The Lux-ury of Lighting

Studio photographers have it sweet. They do not have to wait outside in the rain hoping for it to clear and a little watery sunshine to appear. They don't have to wait until dark to shoot at night, and if they shoot at night they don't have to shoot in the dark. They can escape the flies and mosquitos. There is generally a coffee pot and a biscuit barrel nearby.

Of course there is a downside. They have to provide their own mountains, sea, and brooding skies for indoor landscapes and most rodeos are better held outside, particularly if there is to be calf roping. Many brides prefer to be married in a church rather than a studio, and get very petulant about it. And unless you have a Victorian daguerrotype parlor with skylights, you'll have to provide hot lights or flash.

If, on balance, you would like to see what you need to do with studio lighting, then Shoot Photography Workshops has just the course for you.

The Introduction To Studio Lighting is presented by Anthony Wilson, who has been been doing it and doing it well for a long time. He'll be showing you what you need for studio flash, and will be able to explain exposure readings, contrast ratios,the effects of different light shapers, posing, backgrounds,props, and general shooting discipline. The information on use of shapers and modifiers is particularly valuable as very few textbooks actually help you to see the lighting as you do it. There is as much art in selecting the right look as in applying it.

The course runs for three weeks - Wednesdays all, the 5th, 12th, and 19th of September - and is held at the Shoot Photography Workshop here in Stirling Street. It is $ 325 so the cost is modest, and the confidence that it will give you to choose and use your studio components makes it doubly worthwhile.

Please go to the Shoot Photography Workshops website for more details and to book a place.

Note: Some things can be taught but some things can only be learned. You will find out where the electric cords running to the lights are in the half-light of the studio and you will gain an appreciation of how easily they may be pulled over. When this happens, your character will be evident in your language -the stokers who live next door to my studio complained about mine.