Erie Photography Seminars: Adventures in Photography

Today we are launching a series of hands-on seminars for new or developing photographers.  Entitled "Adventures in Photography Level 1: Summer Series", we are offering a weekly 2-hour seminar designed to give a broad base of experiences and skills to those wishing to learn more about the technical and artistic side of photography.

All you need to join is a digital SLR with at least one lens, and a desire to learn and grow as a photographer.  We'll provide the material, subjects and experiences to let you produce better images.

Topics include the following (and much more):

• Digital SLR setup
• White balance
• Photographing people, pets, landscape and small items
• Camera setups for difficult situations (dark rooms, etc.)
• Image editing and use of websites to share and critique images

Sessions are $30 each, or $200 for the entire series of 8 sessions.  Discounts are available to current and past customers of John Huegel Photography, Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership members, PPA or WPPI members and people over the age of 65.

For more information, you can read this PDF.

To register for the class, send us an email here.

We hope you join us!

Low Light Shooting

I have had both personal and professional reasons to shoot with no flash in a low indoor light situation lately. Of most import was my daughter's graduation. She was speaking and I wanted to get a crisp image of her at the podium.

I have the Canon 7D which has very good performance at the ISO3200 range. I set the camera up for incandescent White Balance, ISO3200 and I took some test shots with people to determine the best exposure, which I set at Manual, 1/250 sec at f/2.8. The resulting images were crisp but with nice blur on the background, and good exposure and white balance.

Interestingly, I coached another graduate's mom whom I knew on setting up her camera for the same situation. We'll see how her images came out. I know her lens was not as fast, but even at 1/50 second, a good image often results from a stage image.

I often shoot wedding reception or community event images in similar settings, and the challenge is always how to balance any added light with ambient. I have gelled strobes and on camera flash, which often works, but it's tough to get the color right.

The first person that invents an inexpensive color meter and corresponding flash adjustment set to balance off camera flash with ambient will make a killing in the wedding market.