Dragging the Shutter
with Bobbi Lane & Lee Varis
Balancing Flash & Ambient Light in Low Light Situations
Sat August 12th, 1-10pm
Hunt’s Photo, Melrose, MA
Recommended Prerequisite: Basic knowledge of cameras
Class Level: Beyond Basic
This one day workshop is a fun and creative class! Balancing strobe and ambient light is tricky but the results can be amazing. We use the flash to illuminate the subject, and slow the shutter speed (hence the term “dragging”) to pull in the background ambient light. Once you get the basic concept of how to set your flash and what camera settings to use, it’s easy and fun to experiment.
We first learn how to get the proper balance of exposure between the two light sources-flash and ambient- then we play by shaking or spinning the camera, zooming the lens, panning and more. The flash will light the subject and freeze any motion, and then moving the camera will blur the background in a variety of ways. We will have interesting models, and the City of Boston as our setting. This provides us a choice of shooting backgrounds, cityscapes and sky.
The class starts in the classroom at 1 pm with instruction and demos. We will work with the flash on both TTL and Manual and show how to configure the aperture and shutter to get the correct balance of exposure. The flash lights the subject and the ambient lights the background. Later in the afternoon we go to our Boston location and shoot with models from golden hour through the twilight.
Students must be familiar with their cameras and lenses. A medium telephoto lens is suggested. Strobes will be provided for the evening.
The basic outline for the day:
1 pm: Class overview, student intros, image presentation and shooting demos with reflectors and diffusers
4-5pm: Break for dinner- travel to location
5:30-9:30pm: Students photograph models in different situations using strobes and natural light.
9:30-10pm- Wrap up
Instructor Bios:
Bobbi Lane and Lee Varis
The Mistress of Light and The Sultan of Skin
The dynamic duo of photo-education, Bobbi & Lee, are partners in life as well as art. Together they bring two lifetimes of experience, along with enthusiasm and creative techniques to their fun filled workshops!
Lee, owner/founder of Varis PhotoMedia, is a photo-illustrator now working in the Boston area. He has been involved in commercial photography for over 35 years. He was an early adopter of digital technology, and currently works with photography and computer graphics to create images for use in advertising, commercial graphics and multimedia. His work has been featured on movie posters, video box covers, CD covers, and numerous brochures, catalogs and magazine articles. He is responsible for the moth on the “Silence of the Lambs” movie poster! His creative imaging has also been featured in National Geographic and Fortune magazines, as well as various trade publications. His book “Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing and Retouching Face and Bodies”, has been a best-seller for 10 years. He is a Master of all things Adobe, and has been an Adobe Community Professional and Influencer since 2008.
Bobbi is an award-winning commercial photographer specializing in creative portraits on location and in studio. Her multi-faceted approach to photography incorporates over 35 years of technical experience with innovative artistic interpretation. She primarily shoots people on location for editorial, corporate, and advertising accounts, as well as photographing “real people” and travel for stock. As a dedicated photo educator, she brings insight and enthusiasm to her students in workshops held worldwide. She is known for teaching lighting techniques for portraits, both natural and flash, and also for leading photo travel workshops. As an author she has written two books, a wide variety of magazine articles, has recorded multiple videos on lighting, portraiture and posing, and teaches online classes. At APA National’s 25th Anniversary, Bobbi was honored with a Special Recognition Award for Education.
Photo District News also named Bobbi one of 13 of the Top Workshop Instructors.
Their websites are:
www.bobbilane.com www.varis.com