Photo Course: Preparations for the Artis Zoo Shoot

I attended another photo shoot evening. The topics were:

• Preparations for the Artis Zoo shoot
• Theory of flash photography
• Presentation of portrait photographers

Preparations for the Artis Zoo
The entire class will visit the Artis Zoo in Amsterdam. We will try out the various flash techniques explained in this class.

This is the list of things to bring:

• SLR camera
• memory cards
• tripod
• extra batteries for the camera and flash. Don’t forget to charge them!

I will bring the following stuff:

• Gorillapod SLR-Zoom
• Stofen Omnibounce cap
• Canon 580 EXII
• Canon Off Shoe Cord 2

Theory of flash photography
The teacher gave a short introduction on the theory of flash photography. Things like guide number, how to obtain a correct exposure, relation between guide number and ISO, balancing ambient light and flash light were briefly outlined. Much of the theory can be read on the web pages mentioned in my previous blog post ‘ Flash Technique’.

We will experiment with flash pictures made in the full Auto (P), Tv or Av mode. Full Auto (P) mode tries to expose the subject correctly while maintaining a high shutter speed. The high shutter speed minimizes the risk of a blurry picture but your background can become dark of even black. In Tv or Av mode, the camera tries to obtain a correct exposure for the background and uses the flash to light the subject correctly.

We studied photos made with flash from the following photographers:

Carl de Keyzer

Martin Parr

Ogle Winston Link

Presentation of portrait photographers
A student prepared a short presentation of portrait photographers:

• Stephen Vanfleteren
• Erwin Olaf (Fall series). The Dutch Television programma ‘ Het Uur van de Wolf’ made a documentary of Erwin. A short clip can be seen on http://download.omroep.nl/nps/uurvandewolf/erwin.html