A Mix of Models and Another Fantastic Photography Class

What a fun evening for our Level 2 photography students!

This photography class is always different. Usually we chat about current events in photography, I mention some of the group’s submitted homework I enjoyed specifically, and we talked about how we did in the shoots this week. It’s sort of like a show and tell, except instead of jelly beans and cats its our cameras and the way we wrestle with light.

The week previous, each of the students are told to bring a prop. It can be anything from a monkey costume (and it was, in the past!) to some sparklers, to a pipe. By the time our students reach level two, they’ve usually got some pretty kooky ideas cooking up in their heads. I, for one, will encourage it.

This shot was taken in the clear area right beside the studio. There’s another shop in there, but no is moved in. So we decided we’d take advantage of our situation and fill it full of photographers! One of the mother graciously lent us her beautiful daughter (and son!) and she played use a neat cello piece.

Here we were experimenting with the hairlight. You can see how it defines her by creating a white outline around her. Such is the power of a great hairlight! In this case, it was a kicker.

Same thing here, same place. One of the students brought an old style pipe, and another brought that funky looking hat. Then we got our hands on a fog machine and things got really neat! I love my students.

Here, we had a whisky bottle and a much darker scene. In retrospect, I should have shot it wide open to blur out the background. The scene we were trying to create came through, I believe.

I put my cell phone flashlight under the whisky, it lit the whisky up well and created a pretty cool offset light. And just like that we’re balancing three light sources! One of my students noticed it was diffused light and put down some tissue paper. Good job!

A few more for posterity. If you’d like to sign up for the next round (starting May 12) drop me a line! I promise I’m not too busy for you! 🙂