Photography Workshops
Presented by Glenn Springer,
with Les Palenik and the assistance of a cast of other characters
May 7/8, 2011

Photographs on this website are some examples of Glenn's work. All images on this page are copyrighted
and are used with permission. Click any image to enlarge

Two workshops — you choose your level!

What's the best way to improve your photographic skills?

Get out and shoot pictures. Oh, you could take classroom courses, watch webcasts, read books and go to galleries to view the works of other photographers, but the absolute best way to get better at photography (and pretty well everything else, I'll wager), is to "Just Do It" (sorry Nike. If using that phrase bothers you, I'm sorry. Dear readers, go out and buy some Nike shoes. OK?)

Now if you blindly go out and rattle off a few hundred frames, well you may learn something, but not as much as if you were doing it in the company of other photographers, and getting some guidance at the same time! That's what we're offering.

These are the same words we used to introduce the fall workshop last September. It's still true. But we've found that there are two different levels of photographers interested in participating, so we're splitting the workshop into two parts: one for relative beginners and novice shooters, and one for more advanced people who want to learn some new techniques.

Here's the deal in a nutshell: we're offering two full day workshops on the weekend of May 7-8 to a limited number of participants, up in the Highlands. They are both hands-on sessions and they're going to run rain or shine.

Workshop Descriptions

Basic Digital Photography

This workshop is aimed at the relatively new owner of a digital SLR who wants to improve the quality of images he or she is producing. By the end of the workshop participants will be more comfortable with the working of his or her camera and the concepts of digital photography, so that they can start concentrating on the creative instead of the mechanical.

The workshop begins with an interactive session that looks at the relationship between the three cornerstones of the exposure triangle, ISO, aperture and shutter speed. We’ll look at the basics of light metering and the histogram, focusing and depth of field. After some practical exercises, we will look at lighting and then go out to capture some images.

After review of these images, we will add other topics such as storytelling and some basic rules of composition. The bulk of the course will be in the field, shooting different situations. Again, we’ll look at several images from each participant with a view to methods of improving the image.

Participants must have a digital SLR camera with one or more lenses, a tripod, enough memory cards and batteries. Before the weekend, they are expected to have read their owner’s manual from cover to cover and will be familiar with the location of all the major controls and important menu items. Participants must bring their manuals with them.

Cost of this workshop is $100 for the full day Saturday.
Continued instruction on the Sunday is an additional $50 if we have an instructor available. Participants are welcome to stay and free shoot on Saturday evening and Sunday. We’ll point them at some interesting venues.

Advanced Digital Photography concepts

This workshop will run on the Sunday.
To participate in this session, you need to be very comfortable with your camera and the basic concepts mentioned above. We will assume that participants have these skills so that we can focus on other concepts.
The primary focus of this workshop will be the creation of HDR-ready images. Participants are welcome to come up and free shoot on the Saturday. We suggest a focus on trilliums and shooting moving water. We have some good sunset venues available nearby, as well as dawn spots for Sunday morning.

There are 5 steps in the creation of an HDR image: visualization, exposure, image merging, toning and finishing. The practical portion of this workshop will focus on the first two steps. What makes a good HDR subject, and how to expose for it. Later we’ll take some sample images back in to the computer and run through the other 3 steps using different software packages.

Participants may want to bring laptops with HDR rendering software installed. Then they can work on their own images and hopefully we can spend some time reviewing some of these images and learning from each other. Appropriate software is Photoshop CS5, Photomatix Pro 4 and Nik HDR Efx Pro. All of these are available as free time-limited trials, so if that’s what you’re doing, make sure it’s installed and working, and still has some time left on the clock.

At a minimum, you will need a digital SLR with appropriate lens(es) and a tripod. Good things to have for free-shooting outdoors would be a cable release, neutral density filters for moving water, a shoe-mounted flash that you can trigger remotely with a diffuser and perhaps a reflector for fill-lighting.

Cost of this workshop is $100 for the day.

Venues:
For the beginners workshop, we will start around the Red Umbrella Road area where there’s a variety of subjects and learning experiences available. Later, for those who wish, there’s a wonderful property in Carnarvon behind the Mill Pond restaurant (where we’ll have lunch) which the owner has graciously allowed us to use. There are several sunset and sunrise locations in the area if we’re lucky enough to get good light. Also, the woods will be filled with trilliums which make marvelous shooting subjects. There are several fast water venues in the area, my absolute favourite being the Minden Wild Water Preserve where, weather dependent, we may find racing kayaks on the water. There’s a small indoor tabletop studio setup in my garage with strobe lighting available.

Advanced photographers will start their HDR shooting on my property and can progress to field and lakeside venues if they wish. Again, there’s an old house on the Mill Pond property and if my neighbor is up that weekend, we can probably do some architectural shots inside and outside his house. The Red Umbrella Inn also gave us permission to shoot in and around their property. Flash fill exercises can be in forested areas, especially where trilliums abound.

Accommodations and meals:
If you are staying overnight, there are several options in the area, one of which is the Red Umbrella Inn, directly across the road. Their restaurant has improved a lot this year and their Sunday buffet brunch is outstanding if you have time. Contact the Inn directly via their website at www.redumbrellainn.com or by phone at:705 489 2462. Be sure to ask for Michael or Zee and tell them you’re with the workshop, in order to get the preferred rates.

Registration:
Please use the registration form on the next page to register for either workshop. Credit card payments are processed through PayPal – you don’t need a PayPal account to use it. You will receive more detailed instructions after you register.

Click here to contact us.

This workshop is being facilitated by Glenn Springer, the principal owner of photography.to. Click here to visit his personal website or click here to send him an email.
Take a moment to visit "The FACzen Image", Glenn's Journal Blog, or "FACzen Tech Tips", his Technical Blog.

These workshops are held just North of Minden, ON on Highway 35 in the Haliburton Highlands. It's about a 2½ hour drive from Toronto. Local accommodations and meal arrangements are available but we just provide the workshops: the rest is up to you. We have special rates at the Red Umbrella Inn, so please contact us for more information.