A steep learning curve

By admin • Training • 6 Aug 2010

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to go back in time and shoot with the knowledge and kit you have now? Imagine how good your photos would be…

I posted the above quote on Twitter earlier today as I was thinking back to last Friday, when I attended a Studio Lighting / Portraiture course in Hampshire – conducted by James Stone (James Stone Photography).

James took us through lighting fundamentals, the steps required to produce a studio portrait and how best to use lights and modifiers in a variety of situations, resulting in a noticeable shot-by-shot improvement in my photographic abilities.

I came away with a sense of confidence that I didn’t previously have, and a more intimate understanding of my cameras abilities and how I could influence, harness and in some cases overpower natural light sources (yes – even the sun can be tamed)

The last week has been spent refining the techniques learnt and recreating photos I have previously taken to see how much of an improvement I could make, and the results were a real eye opener.

My bank account has been relieved of a few pounds in aid of additional speedlights and modifiers, which will aid me in producing decent images to accompany product reviews on Coffee Forums UK.

Looking back through my digital image library containing images since November 2001 when I purchased my first digital camera (a Sony Cybershot DSC-P5) I can see incremental improvements, but there are also a number of poor images in low light situations where a flash would have completely changed the photo (for the better). I’m now keen to reshoot some of these scenes, but my only regret is that settings cannot be recreated.

As I step into the future I know that my camera is capable of producing the results – the only limiting factor is me

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