Hey Everyone!
As you probably know I have been teaching a few Raleigh photography classes on Sundays. On 4/15, I had a full class come out for a very hands on, jam packed class that has about 3 hours of classroom time and 3 hours of hands on shooting. The classroom time was mostly spent on mechanics, adjusting your camera, flash techniques, natural light techniques and, most importantly, how to make it work for you. The best (in my opinion) topic of the day was the auto modes vs manual mode. The pitfalls of having the cameras make your decisions, even partially, vs the benefit of having it work faster. My goal for every class is to have each participant come out with a solid knowledge of WHY something look great, and more importantly, why it doesn’t look great.
I’ve got a few shots below that I took throughout the day to help illustrate the points we were covering. I’ve explained each setup below to help not only everyone who was in the class see the results I got (as well as their own), but also let anyone who wanted to take the class see the results. tury painter used in their masterpieces, window light!) This was shot using a “pool” of light coming from windows in two rooms, then being funneled down by two doors.
Working with natural light (using what every 17th century painter used in their masterpieces, window light!) This was shot using a “pool” of light coming from windows in two rooms, then being funneled down by two doors.
Inside my studio using cool lights. Similar setup to using natural light but with more control.
Attendees shooting a setup using no direct light but indirect light bouncing off of a white wall (camera left, out of frame)
More practice turning the model INTO the primary light source (we found by looking at shadows). Completely covered overhead with open sides – aka “open shade”
Charlotte working with moving the subject AWAY from the wall to create a more polished photo.
How do you deal with direct sunlight? Turn your subject away and backlight them with the sun. No flash was needed for this particular shot (although you may need to fill flash)
