If you missed photographer David Hobby's incredibly hard to get into lighting seminar this month in Los Angeles, there's always the DVD.The man behind the widely read Strobist photo lighting tips website holds seminars about six times a year, and they're only open to 100 folks, over a two-day period. He offers real-life lessons on how to make your pictures look amazing using cheap (in photo terms, anyway) flash units and umbrellas, and performs hands on examples with the attendees.
We missed the registration for the L.A. seminar (it sold it in less than a day) but did devour his recently released entire 8-DVD set over a period of several weeks.
From the reviews we've seen online from those who were lucky enough to score tickets to the L.A. seminar the DVD is a poor substitute for being there in person.
That said, the likelihood of nabbing admission to one of these seminars is rare, (Chicago is next, in November -- good luck!) so the DVD may be your best shot.
Our take on the DVD, which sells for $139 direct from the Strobist site:
Skip the first 5 discs and head straight to disc 6, which is where you see Hobby on a photo shoot, setting up his gear, and the amazing results from his camera.
The learning comes from watching how Hobby pulls off his incredible pictures, with a small, ultra light gear setup. Think of it this way: you get to tag along with Hobby on a photo shoot, with the master explaining everything he does directly to you.
Hobby takes portraits in a drab corporate office, at sunset, at the pool -- all hard situations to master -- and shows how to do it easily. (Or at least, until we try it ourselves!) While the first 5 discs are informative, they aren't much to look at. The production style is low-tech: camera focused on Hobby talking for an hour.
I found one big detail lacking: when Hobby shows how to light a situation, you don't get to see the results -- his images -- until much later in the program. That's not the case on the "bonus location shoots," discs, which is why I preferred those ones.
That said, these shoots go on and on and on....a little editing for Volume 2 wouldn't hurt. But if you want to dramatically improve your photography with the aid of small flash units from one of the Web's great, free resources, Strobist Lighting Seminar might just be the second best thing to seeing Hobby in person.
By Jefferson Graham
Comments