Report From My Lightroom Workshop

I just wrapped up a two-day hands-on workshop at the fantastic Digital Technology Centre in Sarasota, Florida, and I really had a blast (click on the photo shown here for a larger view-photos courtesy of Rod Harlan). To make our Lightroom learning experience as real as possible, I scheduled four live photo shoots for my students, so we worked primarily on the photos we took during those shoots.

We started the first day with a shoot in the studio, where I lit our first model using Westcott Softboxes with Daylight Fluorescent Spider Lights, and one reflector. Each student got to shoot multiple poses, and then we'd head back to our workstations and take our shots through a real world Lightroom digital photography workflow. Later that afternoon, we did another live shoot, with a male model and more dramatic lighting, and the students just got some amazing images, which we quickly brought into Lightroom to practice what we had learned that morning. We spent the afternoon learning faster and better ways to sort, edit and properly correct our photos to make them look their very best using Lightroom's Develop module.

The next day, I started with another shoot, using just the softbox to imitate natural window light as I positioned some fresh, beautiful Calla Lilies in front of a black background. Then, after I showed how to shoot "tethered" directly into Lightroom, the students began shooting and I was blown away by some of the images they captured (I think even they were, too!).

That afternoon, we did an on-location lighting shoot in the cramped quarters of a stairwell to show how to use off-camera SB-800's shooting through diffusers to create some amazingly soft directional light in an already harsh lighting situation [as seen in the center photo above]). We used the same set-up you've seen me talk about here in my blogs (Justin Clamps, Lastolight diffuers, etc.) and the class was amazed by what we came up with. We also worked on exactly where Photoshop fits into the Lightroom workflow, and well...as you might imagine...I had to share some Photoshop techniques, too. I just couldn't help myself. ;-)

We wrapped up two packed-full days of learning by going to Lightroom and printing each student's best photos on large 13x19" prints using the new Epson Stylus Photo R3800 (which is just an amazing printer by the way, and the black and white prints it creates were nothing short of stunning). We all left having accomplished a great deal in a short amount of time, and if you're wondering what the students thought of Lightroommake sure you catch this coming Monday's episode of "Photoshop TV" where I do a live on-scene video report, and you'll see for yourself.

Thanks to everyone who attended my workshop---I had an incredible time, I learned a lot, and I made some new friends, and caught up with some old ones (like Ben Willmore and Jane Conner-ziser who both popped in to catch some of my classes). Also, thanks to the wondeful staff at The Digital Technology Centre, including Jon Novosielski, who have put together a very impressive facility, a very warm and friendly working environment, and have some of the best Photoshop trainers on the planet teaching there (within the span of just a few short weeks, we're talking people like Bert Monroy, Ben Willmore, and Vincent Versace just to name a few).

If you're looking for an excuse to come down to beautiful Sarasota, go check out their class schedule. Well, that's my f