So last Tuesday, saw the first of 3B Media’s training workshops.  Myself, Phil Barber and Barnaby Aldrick have been working hard for the last few months on all things 3B and are now in the process of developing an entire series of photographic workshops to inspire and teach aspiring professionals with all aspects of their photography.

The first workshop we held was “Urban Portraits”, a one-day course on shooting people in the everyday urban environment using only natural light and minimal camera gear.

We started the day with a quick lesson in basic exposure and camera settings to get our delegates up to speed for the day ahead.  After this, I headed up the morning’s sessions by teaching how to look for backgrounds and suitable places to shoot.  Developing an eye for great places to photograph people against is crucial in getting good shots.  I showed the group that there are always plenty of opportunities wherever you look, and gave some advice on what to do when those opportunities run out.

This shot of one of our models, Alex, was just around the corner from a busy entrance to a restaurant.  This could’ve been easily overlooked, but by changing your viewpoint and using the curved walls, we created a background out of something that isn’t necessarily obvious immediately.  The changing light on the walls also helps to add interest and contrast.

I then went on to give advice on communication.  How to talk to anyone that you’re photographing, to get the best out of them, whilst making them feel at ease and relaxed.

Below is one of Phil’s shots from the day and one of my favourites.  Here, he’s used the leading lines of the ceiling lights to add some movement and dynamics to the shot without distracting from the subject.

After a full-on buffet lunch, a question and answer session, and warming up after shooting all morning in the chilled January air, we were all back outside where Phil led the afternoon’s session.  He first talked about composition; the basic rules and then how to break them.  He gave some great advice and ideas on how to change your viewpoint to get a completely different shot.  Starting off with just a brick wall and a model, we got the delegates to think about creating as many different photos with just these two things.  He also gave some practical tips and guidance on how to deal with different natural lighting, whether that be overcast, direct sunlight, shade or sunsets.

We gave everyone plenty of opportunity to shoot the models, whilst sticking around to answer questions, give advice, and help out when all else failed.  Before we knew it, all the delegates had taken over the day and were dying to shoot the models in every location they could find using all the advice we had taught them all day.  It was great to see how their confidence grew, and how their shots were improving throughout the day.

Below are a few more of my shots I managed to sneak in between the delegate’s time with the models.

This is Katy, who was our make-up artist for the day.  After getting our models ready for the afternoon’s shoot, she stepped in for a few shots herself.

At the end of the day, we headed back to our conference facilities at The Round Foundry Media Centre, in South Leeds, where Barnaby was busy on a MacBook Pro.  He had taken a dozen or so of the best shots from the day and gave the group a practical demonstration on post-processing using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.  He showed how to get the best from the RAW files out of the camera, pushing them to give them a final polish.  In preparation for the day, we had developed some of our own 3B Media Adobe Photoshop presets, which can be quickly applied to create several effects or just to push the picture in the right direction.  These we gave away in a little goody bag, along with detailed course literature from the day on everything we had covered.

Several cups of coffee and a final question and answer session to settle any last niggling queries, we wrapped up and headed to the pub for a quick pint.

All in all a fantastic day, and we got some really positive feedback from all the delegates.  We will be holding the next Urban Portraits workshop soon, and regular blog readers will be the first know.  If you’re keen on getting involved and want to find out more, either email me directly or via the 3B Media email – info@3bmedia.co.uk  We’ll also be announcing our other workshops in the near future, so stay tuned for these and if there’s any training days you’d like to see, then please get in touch.

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