John from Leeds based Metropolis NLP was helping a young lad called Sam with a photography project – I went down to meet him and help out by showing him how we go about capturing portraits.

All the shots on here were taken by him… you’d never guess that he’s never used lighting or a DSLR camera before!

So anyone can shoot shot like these – right?

Well in a way it’s true, he did point the camera and press the shutter.

But there’s a lot more to getting shots like these than hitting the button…

Portrait Photography Thought Process…

Here’s the thought process…

• Black background… we were in a light room with white walls… so the first job is to set the camera settings to turn the white walls black.
• That takes a knowledge of exposure and flash synch speeds.
• Next we needed to light me – I wanted to look 1/2 human so had a softbox on the flash
• We now had to get enough light hitting me – bearing in mind the camera aperture was tiny to darken the room, we needed high powered flashes very close to me. A knowledge of flash theory
• Light position - we got Sam trying many positions to learn about lighting angles.
• Interaction with the sitter – we were trying to encourage Sam to chat with me, to get a reaction which he could capture, a tough skill many fail on… over-posed photos are dull… ones with “human reactions” are the best.
• Camera position – most of these were taken with me sat down and Sam stood up – gets rid of chins
• Composition – they’re mostly full frame shots here, head filling the shot – maybe think of using “negative space” and leave room to one side if you’re doing portraits.. can be powerful, and useful if you’re going to add text to them
• Processing… I processed these, having had a fair amount of beer the day before I was looking a little red and tired, so black and white was the way to go – and a softish effect, using negative clarity in Lightroom.

So though Sam pressed the button – the whole setup was a joint effort, and each step explained in detail so he could take away the knowledge and use it on his friends.

This is the power of 1-2-1 training – you can very quickly get great results and knowledge to take photos in all kinds of conditions.

To achieve images like these, we’d recommend attending a:-

1. Take Control day – to learn about manual exposure
2. Beginners Flash – to learn the basics of on-camera flash
3. Off Camera Flash – the final one which teaches all about light position, quality and strength – just completed one in Feb, will be one later in the year

More shots Sam took

[Show as slideshow]

The post Total Novice Shoots Ade appeared first on McFade Training.

It’s an amazing skill – we show you how to shoot for it, then go to the class room and show you how to process them using PHOTOMATIX Pro and OLONEO Photo Engine

HDR at the Bradford Midland – £75

More details to follow – course covers the basics of HDR, how to capture it, a practical session in The Midland Hotel and outside in Bradford, then back to the classroom for processing tuition.

The post HDR – Learn to do this… appeared first on McFade Training.

The post HDR @ Bradford Midland appeared first on McFade Training.

The post Waterfalls Workshop Wensleydale appeared first on McFade Training.

After the success of the Night Programme – we thought we’d share our tips with everone…. see below on the embedded powerpoint….

The post 10 Top Tips on Night Photography appeared first on McFade Training.

http://www.mcfade.co.uk/blog/blog/malham-sneak-preview/

The post Malham Preview appeared first on McFade Training.

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=maps+park+square+leeds&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=park+square&hnear=0x48793e4ada64bd99:0x51adbafd0213dca9,Leeds,+West+Yorkshire&cid=0,0,8618975004561691263&t=h&z=16&iwloc=A

The workshop is exactly the same, just a different start point so we don’t get lost in all the ceremonial activities

The post 11th November Workshop – Meet Park Square appeared first on McFade Training.

Read about our spectacular first day in Austria here…

http://www.mcfade.co.uk/blog/blog/austrian-photography-workshop-day-1-the-gorge/

The post Austrian Photography Worksop – Day 1 appeared first on McFade Training.

Low on “techy”, high on “ideas” and creativity, they’re ideal for to getting you thinking about the shot before you click that button.

Aimed at Beginners and experienced alike – the group training will be at beginners level, more advanced can enjoy the tour and get tips 1-2-1, so come with some questions!

We originally had 2 dates on the deal, but now have expanded to 4:-

• September 16th 2012 – FULL, no longer taking bookings
• November 4th  2012 -
• November 11th  2012
• December 16th  2012 – lots of Xmas lights and markets to enjoy

To book you need to:-

• buy the deal through Living Social
• email us with your preferred date
• get confirmation from us

It’s as simple as that really!

To whet your appetite, please take a look at this slideshow of our work in Leeds

http://www.photoboxgallery.com/gallery/slideshow?album_id=555581048

The post Living Social – Discover Leeds Photography Workshop appeared first on McFade Training.

Modern cameras can do a pretty good job of getting your photography exposure correct?

Well yes and no – they are working off “assumptions” as they have no intelligence. They assume that the whole scene is “mid grey” and set the exposure accordingly…

In theory, if you shoot a black wall, grey wall and white wall with a camera in “P” (program) mode, they should all look the same…. because it has no intelligence to work out what the wall’s painted in.. .

Also, things like aperture and shutter speed are critical components in creativity – let the camera decide those and you’re losing control.

So here’s a diagram we’ll be using with our beginners – basically showing you the main factors in exposure and a little info on them

They are all inter-related very tightly, which we’ll happily explain to you on one of our Discover Leeds workshops, or on a 1-2-1 session.

The post Exposure…. appeared first on McFade Training.