reflections on a workshop

So we did a full day workshop just over a week ago on Saturday 13th April. A busy day that involves, for Janine and I, allot of behind the scenes organising so that the day runs smoothly. We love having a lunch together with all the students, so the evening before I was baking rolls and making the soup as well as checking the equipment and getting it transported to the venue. Childcare and dog walking had to be sorted before workshop start time of 10am.
A new venue for us and excited about the days possibilities. A range of students, cameras and abilities. All had little experience in operating in manual mode and normally shoot in total Automatic. I love helping and showing how better pictures can be taken when you, the Photographer is in charge of the camera.

I focus on depth of field (no pun intended) We take  pictures of props I have brought in and  of each other to try and achieve pictures with shallow depth of filed, that we control. To get it right we have to consider exposure, looking at the relationship between the aperture, shutter and sensitivity settings, the ISO/ASA controls. I teach as if you are photographing  in a family/social setting, its not a tutorial on how a professional photographer works but how I, as a Professional, would take personal pictures for fun ,at events, places of interest, family day out or to record a special occasion.

I am convinced that by showing some good basic creative techniques of shooting, together with an understanding of the camera's controls, great pictures can be achieved, certainly a big improvement. I assume flash is not going to be used , as often flash on camera kills the mood, I do give some tips on how to use flash on camera in a subtle way.
The day does fly by, lots of questions , lots of aiding and guiding to a level of confidence with the camera.
We make sure everyone goes away with at least two good prints of their work. I print out on A4 Epsom semigloss Photo paper a selection of shots that the student is pleased with.
Packing up , returning home  to a dog that needs walking and a family that needs feeding, we finished off the leftover soup.