Mastering Manual Course - Recap

What an incredible time we had at the inaugural Mastering Manual course this past weekend. I'm so grateful to my students who brought so much enthusiasm and energy to the class. They made me so proud because EVERYONE was shooting in manual mode by the end of our time together!

We began the course with a candid conversation about the WHY behind our photographs. I challenged the attendees to give care and consideration to the photographic legacy they want to leave behind for their family and loved ones. We then moved into a lecture segment where we covered the basics of exposure - aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Attendees learned how to use their light meters to predict exposure and practiced taking photos of some flower arrangements on the table. I had students break into two teams depending on the type of camera they owned; the Canon and Nikon users were able to help and encourage one another in learning basic settings on their cameras.

After a brief break with some delicious refreshments, we continued our lecture portion to discuss topics such as white balance, focusing techniques, lighting, lenses, point of view and composition.

We ended our class with some "field" practice outdoors. Students had the chance to utilize their new photo skills and photograph models in a rustic backdrop. Many thanks to our gorgeous models, Gia and CeCe - you gals were pros!

Next time I'm going to hire my talented hubby to better document the whole thing with video and photos. I wonder how much he would charge...

Here are a few photos I was able to snap in between teaching segments: