available light portraits – after dark! (basic version)
photography walk: 2 hours
This is an alternate version of my “Available Light Portraits – After Dark!” session. It uses an alternate location and allows a larger group of people, with greater scope for experimentation by participants. As I do less teaching in this session, it is intended as a taster for the topics covered in the full session.
The walk moves between a few different light sources where I demonstrate how they can be used to light portraits. Participants then follow my example to take photos of each other. In the second half of the session, I then allow the group to move around independently and find their own shots with the nearby light sources. I supervise and provide technical or lighting assistance as required. There is no model provided for this session.
As with the full session, this walk emphasises knowledge over equipment: you don’t need lots of fancy lighting gear to take well-lit photos.
This walk is best suited to photographers who are already comfortable with their camera controls and have a working knowledge of the concepts of aperture, shutter speed, film speed (ISO) and white balance.
The recommended equipment for the walk is a camera capable of at least ISO 3200, an appropriate portrait lens (eg. at least 70mm or longer) with a reasonably wide aperture (eg. f/2.8 or wider). If you have a cropped sensor camera combined with a 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, that’s ideal. Tripods should be left at home as they are usually impractical on this walk. You will not require a flash or any other lighting equipment.
We meet after dark at Southern Cross Station and return to finish at the same location 2 hours later. Each walk is limited to 10 photographers. The fee for each participant is $25.
This walk is scheduled and organised through my group on the meetup.com website.
previous students said:
“Opens your eyes to the quality of light even from available light at night, and increases your sensitivity to shadows and highlights on the model. Great value workshop. Looking forward to attending others in this series.” – Jason, October 2017
“Another great and informative session with David. I took so much away from last nights outing.” – Mick, October 2017
“Excellent workshop” – Varun, October 2017
“Useful tips. Exceeded my expectations!” – Luke, August 2015
“I am glad I went as I learnt a new way to view and use available light. David is an excellent communicator and got his message across easily. Perfect location for what we needed to do and easy to get to on public transport. I highly recommend this Meet-up with David.” – Owen, August 2015
“Thanks David for sharing your expertise and thank you to the male models who froze in the name of photography. Great fun.” – Annie, July 2015
“Fabulous – loaded with information, great ideas- I learned heaps” – Judi, July 2015
“It was amazing session and great lessons with David. Thank you.” – Hamid, June 2015
“Just attended David’s night portrait by available light class a couple of days ago and I haven’t stopped talking about how worthwhile the session was. The best part was David’s friendly nature which made me feel at ease straightaway. He is very knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. Will definitely come back for more classes :)” – Aviti, May 2015
“I learned heaps again thank you! Great value for money and I have come away with a new insight into night portraiture.” – Sarah, May 2015
“Thanks it was informative” – Sameer, May 2015
“Thanks David, very informative. Enjoyed it a lot.” – Ellen, April 2015