DSLR Class 15th April

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Stephen Jones

Overcast day with a little rain set the scene at Beenleigh Historical Village. The result is light that makes great portraits. We only used reflectors and natural light. Every student had success in their cameras. Every student went home with great portrait images in their cameras.
We used the original Beenleigh School House, the railway Station, the Post Office, another old School Room and the Church. The class was 16 students, 3 Trainers and 3 models and mother nature gave us fabulous light.

Night Masterclass 4th April

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Stephen Jones

Fine weather for our students with nearly clear skies for great night photography. We had 6 Trainers led by Vince and myself and 19 students for our 21st Night Masterclass. Students, please send me images and post comments. – cheers Stephen

CLICK on the class photo above to see it bigger. If you do not know how I captured subject and background in one image, then you need to attend our Night Masterclass. I tweaked vibrance and saturation a bit in Lightroom and resized in Photoshop and everything else was in Camera. Gallery of some of the images taken on the night. Students please send me more images.

Night Masterclass 21st March

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Stephen Jones

A little bit of rain did not dampen the spirits of our eager students, models, trainers and assistants. This was our 20th Night Masterclass and as usual there was great photography captured in the cameras of our students. We did tungsten light, long exposure flash, zoom flash and couple posing. Students from this class, please send me images and post comments. – cheers Stephen

DSLR CLass 17th March

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Stephen Jones

The classroom part of the Training Masterclass was led by Vince. We had 24 students, 6 Trainers and 3 Models. After about 80 minutes of Digital SLR 101, we broke for a coffee, and after a short break we started taking photographs with our models. The day was overcast and with a bit of light rain and this gave us beautiful ambient light for portrait shooting. The Training team were Vince, Stephen, Peter, John, Tara and Johnathon. The models were Adrianna, Ally and Lucy. It would seem that Johnathon from Brisbane Camera House knows the menu system of every single digital camera ever manufactured so it was great to have him on board as a Trainer. Digital camera menus not only vary from brand to brand but from model to model. Phototrainers pride ourselves on being able to teach our students to use what ever camera they have in their camera bag. You need to have a Digital SLR or Hybrid Camera ie can be operated in manual mode. One of the reasons we do this class at the Beenleigh Historical Village is the myriad of backgrounds and the endless number of buildings available to us if we do strike rain. Beenleigh Historical Village is right at Exit 35 off the Gold Coast Highway so it is easy to get to from Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
There was plenty of one on one time with a 4 : 1 Student Trainer ratio. If you were a student in the Masterclass please post a comment below and send images to me in the uploader. I will photoshop them before uploading to the web. I saw some great images on various student cameras so please send them to me – another great class, cheers, Stephen

Night Masterclass 29th Feb

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Stephen Jones

20 eager Photography Students in the park on dusk with 2 Trainers and 4 Assistant Trainers and the evening sky was great. The success of any class is the positive feedback we get at the end of the class. So many of the students way exceeded their highest expectations. I saw a number of students yell excitedly at their viewing screens.

Lighting Masterclass Feb 25th

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Stephen Jones

This class was about studio lights, led lights and using natural light indoors. Probably just as well as it rained most of the day. However we used the soft gentle rainy natural light as a window light and shot some amazing portraits. We used a set of lights from Brisbane Camera House that cost under $500 for a set of three lights. The results speak for themselves.

Toowoomba 21st Feb 2012

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Stephen Jones

This was our 2nd Night Masterclass with Toowoomba’s Owen’s Camera House. The hard part to organize with a class is the models but we ended up with 8 models. The threatened rain held off and with 2 Trainers, 6 Assistant Trainers, 1 Harley Davidson and 19 Students, we had a very successful Masterclass teaching Portraits of the Night.

Basic DSLR 19th Feb 2012

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Stephen Jones

One of best advantages of using Beenleigh Historical Village as our Basic DSLR venue, is that there are so many buildings and nooks and areas that make great portrait backgrounds. No two classes are ever the same. Caroline and Katelyn were our models. Can the students from this class please send me images to put up on this blog post.

Night Masterclass 15th Feb

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Stephen Jones

Marg brought along her Honda and with our models Katelyn and Amanda and fine weather, we had another great teaching night. Our night Masterclass is our most successful as it allows our students to go home with great night photography in their cameras. The secret of night photography is not only having a good DSLR camera body but also having a strong sturdy tripod. I want a tripod that comes up to my eye level and still had more extension in reserve. At this height, the tripod must be rigid. Pan and tilt heads to me are useless and I prefer to have a good ball and socket head or a strong pistol grip.

DSLR Masterclass 21st Jan

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Stephen Jones

With Ayton, Jacob, Rowan and baby Kaiden, we had our 4 male models for the afternoon. Topless dad with a naked baby is always a great shoot. Back & White images lit by door light from the side gives you strong portraiture. Kaiden was a great model for the students and did not disgrace himself. I wish that was the case every time we have a baby in the studio. This was the first time model gig for Jacob and he did a great job. All our classes not only have 2 Trainers but also have a couple of Assistant Trainers to give you, the student, the one on one time to the max.