Last weekend we opened the studio doors for our Mother’s Day DIY Portraits. Families booked the Sunday sessions and, as usual, I smiled hearing the fun coming from the shooting gallery!

The way it works is we set up the lights in our photo studio in central Ottawa. People book the studio and plug their cameras into our lighting. After a quick tutorial the fun starts. Someone from the studio is always there to assist, if needed, but once the studio is set it’s EASY! So easy even a 9 year old can take great photos:

DIY Portraits behind the scenes - Ottawa Photo Studio

Someone commented – “The photos look really sharp!” That’s the benefit of DIY Portraits – we take care of the hard part – you benefit from affordable studio portraits!

Below we are featuring one of the families – R, C, and L.

Thanks to all that came – we will be offering this service again in the fall in preparation for the Christmas and holiday season. The DIY sessions are also available anytime for birthdays, celebrations or corporate events.

Contact us for details or to receive a reminder about the next DIY sessions.

DIY Portraits - Ottawa Photo Studio

DIY Portraits - Ottawa Photo Studio

Final preparations are underway for Elmwood School’s Ottawa Exhibition of their art student’s work.

Elmwood School art exhibit at Ottawa Studio Works

Heawon, the school’s talented art teacher, has helped students produce some work that is beyond what you would expect from grade  6-9 students.

Grade 9, 11 & 12 art students from Elmwood School showcase their finest pieces for the public to critique.

The Art program at Elmwood encourages students to explore beyond their boundaries. They are challenged with projects in painting, drawing, sculpture, mixed media and digital art. They learn both traditional and contemporary practices in art to build tools they need to make ideas based work.

Come for inspiration, come for the fun or come to check out what Elmwood School is producing. But come!

Elmwood School Art Exhibit at Ottawa Studio Works

Details:

Vernissage: May 18th 7-9pm;

Regular Hours: May 16th-June 1st, 2012.

Wednesday to Friday: noon-5pm

Saturday and Sunday: 1-5pm

Monday and Tuesday: Closed

Location:

Ottawa Studio Works

160 Preston St., Ottawa (between Gladstone and Somerset.)

Directions

Elmwood School art exhibit

Earlier this week our ProProgram organized a social to meet, shoot and socialize. This bonus of the program is designed to get Programmers out together to exchange ideas and meet others pursuing photography in a serious way.

Pro Photography Program - Ottawa

We meet as a group every 2-3 months and in May we met in the wilds of Gatineau Park to photograph on the escarpment overlooking the Ottawa Valley. It’s a magical time for two reasons:

• young leaves are beginning to green the desolation left by winter’s freeze

• the ravenous, carnivorous bugs are still relatively dormant.

Pro Photography Program - © Erica McKay

We hiked into the location, spent some time shooting, made it back to the start point as it was getting dark and promptly reconvened for more discussion at the Old Chelsea Pub.

ProProgram - © Erica McKay

Thanks to the ProProgrammers for keeping this part of my work fun!

ProProgram - © Sue Fisher

We got a last minute photo assignment to cover a press conference for the Canadian Border Services Agency at Ottawa Airport where Minister Vic Toews talked about Nexus.

It was a busy afternoon for Harry!

Minister Vic Toews at the Ottawa Airport

Minister Vic Toews at the Ottawa Airport

Last week we finished our longest running photography class (Creative Fundamentals has run since 2001) at our Ottawa studio.

Ottawa Photography Course - Creative Fundamentals - © June C

Creative Fundamentals continues to be popular because it helps beginners and intermediate photographers either learn or solidify the basic building blocks of photography – elements many people never learn. The class was eager and fun – with laughter mixed in with lessons.

Creative Fun Photography Class - Ottawa - © Victoria

The class did well with improvements made all round.

The next opportunity to learn the magic of fundamentals is either through a condensed Custom Course – available throughout the year – or in our September group session of Creative Fundamentals on September 19th (eve), 22nd (day), 26th (eve), 2012.

You can register on the Creative Fundamentals web page or contact a real human by email.

Creative Fundamentals Photo Class - Ottawa - © Ginny B

Last weekend students gathered to critique their work on the On Location Lighting Workshop with Blair Gable. The workshop sold out quickly and we are offering a second section in July.

On Location Lighting Photo Class with Blair Gable - Ottawa

Blair Gable is an independent photojournalist supplying photo work to Reuters, MacLeans magazine, Globe and Mail, and many other national and international magazines, newspapers and agencies. Blair has photographed Obama, Princess Kate, the Queen, Stephen Harper, Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Blue Jays.

On Location Lighting Photo Class with Blair Gable - Ottawa

The demands of his work have forced him to light quickly, effectively with simple equipment. We’re lucky to have his expertise available for a photo class in Ottawa! See some of the top student work, below:

On Location Lighting Photo Class with Blair Gable - Ottawa - © Scott Martin

Participant’s comments:

“Friendly. Always willing to answer questions. In line with what I have come to expect from Harry(‘s workshops).”

“Very helpful. I really got to see how Blair sees light and shadows. Worth time/money. Very good.”

On Location Lighting Photo Class with Blair Gable - Ottawa - © John Rathwell

“Relaxed, to the point, critical, informative.”

“Great workshop – pushed me out of my comfort zone and forced me to use new techniques.”

On Location Lighting Photo Class with Blair Gable - Ottawa - © Frank Duggal

“Blair was a very good teacher. I did not really sign up for the technical content. I was mostly interested in the image making aspects of location portraiture, and Blair did not disappoint. There was very strong content about what makes a compelling image. My eyes have been opened to some new possibilities and ideas.”

The ideal participant is a photographer who wants an introduction or review of the possibilities of creative lighting using off camera flash.

On Location Lighting Photo Class with Blair Gable - Ottawa - © Deana Scott

The next session of this workshop will have a slightly different format than the first – only three spots remain at time of writing.

You can register directly from the On Location Lighting workshop page or contact us to register with a human.

Thanks to everyone who came out!

On Location Lighting Photo Class with Blair Gable - Ottawa - © Mark Horton

Better photos require many things – practice, learning, mastering fundamentals.

One thing that rarely gets mentioned in photography is goal setting.

Goals?! 

Goals help you improve. It’s true.

Photo Goals - set your sights!

The process of developing your photo ideas takes time, practice, brainstorming, discussion and the commitment of thinking things through on a structured, regular basis.

The classic model to achieve this is through goal setting – forcing yourself to think through what you want to do and (more importantly) how you might get there – on a regular basis. The goals are less important than the process – visiting the ideas and goals regularly to help your photos get wherever they’re going – quicker!

The process is active. Goals change all the time. But the result of this ongoing brainstorming process has been documented to create and accelerate results.

What are your photo goals for the summer?

Me? I want to create 10 new exhibition quality pieces for the Watershed collection by the end of July. There, I’ve said it. I better get to work!

Recently we posted our Exposed! Photo Newsletter – “Close, Closer, Closest” with simple tips to improve your photos. We invited you to send in your close photos – thanks to everyone who did!

The top photo came from Nancy who cornered her cat with her iphone. She came out on top because she got really, really close!:

Closer Newsletter - blog winner - ©Nancy B

And we’d like to give a shout-out to Willa who got close to her furry friend:

Closer Newsletter - Blog Runner-up - ©Willa M

Nice work, everyone – keep getting closer!

What do you want to hear about in the next few photo newsletters?

Last summer’s Bike Race Photo Safari pulled many photographers out to test the limites of their skills.

It’s fast. It’s fun!

But what makes this safari so amazing for photographers is the constant action – cyclists pass the photographers at high speed… every minute. “Oops, I missed the shot… Oh, here they come, again!”

It’s so popular we feel obligated to bring the Bike Race Photo Safari back this year!

Bike race photo safari

The scoop:

We meet as a group and cover the ideas of shooting fast paced action as athletes warm up. We select 3-4 locations over the event while handing out challenges to push your limits. Cyclists race around a closed loop ensuring photographers get to shoot action every minute or so.

The event flies by.

Photos shine.

Smiles glow.

“It was the perfect race for a safari and I picked up some good tips …  You have an excellent teaching style.”

“Harry, you are constantly coming up with innovative workshops.  This Safari was brilliant!  It gives us seasoned photographers opportunities to shoot something different and brush up on our skills.

Thanks so much for being Harry. You are always so consistent with making sure everyone understands the concept and getting it in our cameras.”

Bike Race Photo Safari

Date: June 26th, 2012; 6-8:30pm (approx.) Rain date: July 10th; 6-8:30 pm (approx.)

Cost: $65 + HST

Location: 15 minutes from downtown Ottawa.

Details and registration.

Bike Race Photo Safari - Ottawa

Last week I asked on Facebook:

“When shooting do you shoot in auto, aperture or manual exposure mode?”

And the answers flowed! Everything from:

• “Manual all the way…”

• “Aperture for quick shooting. Manual for detailed stuff.”

• “Only manual.”

• “Aperture, usually open full.”

Even mid tones - fine for aperture priority

Manual Mode

Manual mode means the photographer has to determine all the settings that affect exposure – iso, shutter speed and aperture. Manual mode gives full control and creates better photos more often – especially in tricky lighting. But it takes time and practice to learn.

Aperture Mode

Aperture mode means the photographer has to choose iso and aperture. The camera chooses shutter speed. Aperture offers the ease of letting the camera do the work. In subjects that offer mid tones throughout the scene aperture priority will work well. In tricky lighting aperture priority can give poor exposures.

Why?

Your camera compares everything to mid tone grey. It also tries to make all photos mid tone grey on average – EVEN if the scene is a white wedding dress or white snow.

Who has seen photos of grey snow? That’s the result of the camera misreading the scene.

“Manual is too hard!”

Manual mode is harder to learn. Yep. Once learned it will help you produce better photos. Guaranteed.

Of all the facebook comments, working photographers were choosing manual mode more often. There’s a reason for that!

Tricky lighting - silhouetted and backlit Harry

More Info

Want more info? Read this Exposed! Newsletter. Or this one.

Want some help? Consider our Creative Fundamentals Course. This weekend’s session is full – next group session is in the fall. Custom course is available anytime.