Fellow photographers,

It has been several weeks since I last send out a newsletter.  So I wanted to bring you up to date with what is going on.  Firstly news of the next two Friday Night at the Studio events.  This Friday we have Fashion Friday, followed by a chance to shoot Burlesque artist, Cerise Derrière.  Due to the fact that I will be appearing in Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” at Stockport Garrick, Both of these events will be led by guest photographers – the first by Rick Bradbury for the New to Photo podcast, and the second by Steve Roberts from Scottish Geek Photography.

If you know anyone who is getting a DSLR camera for Christmas please let them know about my “Introduction to DSLR Photography” course.  Which will begin it’s 6th run on Wednesday 25th January 2012.

Finally in the newsletter – some important News from Adobe which is relevant to anyone who uses (the full version of) Photoshop.

Read on for more information….

Fashion Friday

Friday, 2 December 2011 , 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Location: Ian’s Studio

This weeks event will be hosted by Rick Bradbury.  The theme will be Fashion Photography.

Rick will guide photographers through posing and lighting a fashion model.

Here’s how Rick describes the event:

You will be working with simple lighting setups and an experienced model to great some great fashion portraits with dynamic poses.  This is more about getting results from your subject than lighting so photographer/subject interaction is key…. And shoot shoot shoot.

The lighting sets that we will be using …

  • Single Beauty Dish with sock (not the type you wear)
  • 7’ Parabolic Umbrella.
  • 30-40 Degree Grids.
  • If we have time we will set up white seemless also.

Our model for the evening is Viki Devine – http://www.purestorm.com/vikidevine

Price: £20

Shooting with Steve Roberts & Cerise Derrière

Friday, 9 December 2011 , 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Location: Ian’s Studio

This weeks event will be hosted studio regular Steve Roberts of Scottish Geek Photography.  Our guest model for the event will Cerise Derrière

On Saturday 20th September, burlesque dancer and model Cerise Derrière visited the studio for group shoot.  Sadly several photographers who wanted to come to that event were unable to attend.  In view of this… and also because Ceriese is a great model… I decided to book her for another session.

Even if you did come to the last session I am assured by Cerise that she will be bring some different outfits This will include a number of vintage style outfits.

You can see images from Cerise’s previous shoot at the studio here…
http://photos.imb.biz/models/shoot/cerise

And you can find here purestorm profile here:

http://www.purestorm.com/Ceriseglittrderriere  (Note Cerise’s purestorm profile contains nudity)

Price: £22

Introduction to Digital Photography

Wednesday Evenings 7.30pm till 10.00pm from 25th January 2012
Location: Ian’s Studio

The course will consist of seven sessions Each session will be two and half hours in length.

The course content will include the following:

  • Composition, seeing and finding great photos.
  • Camera settings – understand what your camera can do
  • Getting the camera off auto:  understanding F-Stops, shutter speeds, focal lengths and ISO
  • White balance – what is it and when to change it
  • Flash photography.  Creative ways to use your flash gun to enhance your photos
  • Controlling the light – reflectors, defusers and filters.
  • RAW and JPG – what’s the difference?  Why shoot RAW?  How to process it
  • Downloading, processing and editing.
  • Sharing your photos on-line
  • Photography in difficult conditions:  at night, in the heat of the day, in the rain.
  • Photo critiques – learning how to assess your photos and teaching yourself to improve.

The course is aimed at beginners and those who wish to consolidate their photographic knowledge.  As with any course the time spent on any given subject will be tailored to reflect the current knowledge and experience of those attending.

Printed course materials (over 100 pages of notes) will be provided to all attendees.  Throughout the course there will be opportunities should you wish to have your photographs assessed to help you improve.

The total cost of the course is £149 (That works out at under £22 per session).   Places on the course will be limited.  To book your place please contact me.

Please note: The course is designed for users of DSLR cameras.  If you have a “compact” camera or a “bridge” camera please contact me to discuss its suitability for this course.

News From Adobe

If you use the full version of Adobe Photoshop and DON’T currently own the latest version you need to read the following article:  http://prodesigntools.com/last-chance-to-upgrade-adobe-cs2-cs3-cs4-to-cs5.html

In the past Adobe’s upgrade policy has been a “three versions back” policy.  This meant that if you were on Photoshop CS2, CS3 or CS4 you would qualify for the upgrade discount.  Any version older than that you would have to buy the full product again.  The adobe announcement means that if you want to upgrade to Photoshop CS6 when it comes out you need to be on CS5.

So if you have not already upgraded to Photoshop CS5 you should do so soon, otherwise you will not be able to upgrade when CS6 ships next year.

There has been a lot of complaints about the new policy.  I for one don’t like it. I have upgraded.  I didn’t want to I was planing to wait until CS6 came out, and in a time of recession it is an extra expense I could have done without.  The only plus to this is that until the end of the year, there is a 20% discount on upgrades.