San Francisco was the second stop in the series of my workshops on lighting techniques.   For one of the practical sessions in the late afternoon, we went to Baker Beach.  After the sun had gone down, we practiced bouncing flash off a golden reflector to recreate that warm sunset glow. Thank you to Sarah and Jasper, our models who remained energetic even in the cold of the evening.

The practical sessions earlier on in the afternoon were held on the grounds of the Presidio.  During one section, each group took an off-camera speedlight in a softbox to work with a model. Here is my favourite image of Jasper from that session.

A big thank you to our group today.
(More info about future workshop locations.)

A benefit of presenting workshops on location, is the ability to help local photographers deal with lighting situations that are typical of their specific area. One of the aspects that was covered in today’s workshop that I held in Phoenix, was how to cope with the harsh sunlight. Here our lovely model Chelsea was lit by off-camera flash, balancing the exposure to retain detail in the sunlit desert landscape.

Technical info:
Speedlight diffused through a Photoflex Q39 softbox, triggered by a Pocketwizard.
The flash was set to manual exposure. The camera too was in manual exposure mode, and metered for the background.The speedlight and softbox were mounted on a monopod, and held by one of the workshop participants.

The same technique was used here in photographing Craig, our other model.

Thank you to our two models, and to everyone who attended the workshop.
Do keep in touch.  (More info about future workshop locations.)