Arizona

Last week I ventured to Arizona to attend Imaging USA. It was my first time attending this conference so I wasn't sure what to expect. I did know that I was going to be taking in quite a bit of information so I loaded up on my paper notebooks and brought my PC with me too.

There are 2 classes that really grabbed my attention. The first one was about using my flashes for a dramatic fashion photography look. The class was taught by TriCoast Photography. They demonstrated how they use their external flash mounted on a monopod with a regular diffuser to create dramatic light. They even do this at high noon. For those of you how are not photographers, high noon sun is really hard to shoot in because it creates shadows directly downward. I.e. shadows underneath eyes (not so flattering).

The second class that really stood out was another lighting and technique class. This one was held by Bob Davis (photographed Eva Longoria's wedding). He also demonstrated off flash lighting techniques and talked about how he practices and practices before each wedding to make sure that he is prepared to photograph anything that might happen that day. I thought to myself... I am not the only one who does that.

I also attending a photoshop retouching class that was held my a mater retoucher. She actually processed a photo of an 84 year old woman and made her look like she was in her forties. The kicker is that it didn't look retouched at all. The end image looked natural.

I could honestly go on and on about the different skills and techniques that I learned about, but I don't want to overwhelm anyone. :)

Keep checking the blog because I am going to post some images that I took of Arizona while I was there.