I wish everyone safe and happy holidays and best of luck in the New 2012! May the New 2012 bring you good health, happiness, piece, and prosperity!
I am really excited to announce that by popular demand, starting in October, (the price, exact date and location of the class is TBA) I am introducing a month long, 16 hour Introduction into Digital Photography Program for beginners, that will consist of 8 classes: 4 – 2 hour theory classes and 4 - 2 hour practice sessions. More detailed description of the course will be soon posted here on my blog and on our school’s page .
It is very difficult to schedule the time for the classes that will be convenient for everyone, but I’m quite certain that we can find a time slot that will work for the majority of the students. Please select the best time slot for you to help us decide when we will hold this theory classes. Thank you for your time!
Theory classes will be held on weekdays, practice sessions will be held on weekends.
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I would like to thank all the participants in yesterday’s Photo Dim Sum Workshop. Special thanks to our model Alisse! We all had such an amazing time, that it feels sad that soon we won’t be able to do as many outside workshops as we’re heading towards the winter.
Here a few shots from yesterday – I didn’t try all the “Dim Sum dishes” as I have actively participated in many shots, thus was unable to shoot them.
We tried out many different genres and styles of photography, and I’m sure everyone found something that really appealed to them – please follow this link to see our student works album.
Here is a quick review of things discussed and practised in the workshop:
- Generally, in portrait photography we want to keep aperture as open as possible, thus shooting with aperture in mind, shutter speed needs to be adjusted accordingly for the correct exposure
- On a sunny morning or afternoon – shoot against the sun, just like on the images above, and unless done intentionally, try to keep the direct sun rays from hitting the lens
- In reportage photography, or any other fast pace environment, we want to keep our shutter speed as fast as possible to “freeze” the subject, aperture then needs to be adjusted accordingly for the correct exposure
- As it gets darker, we may use much slower shutter speeds, and while shooting of tripod, we can show the “movement” of the moving subjects and objects
- On camera flash is typically used when there is not enough available light on your main subject – keeping the shutter speed slow, such as 1/15s – 1/5s or even slower, will allow the background to develop as well, while your main subject will not be affected by a slow shutter, as while in darkness, your subject is only being lit by the flash – usually with impulse of 1/1000s or shorter, which becomes your shutter speed for the main object
- Night street photography is also done on long shutter speeds, usually a few seconds and longer. You can achieve such long shutter speeds with a closed aperture of F16 or higher. Generally you should keep ISO at a low level, ISO 100 – 200, thus reducing the noise level to the lowest and allowing long exposures as well.
See you all soon at our future workshops and masterclasses!
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All the details for the Fall in Ontario Landscape Photography Masterclass have been finalized. Masterclass will be held on Saturday, October 8th, 2011 in Muskoka, Ontario, at multiple locations, led by one of the most prominent Ontario landscape and travel photographers Igor Laptev and yours truly. Masterclass will begin at sunrise and will end at sunset, for a total duration of approximately 14 hours.
Photography by: Igor Laptev
Fall in Ontario, is by far, the most beautiful time of the year! And what else could be more quintessentially Canadian than forests full of red maple leafs? Every Canadian photographer’s portfolio should include such shots, since we are extremely lucky to live in such unique geographic location where such amazing bright colours are possible.
This will be an unforgettable, educational and adventurous experience, a real treat for any landscape photographer. The group will travel to Muskoka, Ontario in two passenger vans, leaving Toronto at 3 A.M. to catch the sunrise, and then will travel to several most scenic Muskoka locations, finishing with sunset shots and coming back to Toronto around 9 P.M. We will shoot from amazing lookout points, catch fall colours reflected in the rapids and learn techniques of photographing the waterfalls.
The masterclass will be held in a very similar manner as all our workshops and masterclasses – with very detailed explanations and instructions of how to create great shots that will become centerpieces of your portfolio. We will share not only the secret locations, unknown even to most locals, but also many techniques that will help you take the landscape shots that you will absolutely be proud of!
Locations have been scouted very wisely taking into consideration the amount of equipment we have to carry. The group won’t have to do much walking - we will drive up to shooting locations as close as possible.
For this masterclass you will need:
- DSLR with a wide angle lens (14-24 or 12-24 and/or 17-35 and/or 24-70m)
- 70-200 or 70-300 is strongly recommended
- Polarizing filter
- Coking filter holder with ND graduated filter
- Remote control is strongly recommended
- Lots of storage space
- Tripod
- Comfortable hiking shoes
- Warm clothing
- Packed lunch
- Thermos with tea/coffee
Do not miss this incredible opportunity, as this masterclass can only be held once a year. There is a very short window of opportunity for the most vivid fall colours, literally only one week when colours are the best before the leafs fall down. The group is strictly limited to 12 students - 6 passengers in each van.
To register for this masterclass please follow this link: http://www.meetup.com/photoschool/events/33754612
Hope to see you there!
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Thank you all for attending Studio Potrait Light Workshop on Saturday! Special thanks to our beautiful model Alisse.
Brief recap of equipment used and things we learned and practiced:
- Impulse light source - Elinchrom self-contained 500 W strobes
- Chimera small and medium size softboxes
- Lastolight reflector
- Pocket Wizard remote flash trigger
- We have learned and practiced various classic portraiture schemes with one, one+reflector and two light sources
Equipment we have used can be purchased or rented in Vistek or Headshot Rentals in Toronto.
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I would like to thank all my students for attending yesterday’s Artistic Nude and Boudoir Photography Masterclass and creating a great atmosphere! Special thanks to my dear friend and comrade Katya Revenko for the wardrobe selection and help with visualization of the sets, our amazing model Annie for her patience and talent, and our wonderful makeup artist Michelle Calleja for making our beautiful model even more beautiful!
To be continued…
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I’d like to thank everyone who attended macro photography workshops. Weather wasn’t cooperating, but those who stayed despite the rain first time and returned for a repeat class were awarded with brief moments of ideal light for macro photography:
Brief recap of the things discussed during the workshop:
- Just like with most photography genres, the best light for macro photography as well is either during the morning or evening hours
- Focusing in manual mode provides more control. Focusing may be achieved either by using focusing ring or moving camera back and forth
- Aperture should be as closed or as high as possible. Macro shots have extremely low depth of field, high aperture will allow more planes to stay in focus
- When shooting of hands, shutter speed as fast as possible given the light conditions
- Tripods are great, but are only useful with static objects, in low wind conditions.
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I would like to thank all my students for attending the fashion workshop yesterday and, of course, our great team who made this shoot possible: our beautiful model Alana, our incredibly talented fashion designer and stylist Katya Revenko, and our amazing makeup artist and hair stylist Evgeny Loukyanenkov - you are the best!!!
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I would like to thank everyone who attended July 29th Studio Food Photography Workshop at Toronto Photography Workshops and Lessons meetup group! It was a great class.
food photography
Just a quick recap of was was discussed and practiced during the workshop:
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Generally for any type of macro or close-up photography aperture range could be anywhere from f 2.8 to f 11, depending on how much detail needs to be in focus
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For shots with single objects, focus generally needs to be on the front of the object, for shots with multiple objects, focus may vary
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Tripod is necessary for batch shooting, however, with shutter speeds over 1/50 s it is better to shoot of hand – this provides better opportunity to change angles, focal points, etc.
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After conducting first 4 workshops in Toronto Photography Workshops and Lessons meetup group I would like to ask everyone to participate in this poll to better understand the needs of the group and thus be able to organize the workshops more effectively.
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This post is a follow up to two workshop dedicated to on-camera flash photography. I would like to thank all students for who attended the meetup workshops 3 & 4 of Toronto Photography Workshops and Lessons group last week and yesterday. Also I would like to thank our model Olga for doing a great job posing for a group yesterday!
These two shots from yesterday were taken just before the sunset, at 400ISO, 1/160 : f2.8, no flash. 
This shot was taken with on-camera flash, in TTL mode with -3.0 compensation at ISO 400, 1/15 : f2.8.
In both classes we have discussed and practiced the following:
- How to test batteries in your flash
- How to compensate flash in TTL mode
- Ideal aperture for portrait photography
- Effect of the shutter speed on the model and the background
- White balance
- Main aspects of working with the model
- Nose : cheek bone ratio in portraits
- Ideal angles for shooting a portrait
Once again thank you all for being such a great group! I’m really looking forward to meeting you all soon in our next meetup photography workshops.
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I would like to announce to all my current and new students that I have finalized the date for nude photography workshop. Artistic Nude Photography Masterclass will take place on August 28th. It will be an editorial style nude bodoir photography masterclass.
At one point, most photographers are presented with an opportunity to work with a nude model, but only very few are really prepared for such projects. Even experienced photographers often admit that they don’t know what it takes to capture a truly artistic, provocative, erotic, yet still tasteful nude portrait.
Nude and boudoir photosessions are part of my daily work. These are usually privately commissioned photosessions, with models that, in many cases, have never posed nude in their life. And that, of course, is the biggest challenge - how do we, in a limited time, relax the model so she opens up and poses well? How do we portray only the complementary angles? Where is the fine line that separates artistic nudes from ordinary nude snapshots? Over the years I have learned quite a few secrets for taking a great looking nude and boudoir portraits – and in this workshop I will share some of this knowledge with you.
We will work with a beautiful model, who has some experience with nude photosessions, however, not a professional model. We will learn a number of poses, light schemes and rules that will help you achieve great looking nude portraits.
Please visit our photography meetup group to register and find out more details. Here are just a few examples of my nude photography works from the past:
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by Andrew Maidanik
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