Strobes? Snoots? Grid-spots? Softboxes? Confused by all these terms? Does umbrella mean a thing to keep you dry or a thing to improve the quality of your photos? Have you ever wanted to get a rich, creamy look to your portraits, or add some color to a background, or create a low-key moody atmosphere? Then the Light Your World series of workshops are for you. Up first is Light Your World – Taipei. This promises to be the first professionally led lighting workshop held in English in Taipei. Read on after the jump for more details.

Sheri C lit with one-light in a medium softbox

Sunday October 4th 2009 is the date. Beginning at 9:30am, we will start with introductions and then run through some discussions of equipment needed to get started. Topics covered will include getting the flash off-camera, equipment, the five variables of exposure, use of light modifiers, some hands-on demonstartions and a few more tips and tricks. This will be held in a private meeting room and should take 2-3 hours, depending on how many questions there are.

Following that, we’ll break for lunch (not included but there are plenty of options nearby). After lunch, we’ll move to an outdoor location where we’ll look at what we covered in the morning session in a more detailed, location oriented way. Here, everyone will get the chance to shoot with a variety of lighting setups, from basic umbrellas to softboxes, grid-spots to reflectors. As necessary as the basic theory covered in the morning is, there’s nothing like actually doing it yourself and that’s what the afternoon is dedicated to.

Once everyone has had a chance to try a few different lighting setups, we’ll take a short break where there will be time to get a coffee and a snack and prepare for the next segment.

Jen lit with a single shoot-thru umbrella

The third session will give you a real chance to put things into practice. We’ll have a 2 hour shoot with a professional model. This part will be loosely guided – mostly it’ll be you shooting, trying things out and asking questions when necessary.

Following the model shoot, there’ll be the option to ask as many questions as necessary. The day won’t end until everyone has had every question answered.

Costs.

For people in Taiwan, the costs are as follows.

Book and pay before August 15th 08/15. NT$1500
Book and pay before August 31st 08/31 NT$2000
Book and pay after August 31st (09/01 – 10-03) – NT$2500.

Get in quick because there are only 15 spaces available. Payment can be made via ATM transfer (Taiwan only), Paypal or cash. For more information, payments details, costs for international currencies and so forth, you can get in touch and all questions will be promptly answered.

Selina indoors with a bounce-umbrella

Equipment Needed.

Really, the only thing you need is a camera that has a hot-shoe. Any DSLR/SLR or higher-spec compact camera will do. If you have any flashes, remote cables, RF triggers, e/i-TTL cords, IR triggers etc feel free to bring them along. Also handy is a laptop for if you want to edit a few pics during a break, or shoot tethered. If shooting tethered, it’ll be your responsibility to ensure you have the correct software, cables etc to work with your camera.

Light Your World is a wholly available light workshop. By that, we use any light that’s available, whether it’s the sun or a speedlight.

If you have any further queries, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Thank you and let’s light our world.