Child Portrait

Riana sent me this portrait she made of her daughter, Annabelle. She explained at the workshop how she got Annabelle to sit on the table for a photograph in a playful manner.

A child can be a challenging subject! Lots of energy to capture in very little time. The trick is to make it as much fun as possible...

Great work Riana! Mission accomplished!

Flash!

We spoke about this flash unit on Saterday. I had my prices wrong. This Speedlite 430 EX is curretly selling for R 2 600 in Cape Town. A good price for a great piece of equipment!

A Workshop for AMATEURS?

After a week of assignments and corresponding via e-mails, we met for a wonderful critique session on Saturday!

With no doubt, we all decided that the best image produced during the workshop came from Marguerite. After sending me a few options on this silhouette, her daughter told her to submit this one as she thought it to be the strongest. This shows us how important a second opinion is when editing your pictures. After all, we make these images for others to enjoy!

I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of every one's images... Go forth my fellow 'Painters of Light' and capture the essence of life!

A Seascape?

Living in Town, Cherene asked if she can do a landscape at the beach. As long as nature is the theme of the picture, I have absolutely no problem with that!




She chose an extremely gray day for this assignment, but it added a sense of mystery, thus a successful attempt!





Cherene, your horizon is slightly skew. I've seen this in many pics I've received over the last few days. Please guys, be careful! This image also tends to be heavier on the left. Balance in a landscape/seascape is crucial. The success of this image lies in the way the lines of the rocks draws the viewer's eye into the image. Good!





Let's see if I can make this image a bit stronger in Photoshop...








So what did I do? I liked the reflection on the right, so I left it as it were. Somehow it balances out the rocks on the left. I cropped out the heavy rock at the top left. It could have worked great if there were another heavy area on the right. With the cropping I also fixed the skew horizon, took out the 'burnt out' sun and darkened the clouds to make them a feature of the seascape... That's it!

Well done Cherene!

Pooch Silhouette

Cool, the first day of the workshop is done, and the images are starting to come in.

Lucy sent me a few pix she took just after the workshop. I picked the strongest one to post on the blog.

She used the 'Rule of 'Thirds' very well. Good exposure with emphasis on the outside to portray a feeling of longing. The skew lines are slightly disturbing, but otherwise a great idea for a silhouette!

I worked a little on the image to add a bit of punch to an already lovely storytelling image!

Well done Lucy!

My first entry to our brand new blog spot... Exciting stuff! The purpose of this blog spot is to create a platform for participants of my workshops to communicate all things photographic!

With only a few days to our Workshop at the Breytenbach Centre in Wellington, I'm including a short list of things you should look at before the workshop. This will give you an advantage to better understand the more technical info as we get started.

Use your camera manual to find them. You don't have to know the functions of these settings, just know where they are! I can also help if you get lost between the pages.

• Power - On/Off


• Zoom - In/Out


• Flash - On/Off


• ISO Settings - 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, etc.


• Image Size - Large, Medium, Small


• Shooting Modes - Manual/Automatic


• Creative Modes - Sepia/B&W (if applicable)

Cool! See you soon!