Here is an image that I took a few years ago when I was still photographing weddings. You can see from this image that lighting plays a super important role in this image. Without the lights from the interior of the building, it would just be a black structure with no definition. Also, my assistant is behind the bride and groom holding one of my portable lights to create more of a silhouette in the image. Without that light, her veil wouldn’t glow and the outline of the bride and groom wouldn’t separate from the building in the background.

It’s almost ridiculous how much lighting plays a role in creating images. Photographers see light everywhere, and we’ve been trained to use available light and artificial light to create a variety of effects in our images to enhance the mood of the image.

I can’t believe that the lighting workshop is just a couple weeks away! We’ve got some exciting stuff to talk about on February 23rd!

Cheers,

Sara

After a really great first workshop on basic camera skills last week, we’re working on our February workshop all about lighting.

One of the things we’ll be talking about is how lighting can create mood and emotion in images. As photographers, we see light everywhere, and I love to analyze the lighting in tv shows and movies to see how the lighting can really create an impact in a positive or negative way.

The producers of Modern Family have a very different lighting structure than the producers of LOST. In each show, it’s incredibly interesting to me how the lighting essentially ends up being another character of the show. The lightheartedness theme in Modern Family would never work with the super dramatic lighting from LOST.

Lighting is such an important part of photography that it truly defines our specific styles and represents what emotions we are promoting with our images. Look for the light next time you’re watching tv with your family. It’s something people rarely think about, but it’s always there….even in computer generated cartoons!

Cheers,

Sara

A studio full of eager photography students! This is the moment it felt suddenly and delightfully real.

We had such fun last night sharing about ourselves, our artwork and our passion for photography. In this first class, Sara Knight taught all aspects of basic camera skills and exposure, including the all important (often confusing) relationship between ISO, shutter speed and aperture. We are so grateful that everyone was excited to learn and asked such fantastic questions throughout the evening. Our goal from the very beginning was to create a friendly environment where all questions are welcome and thoughtful conversations about photography are encouraged…and that’s exactly what we experienced last night.

As we move on to next month’s class on lighting, we will continue to build on the foundation of basic camera skills. However, we want to be sure that you understand how all these elements relate to one another, so we welcome questions about topics covered in former classes.

As of now, next month’s workshop is full – but be sure to email us at ushootphotography@gmail.com to add your name to our waiting list. We do receive last minute cancellations and will be sure to contact you if a seat opens up!

Thanks to each and every one of you who attended last night – we are so glad to know you.

Best,
Amy

The overall mission of the workshops is to provide people with information on how to take better images. If you have some idea of how your camera works, that’s great, but if not, we’re planning to help you out with that. Our first workshop this Wednesday night will go over the basic functions of the camera, what those functions do, and how you can use them to your advantage when you’re taking images of your children in your back yard or while you’re on vacation in the Galapagos.

Also, it truly doesn’t matter if you have a high-end professional SLR camera or if you mostly take images on your iPhone…the same rules apply. Please don’t feel the need to go out and purchase an expensive camera just for the workshop!! Our plan is to teach you that it’s incredibly possible to get great images no matter how sophisticated the equipment is.

I have had a few professional photographers ask me about the workshops, and in all honesty, professionals will likely know all of the information we’ll be providing so it would probably end up being a waste of time for them. The last thing I want to do is waste the time of a professional photographer because I know we have so little of it!!

Please come to the workshop with an open mind and a willingness to learn. We promise to pass along all that we know in a fun way that makes sense. Photography terminology can be confusing so we plan to provide some clarity (there’s that word again!) into our little world of fun things like ISO, aperture, and shutter speed….those things just make me giddy!! Looking forward to Wednesday night!

Cheers,

Sara

I just confirmed some exciting news about our first workshop in January! After we fill your brains full of awesome photography knowledge, Casabella Accent and Design will be filling our bellies with wine and cheese!! Casabella is located just a few short steps away from Studio K Photography where the workshop will be held. Anyone is welcome to stay and hang out with us at Casabella to answer questions or just get to know us a little better. A huge thank you to Lori at Casabella for handling this for us. If you’re looking for interior design help or a few new pieces of furniture, be sure to check them out!

Casabella Accents and Design Website

Cheers from Sara!!

But since our first workshop is all about the basics of camera skills, I wanted to give you a little sneak peak into what we’ll be talking about. One of the things we’ll discuss during the first class is depth of field….I know…super sexy and glamourous stuff right? I promise we’ll get to the part where photographers get to party like rockstars 80% of the time (totally not true!), but we have to start somewhere.

We’ll be discussing exactly what depth of field is, how you can use it to your advantage, and what complementary camera functions work to make it successful in your images. For now, I just want to show you the difference depth of field can make in your images. Keep in mind that I moved nothing in the image. All I did was change my camera settings. Oh, and you should probably know that I have little kids, which is why my subject for this project was Lightning McQueen and his friends!

Cheers,

Sara

I created USHOOT as a way for local photographers to share their knowledge to not only give back to the people who enable us to do what we do, but also as a way for us to share our knowledge with each other. We currently have five local photographers who will be at each workshop teaching our strongest skills to help you better understand everything from shutter speeds to sunset portraits.

USHOOT Photography Workshops are free and everyone is welcome to attend. We’re a very relaxed and groovy bunch so if you have questions about your camera, bring it along, but if you’d rather just hang out and listen, that’s cool too.

Browse through the site to find out more information about upcoming workshops, register for a class, meet the instructors, and find out what we are all about. Look for the CONTACT button to send an email and ask questions, and for more info about the workshops, check out the USHOOT CLASSES section. Oh, and just because we have a limited amount of space at the studio, click the REGISTER button to make sure we get your name on the list! It should be a fun ride teaching these workshops in 2012. We hope you come along!

Cheers,

Sara Knight