Strobist.com Full-Day Small-Class Lighting Workshop

David Hobby is the publisher of Strobist.com. Founded in 2006, Strobist is the world's leading resource for online lighting instruction. Through its comprehensive selection of in-depth courses, millions of photographers all around the world have learned how to master the use of their small flashes.

David Hobby

Strobist Small-Flash Lighting Workshop
This class is appropriate for photographers with a wide range of skill levels. If you are comfortable with shooting in manual mode on your camera — i.e., you understand the basic concepts of f/stops and shutter speeds — you are ready to take this class. Every single person who takes this class will leave with a solid understanding of off-camera lighting principles and practices. (No worries, if you don't yet understand it I won't let you leave...)
 
Gear Requirements
All lighting equipment needed for this class will be provided: flashes, remotes, light stands, soft boxes and backdrops.
You should bring your camera (which should be adjustable in manual mode and has a hot shoe for attaching a flash) a lens that includes focal lengths in the normal to portrait range (a typical kit zoom will be fine, as would a normal and/or portrait lens) an empty storage card and one or two fully charged batteries.
Some people also bring a notebook and pen for making notes. 
 
What to Expect
We'll start at 9:30am and work onsite until 5:30pm. Please do not arrive more than 10-15 minutes early; I'll be setting up, and will not be able to check you in until I am finished.
By the end of the day, you'll understand how to use an inexpensive, portable off-camera light kit to make beautiful and evocative photos. We'll be photographing people — i.e., each other — but the principles and techniques are easily applied to other subjects.
Bonus #1: You'll almost certainly end up with some cool pictures of yourself to use in social media, etc.
Bonus #2: If you are local to Balt/DC, you'll have a ready group of new friends who may well wish to meet up at a later date to practice what they've learned.
 
What You'll Learn
The class is small — only 12 people. We work throughout the day in 3-person teams. So there is plenty of individual instruction. By the end of the day, you'll be comfortable with:
 
<UL>
<LI>Understanding how flash and ambient light differ in their contribution to exposure</LI>
<LI>Using a single, off-camera flash in a zero-ambient environment</LI>
<LI>Learning to position your light, using both angle and distance for desired effect</LI>
<LI>Combining a single flash with a variable ambient exposure to control the contrast range in your photos</LI>
<LI>Working with multiple lights in a zero-ambient environment</LI>
<LI>Working with multiple lights in a variable-ambient environment</LI>
</UL>
 
If the above sounds dry, or technical — or worse, intimidating — I promise you it is not. We'll have fun, and we'll be shooting all day. When you leave you'll be much less impressed with photographers who appear to be lighting whizzes. Because this stuff is really not hard. Honestly, it is more like cooking than anything technical.
 
Yes, There's Food
Lunch will be provided. I'm thinking pizza. But more important, we'll have snacks/sugar/caffeine in case you get a mental black at 3:00pm that can only be solved with chocolate. We are photographers, but we are not uncivilized.
 
Do You Really Promise I'll Understand This?
Yes.
I've taught this workshop dozens of times, and all over the world. We even did a Spanish language class once in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Fun fact: I don't speak Spanish. We used an interpreter. And still, everyone finished the day with a strong understanding of lighting priciples.
Seriously, you got this.

Sandy Spring Friends Lyceum

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