What a Great Week!

We finished the Best of Lepp course on Friday. Continuing from the previous post, we started Wednesday with a location model shoot. The weather cooperated and provided us with beautiful soft light and cool temperatures. The shoot focused on lighting and flash. In addition, this was the first time many students shot models. The interaction between photographer and model is tremendously important to the final image impact. After some quick coaching, the class gave some basic direction and the models took it from there.

We spent about three hours with the models experimenting with different techniques. Although the models wore bright colors some of the best shots were taken with our infrared cameras. Great shoot!

The next few hours allowed the class to catalog and edit the shoot using either Photoshop Lightroom or the Bridge/Photoshop combo.

Mid-afternoon we were off again to the Los Osos Oaks. The small nature preserve is filled with old oak trees covered in Spanish moss. The dramatic, filtered light makes for tremendous images. George used this location to cover high dynamic range (HDR) shots.

After we captured the oaks, we took it all back to the lab for processing in either Photoshop or Photomatix Pro (provided by HDRSoft.)

Oaks with HDR. Artsy effect from Photomatix Pro.Thursday was devoted to digital darkroom work and printing until about noon. After lunch we were off again to shoot agility dogs in action. George uses the dogs to teach any and all action photography. If you can capture the dogs you can capture race cars or sports.

All day Friday was digital darkroom and printing. We printed everything from contact sheets to four foot long panoramas. Thanks again to Epson for supporting our print efforts. Espon helps us so we can ensure you learn how to print here. That way when you get home you can produce an effective print while more efficiently using your inks and media.

Thanks to all for a great week. We're looking forward to George's next class in January.