One can never know enough about photography when you do it full time for a living. So in the manner of a doctor who must keep abreast of the latest in medical journals, a professional photographer must also stay tuned to the latest tools and techniques.
Last Sunday was a rare opportunity to participate in a seminar held in Seattle hosted by the very well known Monte Zucker and Eddie Tapp. See http://www.zuckertapptour.com/homeii.htm These guys were awesome!
I am in the market for some newer studio lighting and what they demonstrated there was an interesting option for the Senior portrait work I am doing, as well as formal bridal portraits. However, what I did not like was the very low power output of the lights. These low power fluorescent lights, while comfortable on the subject’s eyes, require setting the ISO of your camera to 800. That is on the margins of giving very grainy images. Personally I prefer having extreme sharpness in my portraits. And that comes from an ISO of 100 for best results - which in turn requires crisp, powerful strobe lighting. The resulting images can there-after be softened in a controlled manner in PhotoShop.
The seminar was only 4 hours, but jam packed with posing techniques as well as Photoshop techniques for beautifully flattering results.
I broke down and bought the “Grand Slam Special” to get every single CD and educational DVD that Monte Zucker has ever produced. Call me crazy, but I do just love this kind of stuff - even if I do see room for improvement in their choices for lighting.
Here is one quickie shot I took at the Seminar.
