Photography Studio Workshop Notes

All the photography that will be done, will be done behind a white backdrop which will help to emphasise the different aspects of the models. The main rules of the studio include no food and no wet shoes. This is to keep the room from getting dirty. When taking pictures, the models should stand roughly 5 feet from the backdrop. The main lights should also be off when shooting.

The main light used is a flash head and this provides most of the light to the model. The light can be moved around into all positions within reason. The lights need a softbox as of how bright the light can get although the lights don't get hot enough to effect make up. There are 8 buttons on the main two lights: the top middle buttons control the exposure of the light, the bottom left turns it on and off and the bottom right tests if or how the light will work with a short flash of light. Connected to the light is a transmitter called the Godox remote snoot which communicates to all the other lights and the camera to flash when the picture is taken. When you finish taking pictures, the main switch should be set to the middle of the device.

The lighting setup that I will be using is 3 point lighting. This will include the main light having 4.0 exposure, the fill light having 3.0 exposure and the hair  light with 1.5 exposure. This is also called the 3 to 1 lighting ratio. The fill light is used to knock out all of the shadow from the main light and the hair light is used to define the model as separate from the image and also the define the hairline.

The cameras that are used are DSLRs and the model in particular used is the Nikon D7000. It can take pictures in 16 million mega pixels and has 2 memory card slot. When using the camera, the pictures taken need to be transferred to a computer otherwise they will be deleted. The two modes which we need to know on the camera are "A" and "S"; "A" stands for aperture and is used to focus on a given subject in a picture with depth of field; "S" stands for stutter and is used to capture action shots or general shots with movement. The lens works between 18mm and 105mm offering plenty of different distance compositions. There are also modes for the lens which are A for automatic focus and M for manual focus.

The camera must be held with the right hand on top of the shutter and the left hand under the lens, supporting the camera. To set the colour of the picture before you take it, you go on the menu to set picture control and choose either monochrome or standard. Reflective discs can be used to emphasise the lighting: the gold disc and the white disc can help get rid of shadow of the bottom of the face but only the gold disc can make the models face glow.