My first Studio Portrait Photo shoot (with Sara & Deep)

Last Saturday was my first time - shooting in a Studio (what were you thinking...?).

I chanced upon a class for Portrait Studio Lighting conducted by RS Digital Station Melaka. Actually, this was the 2nd intake for the class, as the first one had already been successfully conducted in early May. Each class was made up of 8 photographers max, to avoid overcrowding and to allow for ample time for each one to shoot the models.

Upon arriving, I saw two familiar cars belonging to my Civic buddies, Hanne and Nick. OK, at least I'd have some friends in today's class.

The class was conducted by Mr Heng Ching Chuan, who seems like a really experienced photographer and is quite friendly too. Most importantly, the class was conducted in a mixture of English, BM and Chinese - to suit the wide range of audience.

We started off with some brief slides on the various flash positioning techniques using studio flash. Now this isn't your average "hot-shot mounted flash bounced off the ceiling with diffuser" technique. We had the hands-on opportunity to dismantle and fix up the studio flash units and backdrops. Didn't ask how much one of those cost, but I'm sure each flash was really really expensive.

By the way, time to introduce the models - There was Sara, local Chinese lady and then there was Deep, from India. There was supposed to be a third model, but unfortunately she was ill on that day. No matter, as Sara and Deep were very friendly, experienced models who could offer a variety of poses should the photographer lack ideas or experience (like me, for instance....). Sara had on a sweet pink outfit, that she later swapped for a black dress when we put up the a pink backdrop. Deep had a good macho physique, but was really quite friendly despite some of the "killer" look in his photos.

Heng and Hoe (also working at RS Digital) were very helpful, giving pointers on how to position the studio lights (main, fill flash, barn door snoot) to achieve various photographic effects. The flash units were triggered wirelessly using a remote trigger that was mounted on the hot shoe. Good thing was that it worked regardless of DSLR model, whether Canon, Nikon or others.

I brought along my S5 Pro, with my D200 in the bag as backup in case my sole battery was depleted. Lens-wise, I was a little under-prepared with my 50mm F1.8 and 17-50mm F2.8 lens only (and the other guys were shooting with 80-200 type zooms). Well, in the studio, you'll quickly learn that besides the unflattering barrel distortion, wide angle lenses also include much more of the background that you'd like to see (like the air con, light stand, top of the backdrop, etc.). OK, lesson learned....

I did not shoot RAW at first, as my 1 GB CF card would only store 30+ shots (A RAW file from the S5 Pro at ISO100 is roughly 25Mb). However, towards the later half of the class, I noticed that we don't exactly shoot that many photos in rapid succession, since we spent time after each shot reviewing the results on LCD, repositioning the lights, communicating with the models on poses, etc..

Deep and Sara took turns in front of the camera, and at times, both were posing together. Now, these sessions are not all girl models only - in fact, it was good to have Deep on the set to add variety to the mix. Deep was a practitioner of Yoga, so he was able to pose in some yoga stances, like the Sun Salutation, etc..

Throughout the 4 hour session, light refreshments were provided at the side table, with hot water in the pantry for a steaming hot cup of coffee or mee-in-a-cup.

After the last shots were fired, we retreated back to the classroom behind the curtains for a post-mortem session. Each photographer could volunteer to have his photos displayed up on the wall via projector for some comments and constructive criticism. The models were on the scene too, and Heng gave some tips and pointers on how some poses could be improved, positioning of the head, lighting, etc..

Well, in the end, I'm really happy to have attended this class. A good return on my RM150. There's already a plan for another photography class - this time it would be outdoors. And you can bet I'll be signing up for it soon! :)

Check out some of the photos in my small gallery on Multiply [HERE]