Photography courses for 2015

The planning is now complete. As some of you may be aware, I give regular photography related courses for the Klubschule Migros here in Switzerland. Courses include beginners photography, portrait workshops, street photography and even designing a photo book.

What I also do is run my own classes either in groups or on a one to one basis. 

Sometimes I get a specific request for perhaps someone who has just purchased their first DSLR and wants to get up to speed on how it works and what settings to use. Every course is tailored to the pupil after finding out exactly what he or she wants to know.

My students learn simple (but often misunderstood) techniques such as how to darken the background in flash photography.

 One simple technique to darken the background

Of course it works the other way too. You can make a background progressively lighter.

 My students learn simple techniques such as this

Another area we cover is accessories. What for example do you really need apart from a camera, lens and flash? This is a popular part of the course and helps the student decide exactly what they should take with them and what to leave behind (or not even purchase in the first place). 

Filters are also discussed. What (if any) are recommended? I give my opinion and we discuss.

 The before and after effect when using a polarising filter

Of course, no self respecting session would be complete without us actually going out and taking pictures. This is a large part of the course and I am always on hand to give encouragement and feedback. Afterwards we'll discuss everything over tea or coffee.

The final part of my course usually deals with software and in particular why I recommend shooting in RAW format.

 Learn how to rescue underexposed images using RAW

 . . .or even change an annoying colour cast

The courses can last from a couple of hours, for those of you who wish to maybe brush up on a particular technique, to the three week beginners course for the total beginner. 

Whatever your level of expertise, there will be something of interest for you.

You can find out more here. At the moment the site is in German but I am available for any questions you may have.

Thanks for reading.

Photography tutorials, classes and walks

The interest in photography classes has been great. Lots of folks it seems now have great quality cameras but are dissatisfied with the results they are getting.

 

 

I've now given two portrait classes and a three part series on beginners photography. There has been good feedback for the course members as well who liked my laid back approach to teaching (i.e less on the theory and more showing and explaining).

 I mixed classroom basic theory with practical "in the field" shooting.

 

 

 

On the last day, we spent two hours out and about before coming back to the classroom and discussing the results

There will hopefully be more classes, walks and groups in the near future but if you would like to learn more about a specific area of photography then please don't hesitate to contact me.

Thanks for reading.

Unplanned photo class

I went out for a walk on Sunday to try and catch some Autumn colours but things didn't go quite as planned.

Accompanying me and my wife and son were a friend and her twin daughters. 

I was travelling light and only had an EOS 5d MKII coupled with a 28 - 135 lens.

I took a few pics and was reviewing them on the monitor when one of that twins (I think it was Lera) asked if she could take a picture. "Sure" I replied and handed the camera over. Bringing the camera up to eye level she snapped three images in quick succession of her sister, Jeniya. One thing that I noticed was that she didn't hold the camera at arms length to look for an image on the rear monitor.

 Lera takes aim at Jeniya

 The resulting image

Lera then handed the camera over to her sister, who before I could say a word proceeded to take some pictures of her sister. This continued with the girls snapping away at each other and striking various poses.

 Now it's Jeniya's turn

Jeniya's portrait of Lera

They stopped after a few minutes and reviewed the images. The questions came thick and fast:

Reviewing the images

"Why is she not sharp?", "How can I make the background look soft?", "How can I delete that one?" "Why is it too dark / too light?".

I tried to answer as best I could in a non technical way and was surprised at how readily the twins absorbed the information. After each clarification, one of them would start taking a few pictures and eventually they would master that little bit of technique. The most difficult proved to be the focus lock, although that only took about five minutes (and maybe ten attempts) for them to master. After about forty five minutes, I had given up on taking pictures for myself and let the girls have free rein. With the basic techniques mastered, they snapped happily away for the next hour or so.

I didn't want to come away empty handed so I decided to snap a pic of the two girls jumping. They both readily agreed, threw off their coats and began jumping at my command!

My pic safely onboard, I handed the camera back and let them get on with it.

Here are some of the girls' images.

Jeniya by Lera:

 Lera shoots Jeniya

Two hundred and twenty six images later I was sat back on my PC for the download process. The girls had done well. Of 

the 226 images, 27 were rejected due to being unsharp. These were mainly from early in the day when the girls were getting to grips with the (admittedly heavy) camera.

I learnt three things that day: 

1. Switch off the continuous shooting mode. The girls don't need two or three nearly identical images.
2. Shoot RAW and JPG. Editing a couple of hundred images from RAW is time consuming and many of the images didn't need anything else done to them.
3. Take a spare camera for myself next time!

Luckily I had my Samsung with

me to record the day!

I think that photography now has two new converts!

Thanks for reading.