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.

Workhorse. The Vivitar 283

A couple of weeks ago I needed to take some pictures in a hurry and what's more, they had to be illuminated by flash.

No problem. I have two Speedlite 430 EX II's at my disposal. Except I didn't! I had got in late the night before and left my camera case in my car. My camera case is full of the extras that I don't need to carry around all the time in my rucksack. To compound matters, my car was being serviced.

Oh well. There are always solutions that can be found if you think hard enough.

I remembered that I had a Vivitar 283 in my loft. The 283 has been in my possession for over twenty years now. I used it when freelancing back in the UK in the nineties.

A quick trip up a ladder to retrieve the flash and I was soon installing four penlight batteries into it.

I switched it on and was pleased to hear the high pitched whistling noise that denoted the capacitor was filling up. After ten seconds I was rewarded with an orange light which meant that the flash was ready for action.

I set the flash to manual and activated it four or five times to let the flash "*get used to" being on active service again.

Next I had to test it with my EOS 5DII. A quick search on the 'net informed me that the shortest flash synch speed was 1/200sec for shoe mounted flashes. Studio strobes apparently need a slower speed.

I mounted the gun on my camera and took a series of test pictures of Viktoria and Nikita who were on the couch next to me. I began at 1/60 sec which was fine. The flash covered the whole of the sensor without any curtain cut off. 1/125 sec was the same, as was 1/250 sec. The curtain only showed itself when I shot the two children at 1/320sec as you can see from the illustration.

1/125 sec @f5.6

1/250 sec @ f5.6

1/320 sec @f5.6

So anyway. I could use the flash on camera outside at a speed of 1/250 sec without any fear of curtain cut off.

I shot all the test images with the camera set at ISO 400 and an aperture of f5.6. The Vivitar is simplicity itself to use. First you "tell" the unit what film speed you are going to be using. The ISO speed ranges from 25 to 400. Then choose which of four apertures best suits what you're going to be photographing.

Apertures with ISO 400 are 5.6, 8, 16 or 22

 With yellow selected, the aperture to use is 5.6

As you can see, the apertures to use are coloured either yellow, orange, blue or purple.  After choosing a suitable aperture, you select it on the sensor ring which is on the front of the body under the flash head, and take the picture.

The unit can also be used off camera when coupled with the off camera cable.

As I mentioned earlier, I've had my 283 for many years. I'm sure that it's stuill be going strong ten years from now

A quote from Wikipedia which mentions the 283: " The Vivitar 283 quickly became the number one professional and enthusiast flash unit, outselling all its competitors combined and selling 3,000,000 by 1973. In production for over 30 years, it was twice returned to production after being discontinued in response to customer demand."
 


There's a very nice review of the 283 to be found here and here

* I know that flashes don't really need to "get used" to anything but I was always told in my younger days to fire the flash a few times if it had been stored for any length of time. Old habits die hard.

Thanks for reading