends, the environment around me and my daily life experiences.
As far as photographers go, I am currently really into Sam Abell. I have been doing a deep dive into his book, Life of a Photograph. I am inspired by Henri Cartier Bresson and his ability to see and know the exact right moment to hit the shutter. I think Vivian Maier was a genius. Damon Winters is a brilliant current day photojournalist who blows my mind on a regular basis. Alex Webb and his complex compositions always leave me speechless and with my jaw on the ground. I could go on and on about photographers.
Some of my favorite artists are Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Andy Warhol.
All of these people plus a million more influence my work as well as my life experiences and how I see the world. I spend a little time most days looking at and reading about different types of art.
What are you passionate about outside of photography?
I’m passionate about art, cycling, skiing, and dogs.
What’s been the biggest highlight in your photography journey so far?
My daughter and I created a personal project, “Relinquish—A Photographic Conversation Between Mother and Daughter,” and we have had two solo exhibitions of the work thus far. It was fun and challenging creating the work with her and it as be more full-filling than I could imagine sharing the project with other families.
With Relinquish, I gave my six-year-old daughter, Linnéa, the lead and created a series of diptychs (pairings of two images, one taken by each of us) based off her photographs. Seeing the world through Linnéa’s eyes has helped me to observe the world from a simpler, more carefree, and more fearless point of view.
Linnéa’s photos reflect her interactions with the world around her, created from a place of emotion, curiosity, and pride. She is like a clean slate—pristine, and not yet influenced by the outside world. Her self-esteem is boundless. She has her own ideas of what is beautiful and meaningful. She teaches me resilience and patience, and brings me a level of joy and love greater than anything I’ve experienced before.
Relinquish is a testament to these qualities of childhood. It is a reminder of how much children can teach us, if we slow down enough to let them. By consciously following the example of my six-year-old daughter I have rediscovered my own childlike wonder in the world around me, and my own interpretations of beauty and meaning in my work. I am learning that when I let Linnéa take the lead in life, both of our worlds can grow for the better.
When kids are given the tools to be independent, they flourish. It is my hope that the Relinquish project will inspire the viewer to foster that independence in children, and to find that same childlike curiosity and freedom in themselves.
What are you currently working on? (Photographically or creatively)?
Photographically I’m committed to improving my compositions this year. This is a challenge for me because it means I have to slow down and think—both hard things for me! I’m a multi-tasker by nature with a million ideas running through my mind at once. I’m really working on slowing down my mind and my body when I am creating photographs. I’m currently a work in progress. This might be a two-year project. :)
If you could give yourself one piece of advice when first starting out, what would it be?
Stop comparing yourself to others. We all have our own path. Believe in yourself and what you are doing.
Where do you hope to be in 5 years from now? (Either in photography, life, work, etc.)
I hope to be happy, at peace, and healthy.
How do you decide when to click the shutter? What makes you say “Ah, I have to click right now!”
I am working on only clicking the shutter when I have light, moment, and composition. Remember, slowing down is my mantra for 2021.
About Casie Zalud
Casie Zalud is a documentary family photographer based in Boulder, CO, who celebrates the curiosity of childhood, the mayhem of family life, and the devotion of parenting. She is an avid cyclist, skier and yogi as well as a connoisseur of whiskey and potato chips. She speaks dog, her husband is trying to teach her to speak cat. Mothering her daughter is the hardest, most fun and fulfilling thing in life thus far. When not working, she can be found adventuring, traveling and creating memories with her family.
Be sure to check out Casie’s video “Toning Tutorial with Casie”, available in the DFP Learning Library.
And check out more of her work: