spryng | Good Morning, December

The workshop I had been looking forward to and half dreading (since it would be smack-dab in the middle of the last weekend of NaNoWriMo) finally came and then was gone before I could give it a proper greeting. And it was fantastic. I not only got to meet

kylecassidy , but a plethora of local photographers. It was pretty sweet being in a room full of people who knew what they were doing and all had their own separate styles, so if you had a question someone (oftentimes everyone) would have an answer or three. So much so that I felt a bit like a noob, even though nobody treated me like one.

Still, being a noob meant learning a lot. The workshop started off simple, going over the basics of cameras and photography, and quickly stepping it up to the various light sources at one's disposal. Our first model dropped by early and we worked her with window lighting and reflectors. I've used available light before - kind of hard not to - and then I leaped from there to strobes, never considering how you could still work what you have. Seems kind of duh, now (as things do), but using reflectors you can take what's there and make it work for you, instead of resorting to artificial light. Acquiring a reflector (or making one) has been moved to the top of my list.

From window lighting we went to studio lighting. I've been wanting to play with a softbox for a while now and finally got my wish. Fun stuff. I love the way it diffuses the light evenly, although I'm not sure I've quite got the difference between the softbox and an umbrella.

A certain amount of photoshop action followed, hence the lovely model on the couch holding a grey card. I learned more about what secrets the newer versions of photoshop hold. CS4, you tempt me so!

It was time to head outside after that, into the cold, cold November afternoon. Okay, only slightly chilly. Thankfully, it had stopped raining the day before, but we still had the cloud cover which allowed me to pull out my strobe and not worry about it being overpowered. Here's Tina, wearing my jacket, with my voice-activated lightstand just out of view. This was mostly play time, as models showed up and were shot by various enthusiastic photographers.

Then, back inside, where everyone slowly regained the use of their frozen fingers, a black background was unrolled and hung up and we were given free reign with the studio light + softbox, and it was portrait time. I really started digging the softbox at this point, and those peacock feathers in Sharon's hair. Then - suddenly! and with absolutely no prompting! - someone threw a cat at Sharon! Neither kitty nor model were harmed in the making of this photo.

The afternoon wound down into evening from there and I got a little more play in with the softbox before it was pretty much time to go and to summon Lady to come pick me up. Only once in the car did I realize I hadn't eaten anything but a cookie and some carrots since early early that morning. It had just been too exciting.

One tofu sandwich and 500 words later, sleep was had.

The full set from Saturday is here.