March 2010
The GoggleWorks in Reading Pennsylvania is billed as “a center for the arts” and is housed in a structure formally utilized by a safety equipment manufacturer hence the name. The center opened in 2005 and has a number of different artisans represented.
We periodically get a newsletter offering workshops and classes for various crafts and saw an offering titled “Beyond the Basics: Digital Photography”. This is a four session hands on workshop that is based in the local area. We refer to this as a low stress workshop because each session is short and doesn’t involve driving from place to place all day from dawn to dusk.
The workshop leader was Heidi Reuter, a local professional photographer who provides a variety of photographic services. She specializes in portraiture, wedding, commercial, food and editorial but also refers to herself as a “Jack of all Trades”. She can travel, will travel, and loves to travel where ever editorial freelance work will take her. In addition, she teaches photography at a local college and at the GoggleWorks.
Each of the four sessions drove participants to concentrate on a specific topic. The biggest obstacle we face as amateurs is learning to see the detail around us. This workshop helped us zero in on specific aspects of what was in front of our cameras…..
Session #1: The topic here was “Depth of Field”. There is a range of clarity in front of and behind the point of focus. The size of this range can be adjusted by playing with the f-stop (or lens opening). Higher f-stop values (smaller openings) will generally increase the range while lower f-stop values (bigger openings) will decrease the range. Increasing or decreasing the focus range is a “photographers choice” depending on the desired outcome. Blurring the background when taking a portrait requires a small range while getting a clear foreground and background in a scenic requires a larger focus range. Here are some examples from the workshop to illustrate the point…..
Session #2: Angles and Shadows. For this session we met on the mountain behind Reading PA at the Pagoda. The Pagoda is a Reading landmark built in 1908 following in the style of a “Battle Castle of the Shogun Dynasty of Japan”. As you might expect, the design is loaded with angles and shadows. As photographers we’re taken by the overall structure but the purpose of this exercise was to zero in on the often overlooked detail. Here are some of our images to illustrate….
Session #3: Portraiture and studio lighting. For this session Heidi had four stations set up with various types of lighting. Each station provided a different challenge when it came to lighting position and color. Shown here are results we captured at two of the stations. Each of these images has a notation describing the lighting encountered at the station.
Session #4: Dragging the shutter. This session was rained out and rescheduled to a date we couldn't make. We were at sea on a cruise and made an effort to keep the sadness over missing this session from ruining our vacation. J
NOTE: Clicking on some of these images will take you to our flickr site where you will find additional details and camera information.
Images taken with a Nikon D60 are Kathy's. Nikon D300 are Joe's.
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