Art that captures life. Workshops for the modern photographer, by Shelby Lane.

Follow Up on the Lighting Workshop

First of all, thanks to everyone who came out on the 18th!  We had a great group and I loved meeting each of you.  Plus, it was great to see some familiar faces!  I am thankful that we managed to have good enough weather to go out and actually shoot some outdoor work.  We had a lot of fun and I hope you all took away something new to practice over the holidays!

Here is the Nikon/Adobe Camera Raw info I was talking about.  Download the latest via the link on his page and follow the installation instructions.  It should allow you to open those RAW Nikon files in Adobe Camera RAW/Bridge.  Keep in mind that for most users, the RAW files will open up with Auto Adjustments in place.  You can turn these off (by either clicking the little check box above the sliders on the right or by turning off Auto Adjustments on the pull-down menu near the tabs) and see how you actually shot the image, and then adjust from there.

And again, links to some forums and sites that will help you learn even more:

http://www.betterphoto.com

http://www.ilovephotography.com

http://www.texasphotoforum.com

http://www.tppa.org

http://www.ppa.com

http://www.prophotogs.com

I do have some images from the workshop, but I am finishing up on Christmas season stuff in the studio and haven't even looked at them yet.  I will try and post some later this week.  If you have tried out some of the techniques that we've talked about and have shot an image you loved, feel free to send it to me and we'll share it here.

Now, on to the next workshop!  Our full two day workshop is this weekend, December 2-3.  This is the last call for registrations!  I'm going to start putting together our little packets, etc so I need a final count.  I look forward to seeing you all!  We're starting at 10 on Sunday and going till between 4 and 5, and we'll have the same schedule on Monday as well.  We have kept this class size small and I think that will work out nicely.

The Lighting Workshop is This Weekend...

... so let's get ready!   Some things you'll need:

Your camera and a lens.

Your meter (if you have one).

A flash (if you have one).

Something to take notes with.

Something to consider: I know that some of you know your cameras very very well.  Others may not.  I would suggest digging out your owner's manual and bringing it along -- it will save time if we get to a manual setting and we can't find the menu item to let us make the switch on your camera.

I shoot Nikon so that is the equipment I will have on hand.  We will be photographing -- and be forewarned that we will be photographing EACH OTHER.  Everyone will have time behind the lens and in front of it, because you will have to be showing your clients how to pose, and you will have to direct them.  Using professional models is not really helpful when it comes to every-day portrait lighting with regular Joe clients.  ;)  I have also found that the instructions we give clients while we're shooting don't always make sense to them.  This is a good way to practice giving direction.  We have a small group.  Everyone is in the same boat, so please don't stress out about it.  We will all be fine, even though I do realize that many of us became photographers so we'd never have to be in front of the camera.

We are going to start on a very basic level.  F-stops, shutter speeds, and how they're related when it comes to light.  Your basic in-camera settings and what they mean.  Lens choice for portraits, color balance, the RAW vs. JPEG issue, and basic metering.  We are going to cover this before we move on to studio lighting, just to make sure everyone is on the same page.  We'll go over studio lighting with one, two, and three lights, talk about different lighting patterns and modifiers, and then in the afternoon we'll cover finding the light outdoors and common lighting situations, as well as using a reflector and adding artificial light.

This is going to be a fun class and I am excited about meeting you all.  Give me a call if you have any questions about this weekend!  210-745-0142.