TRICOAST : Location Lighting & Off Camera Flash 2012 | Victoria, BC Image Explorations

For a few years now I have been traveling with Don MacGregor to help him teach. At this one specific school I kept hearing the name "TRI-COAST".

Never did no much but I always heard that their class was freakin amazing.

So after about 4 years of hearing this, Don and I decided to bring that "TRI-COAST" Team up to Canada and Rock our neck of the woods at Image Explorations 2012.

I you love using flash and various ways of utilizing Lighting for more fashion and edgy portraits and event photography, then this is the class for you. Let me introduce to you Mike and Cody of Tri-Coast. This will be a class unlike any you have take regarding lighting and location lighting.


INSTRUCTORS BIOS:

Cody Clinton and Mike Fulton are known worldwide for their unique approach to wedding, fashion, and high school senior photography. Selected as Kodak's Photographers to Watch, they have been recognized for their art and their commitment to teaching others worldwide. Their unique style, which has been adopted by photographers around the globe, provides clients with a one-of-akind attitude that is very apparent in their final product. While their range of assignments covers commercial, editorial and portraiture, it is the high end senior and wedding market in which TriCoast specializes. The care and commitment they bring to the table has landed them assignments through out the globe. TriCoast has been commissioned to photograph events for the Vice President of Uganda son's wedding in Africa, as well as events in the United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Czech Replublic, Mexico, and other countries, and their work has been seen in such notable magazines such as Martha Stewart Weddings, Rangefinder, Professional Photographer, Shutterbug, and Studio Photography.


COURSE DESCRIPTIONS:





COURSE TIME TABLE :

Sunday
Opening Night - Cody and Mike as well as other members and friends of TriCoast Photography will be in attendance to share and enjoy the opening of the school.


Monday
8am - 5pm (Classroom day)

• introduction of students and teachers - getting to know each other time
• hitting the basics of what the class will cover for the week and the general layout of the class
• explaining manual methods of lighting with both Speedlites and Strobes
• Trouble shooting the system, etc.
  
• what is RadioPopper Jrx Units and how do they work

Tuesday

8am - 5pm (Manual OFF Camera Lighting Day)

Breaking the class up into smaller groups to learn better. This day we will not worry about brand products to sort the classrooms, however on the other days - Nikon will be with Nikon and Canon will be with Canon users in the smaller learning groups. Each group will have their own light stick (aka: mono pod) or EZ Stand and flash unit (Canon 580ex and SB800)

NOTE: We STRONGLY suggest the students bring their own equipment to better understand and learn how to use their equipment throughout the workshop.

Using the students as models (one for each group - 2 to 4 in total) the groups will practise first hand the following:

• using OFF Camera Flash lighting methods, the students will learn how to manually adjust their flash units (using supplied RadioPopper JrX transmitters and receiving units supplied by TriCoast Photography)
• learning the pros and cons to the system including but not limited to
• cross breeding of the flash units
• adjusting the power on each flash unit
• Lack of High Speed Sync - Limited in camera settings etc.
  
• constant light output
• using OFF Camera Strobes lighting methods, the students will learn how to manually adjust their strobe units
• Blending any strobe unit together
• Blending both strobes and speedlites together

The students will capture images of the models in and around the Image Explorations location during this time using the techniques and methods taught by TriCoast Photography.

Ending the day at 5pm the students will have "HOMEWORK" to pick a few images (processing is optional) in order to display to the class the next day.


Wednesday
8am to 10am (TTL Metering OFF Camera Lighting Day - Line of Sight Method)

Review of the previous days photos taken by students. These photos will be projected on screen inside the classroom. Our goal is to not talk about composition of the images but more light placement - light power, possible posing methods to assist in getting in a better lighting pattern. Finding the positives in every portrait as well as the negatives our goal is to give the needed material to improve their images for the shooting which will happen later in this day with new learning material.

10am - 12pm (TTL Metering OFF Camera Lighting Day - Line of Sight Method)

Breaking the class up into smaller groups to learn better, each group having a model to photograph.
Each group will have their own light stick or EX Stand and flash unit

1pm - 5pm (TTL Metering OFF Camera Lighting Day - RadioPopper Introduction)

Breaking the class up into smaller groups to learn better, each group having a model to photograph.
Each group will have their own light stick or EX Stand and flash unit

NOTE: We STRONGLY suggest the students bring their own equipment to better understand and learn how to use their equipment throughout the workshop.

Using models if possible (one for each group - 2 to 4 in total) the groups will practice first hand the following:

• Using OFF Camera Flash lighting methods, the students will learn in the TTL mode to adjust their flash units using the direct line of sight method. Learning the pros and cons to the system including but not limited to:
  
• issues with line of sight
• Adjusting the power on each flash unit
• How to use the High Speed Sync.
  
• Manually creating ratios in their work
• Limitations on the smaller light source - how to work around these limitations
• Zoom feature of their speedlite units
• Using different focal lengths, metering modes inside the camera
• Using multiply speedlites to get the most out of their work
• Understanding how to use your speedlites in any lighting situation

HOMEWORK time !

Thursday

8am - 10am

Review of the previous days photos taken by students. These photos will be projected on screen inside the classroom. Our goal is to not talk about composition of the images but more light placement - light power, possible posing methods to assist in getting a better lighting pattern. Finding the positives in every portrait as well as the negatives our goal is to give the needed material to improve their images for the shooting which will happen later in this day with new learning material.

10am - 12pm

Marketing Time - Any marketing or other aspects which TriCoast Photography can assist our students with. A few examples are:

• Wedding Marketing
• School/Event Photographer Marketing
• High School Senior / Grad Marketing

Closing remarks - Ending Questions - Catch all statements.

TRICOAST IMAGES:

Check out their work at:

Wedding/Portrait Work: www.TriCoastPhoto.com
High School Senior Work: www.TriCoastSeniors.com