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Using Off Camera Flash: Simple Ways to Beautifully Light Your Subject with Canon and Nikon Flashes

When: Saturday, May 19, 2012, from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm
Where: Focal Point, 22960 North Shaw Road, Sterling, VA 20166
Instructors: Brian J Zwit and Geoff Archer
Registration Fee: $149.95

Click here to register for Using Off Camera Flash: Simple Ways to Beautifully Light Your Subject.

Using Off Camera Flash: Simple Ways to Beautifully Light Your Subject will teach you when and how to use  your accessory flash and some simple set ups for capturing beautiful portraits without the "deer in the headlights" look so familiar to casual shooters and avoiding the "flash" look in other images. This workshop includes class time on flash theory and exposure, instruction on using your Nikon or Canon accessory flash, practice time with a partner and your instructors, and a critique and question and answer session at the end of the day.

The instructors will cover the following:

Flash Theory and Exposure

  • How flash works and why your camera's maximum sync speed is 1/250 second or slower
  • Creating "big" light sources to produce flattering and soft light
  • Choosing between using your speedlight in TTL mode and manual mode
  • Calculating exposure when using the flash off-camera
  • Why your subject is over-exposed and the background under-exposed when using flash
  • Why and when you want to wirelessly trigger your flash
  • The impact of modify the light from your flash using homemade and store-bought accessories

Using Your Nikon or Canon Flash

  • Changing flash modes
  • Setting power levels and flash exposure compensation
  • Customizing the settings for your particular needs
  • Setting up your camera and flash for remote triggering using the built in infrared wireless system

Using Your Flash Off-Camera

  • How to quickly set up a one, two, or three flash lighting setup
  • Using lightstands and other basic lighting equipment
  • Using light modifiers, including snoots, bounce cards, and softboxes
  • Using reflectors with your flash and other light modifiers

While there is some class time in the morning, this will be a hands-on workshop and everyone should bring their camera, an accessory flash for their camera, and extra batteries with them to use during the breakout sessions on Nikon and Canon flashes and the practice session.

Click here to register for Using Off Camera Flash: Simple Ways to Beautifully Light Your Subject.

Indoor Close-up and Macro Photography: A Creative Adventure for Bad Weather Days

When: Saturday, February 11, 2012, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Where: Focal Point, 22960 North Shaw Road, Sterling, VA 20166
Instructor: Brian J Zwit and Elliot Stern
Registration Fee: $149.95

Click here to register for Indoor Close-up and Macro Photography: A Creative Adventure for Bad Weather Days

During the winter, when it is cold outside, the days are cloudy, and the usual subjects are sleeping, many photographers pack up their gear and wait for spring. However, they are missing a great indoor creative outlet: macro and close-up photography.

The beauty of macro and close-up photography is its ability to reveal the small, unusual, and amazing details of the things around us that seem so familiar. Flowers, the skin of a peach, and other natural and unnatural things can take on an other-worldly appearance upon close inspection.

This one-day indoor macro class is designed to provide you with a basic understanding of macro and close-up photography, help you to master your equipment, and learn to photograph subjects in a manner that reveal their hidden beauty. You will spend most of the day shooting flowers, toy cars, fruits, and other small objects and your instructors, Brian Zwit and Elliot Stern, will be there to assist you. The day will begin with some short demonstrations and finish with a critique of your images.

We will have a variety of lighting equipment, including electronic flash, continuous studio lighting, and LED lights, macro rails, tripods, extension tubes, and other accessories available for you to use. This will be a perfect time to decide what equipment you need to do what you want to do. But, you don’t need any fancy equipment to take great macro photographs. Many point and shoot are capable of incredible macro and close up photography and no one should hesitate to sign up for this class because of the equipment that they use.

You will open new doors and new paths that will enable you to have unending photographic opportunities regardless of the weather.

Click here to register for Indoor Close-up and Macro Photography: A Creative Adventure for Bad Weather Days

From Capture to Output: Creating a Workflow Using Adobe Lightroom 4

When: Saturday, April 28, 2012, from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm

Where: Focal Point, 22960 North Shaw Road, Sterling, VA 20166
Instructor: Brian J Zwit
Registration Fee: $149.95

Click here to register for From Capture to Output: Creating a Workflow Using Adobe Lightroom 4.

Adobe recently released a beta of Lightroom 4 and, while we aren't sure of the exact date that the final version will be released, we are anticipating that Lightroom 4 will be available sometime in early April. Some of the changes are fairly obvious, such as the addition of the Map and Book modules, and others are "under-the-hood" and will have a big impact on how you process your images. The best change is perhaps the change to the Basic adjustments. During the course of the day, the differences between two versions will be pointed out and discussed for those of you upgrading to the new version.

From Capture to Output: Creating a Workflow Using Adobe Lightroom 4 will teach you how to use Lightroom to get the best from your images. It covers what you should do in the field and the basics of using Lightroom in a digital workflow to capture, catalog, edit, and print your images. The emphasis is on minimizing the time processing images to maximize the time making images in the field.

Your instructor, Brian Zwit, will cover...

Capturing Images

  • Setting your camera up to minimize editing time
  • Shooting raw files rather than JPEGs (you really should be)

Cataloging Images

  • Organizing images on your computer to make them easy to find without Lightroom
  • Importing images into Lightroom
  • Viewing, sorting, and comparing images
  • Rating images and filtering the images based on those ratings
  • Finding images using their metadata

Editing Images

  • Cropping and straightening your images
  • Using the histogram to help guide your image adjustments
  • Polishing your images in Lightroom using the global adjustment settings
  • Removing "dust bunnies" using the Spot Removal Tool
  • Fixing local problems in images using the Gradient Filter and Adjustment Brush
  • Sharpening your images
  • Using the artistic adjustments available in Lightroom

Exporting Images

  • Exporting TIFFs and JPEGs after processing your images

A trial version of Lightroom is available from www.adobe.com.

Click here to register for From Capture to Output: Creating a Workflow Using Adobe Lightroom 4.