A few weeks ago I attended Don Giannatti‘s Lighting Essentials workshop up in St. Louis, Missouri and I wanted to share some images and my thoughts about the workshop with everyone. This is my first ever, but hopefully not last, photography workshop I’ve attended. I’ve been to some classes and Strobist meetups and the like, but never a full blown workshop like this, so I wasn’t so sure what to expect.
Before the workshop I spoke with Don many times trying to help him get things setup in St. Louis (even though I’m about 3.5 hours away from St. Louis) so we could have a great workshop. Don was quick to respond to most of my emails, tweets, etc. which impressed me early on. It seems like most people that “make it big” these days aren’t too keen on interacting with the little people like me. So when I meet someone like Don that takes the time to talk to and help out someone like me, that’s a great thing. I love all of the professionals that give back so much to the community and attending this workshop with Don felt like just that.
My friend and photographer, Jason, drove up to the workshop with me and shortly after checking into our hotel we went and picked up Don from his hotel. Right from the start I could tell Don had done this a few times and was eager to share his wealth of knowledge with anyone willing to listen. And willing I was!
We headed to downtown St. Louis for some random shooting and then a dinner meet-and-greet with all of the photographers attending the workshop. I think there were 6 of us in total, plus Don, so it was a small, intimate learning environment. After dinner we just sat around and talking photography for a while: the business of photography, bad experiences, good experiences, etc. Lots of information to absorb and process and the workshop hadn’t even started yet!
The next morning we were up early and ready for the workshop to start around 8:30am at Don’s hotel. Due to some misunderstandings we didn’t get this cool warehouse location I was hoping for, so we just made due with the hotel for the day.
The morning started out as an intro to the workshop and talking about lighting from different perspectives, a little bit about gear, some technical information with regards to lighting and such. After that we went right in to shooting some simple, one light portraits in the hotel room with nothing more than a small flash and a few reflectors and the results were impressive. Since I’ve gotten into the whole off-camera lighting thing I’d pretty much stopped using my reflector all together, but now I think I’m going to start trying to work it in more.
After a few quick demonstrations Don set us loose with the models to shoot around the hotel. We broke up into 2 groups and headed out, shooting around the hotel, outside, anywhere we could find, really. Don would come around and ask us why we were doing certain things to help us make sure we understand why we are doing what we are doing, and he would plant the seeds for shot ideas as he went. For example:
This shot was a combination of Don’s idea and a happy accident. Don was booming a flash at full power overhead and just out of the frame on camera right but we still weren’t getting enough power (f/20 is hard for small flashes), so we added a second flash at full power, but we aimed it a little low and it missed the umbrella and gave us some hard light from camera left and created a nice look to this picture. Interesting hard/soft combo I’ll have to try to work in some more.
We went on for the rest of the afternoon like this and then headed out to dinner for another night of stories and information. Lots of good conversation and tidbits of knowledge to pick out throughout the night. I headed back to the hotel and went through the pictures from the day and then passed out, ready for round 2 the next morning.
Day was the on-location portion of the workshop – I enjoyed this part more than the first day since I like to consider myself a location-based photographer. We met downtown and talked about shooting in less than ideal conditions and the best places to position the subject for good light. We walked around as a group and did some location lighting together, just to see the different results of blending ambient with strobe. Then we learned how to “calibrate” our strobes, which is probably one of the biggest things I took away from the workshop. Most of my lighting was trial and error up until this point, but now I know at what distance my flashes give me f/8 at 1/8 power and how much I lose when using modifiers and so on, so I can be much more accurate with my location lighting.
After that it was off to practice some more. I got to play with the new Speedlight Pro Kit Beauty Dish, which I loved. Got some pretty cool shots with it – might have to pick one of those up when they are available here in the States so I don’t have to lug around my DIY flower pot beauty dish.
We shot around in groups again in this area for a while and then we packed up and headed to a more industrial area of St. Louis to finish up the second day. We did the group thing some more with Don coming around sharing his vast amounts of wisdom with everyone and then he showed me the second thing I really took away from the workshop: using Photoshop to increase the power of your strobes. It’s a fairly simple concept – I have no idea why I never thought of it before. Probably my “get it right in the camera” mentality I’ve been using.
Sometimes the shot you want requires your strobes to be in the frame to get the power you need – so shoot two frames, one with and without the lights, then combine them. Simple as that! You can read Don’s in-depth guide on this technique over at ProPhotoResource.com. Here’s the shot I did using this technique:
It’s not my favorite shot, but it’s still pretty cool. I’ll definitely be trying to work this in more, which means I should probably get a decent tripod. Good thing Christmas is getting close.
We finished up the second day and talked for a while and then headed our separate ways. Overall it was a really good experience. I learned a lot and made some new friends. We went through so much in those 2 days that it’s hard for me to remember it all. Good thing Don provides us with workbooks and DVDs to help reinforce the ideas and concepts we learned. Here are a couple more of my favorite shots from the workshop:
It was a great workshop and definitely worth the price for everything you get. I’d do it again in a heart beat.
Since I’ve been back I’ve kept in touch with Don and he even did a portfolio review with me over the phone, which I really appreciated since we didn’t get time to do it during the workshop. It’s good to get a pro’s opinion on your work every now and then and he pointed out some things I need to improve on, which is great since I’m still very early in my (hopefully) career as a photographer.
Don was a great teacher and a great guy in general – hopefully we stay in touch. I strongly suggest anyone thinking about taking his workshop to take the plunge and do it. You’ll learn so much and have a great time while doing it. It’s worth it, trust me.
If you haven’t checked out the rest of my shots from the workshop you can see them on my Flickr page.
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