Travel Photography Tips with David Samuel Robbins

There are many places in the world that offer either stupendous natural scenery or an ancient, vibrant, living culture – but few that have both. Bhutan, Nepal and Ladakh, India offer both in abundance. David leads journeys to these stunning destinations and offers a few insights for travel photographers.

LENSES
Less is more. A 24mm-70mm and a 70mm-200mm is all I ever really need. I may throw in a 1.4X or 2X telecoverter for extended range.

LIGHTING
For fill lighting, I much prefer collapsible reflecting hoops to electronic flash. The hoops show you the effect in real-time, and they can be slowly moved around for very nuanced adjustments of direction and intensity. Enlisting a nearby local enhances the “interactive” part of the experience, making it more engaging for everyone involved.

LANGUAGE
Learning a bit of the local language is the ultimate gesture of respect for the culture. It also shrinks the gap between photographer and subject, helping to make more relaxed, intimate portraits of virtual strangers.

Learn more from David in his workshop
Nepal: The Kathmandu Valley and Beyond
November 1-13, 2010

Visit his blog www.himalayanodyssey.net/blog to see what he's up to.

Use the Sun as a Graphic Element with Alan M. Thornton

Since location portraiture is often, well, outside on location somewhere, we are often at the mercy of the light provided. Although professionally I am responsible for scheduling shoots when conditions are optimal, sometimes Mother Nature, or the client, have other ideas in mind.

This can be a real boon for me creatively, and you as well. Even though some of the best light for portraits is early in the morning, or late in the afternoon when the sun is lower on the horizon, don’t discount what the sun can provide in the middle of the day. Since I’m lighting my subject with strobes and speed lights, I can easily ‘over power’ the sun, and simply use it as a graphic element in an image as a hair light, edge light, or rim light. Is it breaking a few photo rules? Sure it is, but that is part of the fun of location portraiture!

Learn more from Alan in his workshop
Lighting Portraits on Location
June 20 - 26, 2010

Visit his web site www.amtproductions.com to see what he's up to.

Portraits that Thrive on Food and Music with Kwaku Alston

Photographing a celebrity, or any important subject, is like meeting a wild animal – they can smell fear.

You need to bring confidence and calm to the shoot. Surround yourself with a team who communicates with you seamlessly, so that your trust in them is high. The subject is the vulnerable party, the photographer is the one in power – they need you to represent them well.

Food and music are two of your greatest tools for creating a comfortable atmosphere. FEED THEM. Good quality catering or, for the smaller budget, some simple but effective snacks can put everyone at ease.

Know the subject’s favorite music and create a playlist – music with variable ranges of style and tone can take the shoot on a journey through several emotional planes. This can create a desirable movement and flow in your images, resulting in the most captivating scenes.

Learn more from Kwaku in his workshop
The Essence of Portraiture
June 27 - July 3, 2010

Visit his blog kwakualston.com/blog/ to see what he's up to.

Go Out Empty, Come Back Full… of Images with Arthur Meyerson

At almost every workshop I’ve taught, someone will come up and ask me what they should shoot and/or where they should go to shoot. I try to explain that photography is a process… a process of discovery. Not only do you discover things to shoot, you discover things about yourself as a photographer. And, you discover what your interests really are and how best to capture those subjects.

One suggestion I always make is to avoid preconceptions. Planning can be highly overrated.

Don’t go out there with a definitive idea of what you want to shoot. Leave yourself open to chance… whether it’s the light, a moment, etc. This way you will avoid being disappointed by what you don’t find and instead being amazed by what you do!

Learn more from Arthur in his workshop
The Color of Light
June 20-26, 2010

Visit his web site www.arthurmeyerson.com to see what he's up to.

Final Cut Pro: What You See is NOT What You Get with Cotton Miller

The last step in creating a video in Final Cut Pro is exporting the movie, and using Compressor is the simplest way to create your final masterpiece. It offers various video size options by specific device or destination.

Yet the rendered movie on a Mac often appears much lighter in QuickTime than what you see in Final Cut Pro. So much for WYSIWYG! This is due to a gamma setting within QuickTime Pro. Gamma value is used to quantify brightness. Since Final Cut Pro uses a 2.2 gamma and QuickTime works in a 1.8 gamma the rendered video appears lighter.

Here’s how to achieve the best results on a Mac:

1. In QuickTime Pro, select “Preferences” under the QuickTime Player menu

2. At the very bottom of the General Preferences dialogue, select the box next to "Enable Final Cut Studio color compatibility" .

And, voilà! What you see in Final Cut Pro is what you get in QuickTime.

Learn more from Cotton in his two-and-a-half day intensive
Final Cut Pro Intensive: Introduction to Multimedia
April 30-May 2, 2010

Visit his blog at cottonmiller.wordpress.com to see what he's up to.