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Checking in: Halfway Through Day Two

Posted September 2, 2010 by Nicole S. Young | Comments (2)

By Rich Legg

I’m halfway through my second full day here at Photoshop World. After spending yesterday in classes focused on image editing, this morning has been all about photographic lighting. With over half the classes left to go, I have already gained enough new knowledge for the week to be a success.

After Wednesday’s opening ceremony, I selected my classes with a goal of improving my image editing skills. My first pick was “My Favorite Photoshop CS5 Tips & Techniques” by Russell Brown and Calvin Hollywood. Russell and Calvin enjoyed a playful give-and-take as they took turns showing their favorite tips. The very first tip that Calvin demonstrated, a highlight/lowlight layer in Photoshop, nearly made the whole trip worthwhile for me. It is something that will immediately go into my editing workflow.

Since this is my first time attending classes at Photoshop World, attending a Scott Kelby presentation was as absolute must. With this in mind, I opted for Scott’s “Down & Dirty Tricks 2010″ to close out the morning. Having read a few of Scott’s books and knowing his humorous style, I knew what to expect. He blew my expectations away. His funny and engaging way of presenting made the hour fly by as he went through the tricks.

Thursday has been all about lighting and Joe McNally. The morning begun with a two-part presentation that took the students from one small on-camera strobe through an elaborate multi-light studio setup. Joe’s energy, enthusiastic and entertaining style, and a team of highly proficient assistants made for a incredibly educational two-hours of instruction. I’ve always heard about Joe’s use of small-lights and seeing him demonstrate them in person was very cool.

After the lighting sessions I opted to finish my morning McNally Hat Trick by attending his “Life on Location: Survival Tips for Shooters” session. The class was a casual discussion of Joe answering questions and sharing from his experience of 30+ years of photographing on location. Just like his earlier lighting class, he was funny and entertaining while providing extremely valuable information.

I can’t put a price tag on the value of training I’ve received so far. Being a photographer that spends nearly all my time shooting stock commercial images, I will be able to translate the material into useful skills to improve my work.

Rich Legg is a commercial photographer based in Draper Utah specializing in stock photography.  He is also a photography instructor and founding member of Photowalking Utah. You can follow him on his blog (leggnet.com) and also on Twitter (@leggnet).
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