Sunday, March 7, 2010

On an Impulse!

This morning, (Saturday), before I got into my day, I checked a couple of my favorite photo blogs.  One had a post dated yesterday about an all day workshop today that still had a couple of openings.  It was being taught by international photographer Kenneth Linge.  Kenneth has been a world renown photographer for many years both in Europe and America.  He is from Norway, but now chooses Orem as his home base, although he travels all over the world.   (Check out his website HERE.)  His workshop today was about photographing people.  The cost was significant and I had appointments today, but I REALLY wanted to go.  The website info did not say when it started or how long the workshop would last.  By this time it was about 10 am and I was sure it was already under way.  I tried to call his studio, but no one answered,  so I decided to drive by just on the outside chance it was an afternoon class.  They were just getting started, and it was an all day and into the evening workshop, so I quickly called Jeff and asked if he objected to me attending.  He said go for it, so I told him I'd be home after 7pm and called and canceled my other appointments.   It's after 9 pm now.  I'm home and my head is swimming with information, inspiration, and determination to remember and use what I learned today.  Here's the good news.  Much of what I learned I can use without purchasing any extravagant equipment.  I was most impressed with his lighting techniques.  I learned you don't need fancy in studio lights to produce professional looking portraits.  Of course, I've always known that natural lighting is beautiful portrait light (see past Tech Talk Tuesday HERE), but one thing I learned today is how versatile one can be with natural and artificial light with a minimal amount of equipment.  Knowing where and how to position your subject is also critical.  Where many photographers prefer an overcast day when shooting outdoors, Kenneth loves to shoot in bright noonday sun, as well as after the sun sets.  Here are a couple of shots from today as Kenneth was showing various techniques:
Guess what the background is, the source of light, and what kind of light was used? Where is the sun?

This was taken behind an ugly building.  Again, what was the lighting and type of day.  What focal length was used to create the soft background?  How did I get the beautiful rim lighting on her hair?

Isn't this beautiful?  Lighting must emphasize the most important triangle in the photo, and for a portrait, this is......?

Wow!  This is outside after the sun set.  How was this lit and where did the beautiful blue sky come from??

These photos are SOOTC, (straight out of the camera).  No Photoshop editing, except to crop out other photographers.  Simple techniques can create lovely portraits.  Check back on Tech Talk Tuesdays and I'll pass along some of what I learned from this fabulous workshop.  And the good news is.....
for YOU it is FREE!!!