Photos edited and retouched in LR with Lightroom Retouching Toolkit
Off Camera Flash Workshop Review
If I could make a living out of learning, I would. I suppose I do in some ways since I practice what I learn to earn a living, and even teach other photographers what I know as well. Maybe that’s why I have an education degree and thought teaching Spanish to elementary school children would be my ideal job (P.S. it wasn’t). For me, there’s just something addicting about learning, about striving for that lightbulb moment, and especially about the brain-growing headache you get trying to find it. Or maybe I just crave the feeling of synapses firing a million times a second in my brain. Whatever it is, I love it and always jump at the chance to learn.
Learning is one of the things that brings me to almost every photography convention that’s held throughout the world. Photography education is priceless in a world that deceives so many people into thinking photography is easy. Good, and especially great, photography is not easy. Tac on off camera flash and you’ve just been introduced to a whole new world of difficulty. OCF education is what brought me to 1st stop in the Monte Zucker Education’s Need Light Speedlite Tour with Bob Davis and Stephen Eastwood, and I’m glad it did.
So many photographers have yet to learn off camera flash photography because it can be a very daunting subject. Thankfully Bob and Stephen are absolute master’s of their craft and if you’re going to learn from anyway, they’re the guys. I loved learning from photographers with two distinct styles, one a wedding photographer and the other a fashion photographer. It let us all look at the same subject manner with two sets of eyes.
I really enjoyed how the class was formatted as far as a learning style goes. First lighting was explained, then it was demonstrated and then we got to shoot with models and continuous light sources. Everything was covered from light modifiers, their functions and output result, to explaining rear curtain sync and the inverse square law. Students were encouraged to ask questions at any time and both instructors took the time to explain and reexplain until the student understood the concept. Additionally, there was an option to add-on more personalized training after the main session has ended, which is always a good idea if you really want to sharpen your skills and test them out. I got a few shots in with the beautiful model Porshe and super easily edited them using this sweet new Lightroom brush set that makes it crazy easy to retouch (yes retouch) your photos without having to leave Lightroom. See more on that here.
Rating a workshop can be a pretty tough thing to do since there’s so many different factors involved. So, like any good rating system, we’ll end this off by giving pretty hearts on a scale of one to five. 🙂
Amount of Solid Information: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Was the course description accurate? ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Instructor’s knowledge of subject: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Instructor’s ability to Teach and Communicate Clearly: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Instructor Credibility (do they practice what they preach): ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Approachability of instructors: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Value for Investment: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ($99 – $279)
Workshop/Instructor Teaching style: Seminar with visuals, informational, demonstrative and hands-on
Infomercial/Educational Ratio: 5%/95%
There are still a bunch of cities that this tour will be traveling to. Be sure to register (starting at only $99!) at the Monte Zucker Education For Creatives Website.
