Location Lighting Workshop

Today was the Location Lighting Workshop at Vancouver Photo Workshops and it turned out that my instructor was Syx Langemann. We covered a lot about the different types of flashes used from the on camera flashes to the ones in the studio and on location. We also learned about key-lighting which I found to be really interesting whereby the flash becomes the main light in a outdoor environment. This is where you can vary your aperture to alter the ambient light and let the main flash over power it and create some really cool effects like a sunny day on an otherwise cloudy day like we had today. We also set up some pretty creative lighting setups in the studio with gels to add colour and depth to our shots. At one point we even had a strobe outside that was shooting into the studio through the window to simulate sunlight and cast an interesting shadow from the iron gating outside onto the wall. We had two models to shoot in the afternoon and they were excellent to work with. Here are some shots from today and I will start with some that were taken with just the on camera flash so you can see the difference. I used a Canon 430EX with a Stofen Omni Bounce.




Next up we have some shots using a strobe bounced of an umbrella.







Then we have some shots using a strobe bounced off an umbrella and another strobe with a blue gel bouncing off a wall behind the models.





We had a strobe outside of the studio shooting in through the window for these following shots and there is also a softbox inside the studio warm up the left side of the model as well.





For these shots we had strobe to camera left with a red gel on it and to camera right we had a softbox with a CTO gel on it.






And finally we took a single strobe and a battery pack outside into the overcast day and did some key-shifting. By using different white balances and exposure settings you can achieve some interesting effects.

Documentary - Born Into Brothels

I just watched the Academy Award winning documentary entitled "Born Into Brothels" and I highly recommend it. It is amazing what the power of photography can do to create new opportunities and inspire hope. You can actually watch this film online here. The following is from the Born into Brothels press kit.

In Born into Brothels, directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman chronicle the amazing transformation of the children they come to know in the red light district. Briski, a professional photographer, gives them lessons and cameras, igniting latent sparks of artistic genius that reside in these children who live in the most sordid and seemingly hopeless world.

The photographs taken by the children are not merely examples of remarkable observation and talent; they reflect something much larger, morally encouraging, and even politically volatile: art as an immensely liberating and empowering force.

Devoid of sentimentality, Born into Brothels defies the typical tear-stained tourist snapshot of the global underbelly. Briski spends years with these kids and becomes part of their lives. Their photographs are prisms into their souls, rather than anthropological curiosities or primitive imagery, and a true testimony of the power of the indelible creative spirit.

Signed up for the Practical Location Lighting Workshop

Last night was the last class of the the Intro to Digital Photography course for me and I so wanted to keep my interest and learning level high so I signed up today for the Practical Location Lighting workshop given through Vancouver Photo Workshops that will be held this Sunday, March 16th. I've had a small taste of working with lighting in the studio during my intro class and now it is time to take it outdoors and on location and learn about the keys to lighting in different settings. The instructor is Marc Koegel who is the director of VPW and I'll also be taking the Intermediate Digital SLR classes with him in April. Totally looking forward to that too. I'll be posting photos I take from the Location Lighting Workshop after the weekend.

More Night Shots

It was another night without rain for a change and that prompted me to go out and take a few more night shots. This time I chose a location just east of Granville Island called False Creek and took some shots of the Vancouver downtown skyline. As you can see the density of the downtown core with all of the residential highrises is pretty crazy. Vancouver has turned into a very expensive place to live and so many people want to live downtown so they just keep building more and more condos. It seems there is just no end to it. Anyways here are a few shots from tonight. Sure enough just as I was packing up I felt a rain drop.

Studio Lighting - Model Shoot

Tonight in our photography class we learned about different types of lighting setups used in a studio. We had two awesome models that we worked with using different lighting and studio strobes. This was by far one of most fun of all the classes we have had so far and we had a lot of time to shoot and try out different things. It is amazing what you can do with just some simple inexpensive lights such as taking two dual tube fluorescent lights that are daylight balanced and placing them on either side of your subject. Just by merely moving those two lights around in different configurations can yield some really cool results. Then with studio strobes triggered by a radio slave, in our case we used Pocket Wizards to fire off the flash that bounced off an umbrella or was used in a softbox. This gave us a completely different effect. The only sad part about tonight was knowing that next week will be our last class but I totally plan on taking the Intermediate course at Vancouver Photo Workshop come April. Here are some photos from tonight's class.