Photography Thailand Forum

[CW Lawrence]

Hi Everyone,

Just thought I'd start up a new thread for workshop participants to chat, exchange info, critique, discuss, and thank Marc for the great workshop.

So, Thanks Marc, was great to see and use the lighting setups. Krystal is an amazing model. Great group of shooters. Looking forward to hearing your feedback on the pics.

[Marc Schultz]

Your welcome Charles and good idea I think.

Also, I am glad to see everyone posting their pictures in the gallery I set up since often, after a workshop, people go off with their pictures and that is the end of the workshop and any further communication from it.

At least this way we can all share our results and discuss ideas that we gather from eachother's the pictures and it is a way I feel of building on what we did yesterday.

David also made a very good point about how the subtlest changes in expression, body language, or expression can make or break a picture. I think the more people shoot, the more they develop an eye for when something looks just right and when they should take the shot.

I will also try and give everyone a bit of feedback on their pictures and post a few more of my own as well.

[kinginexile]

Thanks for the first feedbacks on the event. If the participants were to tell us in some detail, some of the most important things they learnt, and the difficulties they encountered, that were corrected or pointed out by Mark, That would be swell.  I see some differences of course, within the shosts posted, so there is ample room for explanation , interpretation and...critiques :P

[David Procter]

I've been using my own lights for the past year but have done so in a pretty crude way. I
learnt a great deal on the course including...
-subtleties of using lighting beyond just positioning lights, metering and shooting.
-Starting with a creative aperture as apposed to letting the lights make the decision
-use of resources to reflect/absorb light and prevent light spilling into areas
-Use of tracing paper to cut down/diffuse light instead of moving lights away
-Using grids to light backgrounds, never did that before
-Using a strip light to define edges set against the background, looking forward to using this technique
-I realised you need a huge amount of space to have greater creative control
-working to direct a model, making the slightest changes to make a picture, Krystal was incredibly good at posing/changing posture etc
-working with portrait focal lengths to avoid distortion
Difficulties were mainly associated with shyness when shooting infront of a group which lessened as the day progressed and also working in areas of photography I am unaccustomed to ie the fashion/beauty world. Normally I like to take complete creatve control over everything!

Also, it was nice to have a group of people from diverse backgrounds and all that photographic banter!
Well in my case I dont think I shut up all day!
Again thanks extended to the main man Mr. Schultz and Krystal

[CW Lawrence]

Ditto to all that David!

You'd mentioned a few things over the day that I thought'd be handy to all here; the equipment insurance you use and the new gallery are two that I recall at the moment. Would you mind repeating the details here?

and Marc, I can't remember the name of the tripods that held up the background paper and would appreciate the info on how to order a system like that. Not that I have the space to fit that in my apartment right now.

Cheers

[Marc Schultz]

Those are called Century Arms. You can contact the studio to see if they can order some for you. The contact information for the studio is here:

http://www.photographythailand.com/Forum/index.php?topic=159.0

[kinginexile]

The model, BTW, this must be the famous Krystal, from Manny Librodo's Pbase fame, no?

Herve

 

[Marc Schultz]

Herve - The model is a girl named Krystal as you mentioned, who is a successful Thai television series actress and local model. Manny Librodo has also done shoots with her and hired her to pose for a couple of his workshops also I believe.

Everyone - I have been giving some thought to one important consideration. I am hoping that you all learned some disciplines about studio lighting which you can now someday apply on your own when and if you want to. The fear about holding a workshop like this with a beautiful model and some strong layout concepts is that people get excited about the picture taking and come away with some beautiful photos, but without focusing enough attention during the setup on how it was all done.

If my fears are correct, which I hope they are not, then it would mean people would have difficulty in trying to create a similar setup again on their own, which also means not so much is really gained, except for some nice pictures to look at.

So in looking at these pictures that we all have now from the workshop, I think it is important to focus on what we learned in the process and remembering those skills, rather than only focusing attention on the soft subtleties of how the mood of one picture might compare to another.

[Markus]

I loved the workshop for a number of reasons:

1. Marc prepared the workshop in my opinion very well and published a decent briefing, that allowed me, even though I was hung over as hell, to get an idea what is going on on the set without having to ask questions all the time.

2. The model was very professional and reassuring, even though I had to get close with my 50mm I felt comfortable around her and she helped me to find out poses and even suggested many by herself. She did enjoy to chat to each of us and she was 100% focused and concentrated the whole day. Before I forget, she was (probably still is) very pretty.

3. Marc made a great effort to explain thoroughly the technical side of the shoot, the lightning techniques being applied and what hardware is being used and his experiences with some of it.

4. I really liked the food!

What I would do different:
During my times as drill instructor in the army we had one golden rule: Whenever something more complex, other than how to brush your teeth or change your underwear at least weekly with your comrade, was to be taught, the recruits had to put their rifles away out of reach to be able to focus on the topic and not to mess around with their beloved gear.

What I experienced at the workshop was sort of the same, after the first shoot, people incl. me, got a bit more comfortable and friendly with one another and started to talk, compare their gear and even test the gear lying around rather than keeping it quiet and listen and look to what was happening on stage, that mixed with the music flattened a little the learning experience and lifted the cool fashion shoot studio experience. It would have been nice if Marc would have had the time to guide each one of us during the immediate shoot making sure that we are not entangled in pretty eyes only and rather focussed on lighting and other technical issues as well.

But on the other hand, I loved the amosphere at the shoot and I am actually 100% happy with what I learned and how I am able to apply such knowledge.

Markus

[Marc Schultz]

Good feedback and sugesstions Markus. I will take it all on board and keep it in mind if I do decide to offer another workshop in the future.

[David Procter]

Charles, I posted details of the insurance the day before yesterday in Gary D's thread on eqi\uipment insurance for professionals here http://www.photographythailand.com/Forum/index.php?topic=960.msg4336;topicseen#msg4336,
I think I hijacked his thread a little but my response was kind of relevent.
The new gallery I mentioned is the quite badly named Gossip's gallery on suhkumvit 28 (just inside the soi on the left).
Sorry on the RIGHT!

[Markus]

Good feedback and sugesstions Markus. I will take it all on board and keep it in mind if I do decide to offer another workshop in the future.

Cool, I look forward to your next workshop, hopefully not too far away in time.

[kinginexile]

Mark,

Do you think that the techniques learnt and refined thru studio lighting can be of help shooting outside, and how? David, too, has had some experience in doing the 2, so that would be interesting to find out.

At the very least, the critical attention to light probably can make one more sensitive to its changing and strentgh in the open field, no? Do you think one can be less demanding of the effects of light when shooting outside, after working in studio? Or 2 completely different approaches to photography?

Thanks,

Herve 

[Marc Schultz]

They are 2 totally different approaches in most respects because natural light and studio light behave and are controlled totally differently. But before I learned anything about studio lighting, I had probably reached a point with natural light where I could not develop my understanding of light any better in terms of how to control and improve the effect of light. At the end of the day, natural light is only one light source and can in most cases only be turned into two light sources if reflected, so it is somewhat limited. Studio lighting however can be created from an infinite number of studio light sources and from 6 different directions, which means there is a lot more to be learned from it. Shooting landscapes however and waiting for the right time of day is a totally different discipline though.

Learning about studio lighting though should give you a better understanding of how light behaves in general. So yes, to answer your question, I believe learning about studio lighting will lead to a greater understanding of how to improve one's control of natural lighting when shooting outdoors. An understanding of studio lighting will also lead to an understanding of how to mix natural light with flash lighting in order to improve your outdoor results in general.

[Bryan Bondurant]

  Marc, I'm glad the workshop was a great success and hope this means you will consider planning another one or something similar soon. I'm also jealous as hell that I was unable to attend. I spent the weekend back in the hospital having all kinds of tests, mainly blood tests and monitoring. The good news is I will be back behind a camera in the next 48 hours walking and taking pictures. The bad news is I missed a great opportunity to spend a day with you and the crew.