Delighted to announce that we will be hosting a Wedding Seminar @ Loxley Colour on Monday the 25th of October. Details to follow. In the meantime places on our LIGHT TO INSPIRE seminars are going very fast so we now only have limited places left so call or email soon!

We are delighted to announce that we are the first speakers to host a workshop at the stunning new Loxley Colour lecture theatre. We will be hosting a further 3 exciting and unique workshops at Loxley’s in the coming months which will include Wedding, Marketing & Branding and Boudoir, details and dates for those very soon. This first workshop will take place on Monday the 20th of September 2010 and will be about studio lighting and posing. This workshop will start at 10.00am and run until 12.30pm when we will break for lunch and for those that wish Chris Kay will offer a tour of this wonderful new facility and an opportunity to see all of the new products developed for our industry by Loxley. A buffet lunch will be available for all the delegates. The workshop will recommence at 2.00pm and run until 4.00pm We will have a range of lighting from BOWENS, 3 models, 2 female and 1 male, to demonstrate our lighting and posing techniques and how to be creative with the minimum of kit to provide your clients with unique and highly sell-able images.

The inclusive cost of this workshop is £65.00 + £7.00 for lunch. All delegates will receive a £35.00 voucher from Loxley to be used against any of their product range. Delegates will also receive a £30 discount voucher off any future Yerbury Seminar’s, a 10% discount of KUBOTA DASHBOARD and for 1 lucky delegate a $100 discount voucher from KUBOTA. To reserve your place you can call the studio on 01501 744909 and pay by any major credit card or email trevor@yerburystudio to make payment by BACS or cheque.

Today’s image is from a recent client portrait session and lit with a single light source.

Yesterday we spent the day with our one to one delegate demonstrating our studio lighting set up along with some posing ideas. We had excellent models for the day and here are a couple of my images of mum Ashleigh and her daughter Alysha.  Simple, classic portrait lighting which, to me, is far superior to the current ‘white’ trend!

Another couple of images from Tuesday’s workshop. First we have one of Faye’s beautifully processed images of Anita shot in the same room as yesterday’s images and again with just natural daylight. Once again Kubota DASHboard was our preferred choice of actions to use.

Now one of my images from the day again which I post processed again with Kubota.

So as you may know we have been very busy producing the 28 images for the BOWENS display at FOCUS.  We also had our lighting workshop here at Claremont yesterday which was a great success and many thanks to Chloe and Ashley for being so patient during the day. Jilly, our PA, came across this posting on a blog site yesterday. Looks like somebody really was paying attention during our master class at the SWPP convention. Take a look  http://www.photocreative365.com

No time today as we have been in the office since the crack of dawn but this is one of the images for Focus taken back in 02 on the Blad and printed from the scan onto Fotospeed Platinum Gloss WT paper. Looks lovely….. more images tomorrow. Should perhaps mention that the subject as well as being a talented violinist is also a surgeon at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

Delighted to announce that we are hosting a small, 4 delegates max, workshop here at Claremont on Studio Lighting and Posing for classic portraiture. Sunday 28th of February 10.00am – 4.00pm. We will work in the studio with a couple of different models, have a discussion on portraiture, look at what different lighting modifiers can achieve, have a nice relaxing lunch and spend the last hour of the day watching Faye do some post production work on one of the images from the day. £295 inclusive.

Today’s image is from our lighting workshop at the Convention. One softbox….. that’s all folks! Post Production and hair styling by Faye.

Today we have some images from our first Superclass at the Convention which was on Portraiture, one of our favourite subjects. It always amazes and astounds me at how complicated some photographers can make such a simple subject as a portrait. Lighting on the first 2 images was simply with a large Bowens soft box with a reflector kicking light back in from left of camera, nothing difficult or complicated. The second image was to demonstrate how easy it is to create a simple portrait with only available light and a reflector. here the light was coming from camera right with the reflector providing some fill on Christiane’s face. I saw this image as a simple yet dynamic portrait with the red seats disappearing in to the background providing a strong focal point on the subject.

I again appeal to anybody setting out in Portrait Photography to learn to see and use light, leave buying any new kit until you have mastered your lighting. Use family, friends, neighbours etc. as your subjects, always use the largest light source you can afford be that a soft box or daylight and remember at all times to keep it as simple as possible allowing you to spend time in conversation with your client. I use a 20+ year old soft box and Bowens head in our studio, it is always set to the same output so I know never have to worry about exposure, occasionally I will use a second, much smaller, soft box to provide either some fill or separation from the background but once again its a very simple set -up. Your lighting should become second nature to you  so be it in your studio or a clients home you should know to half a stop what your exposure should be, the unfortunate thing is this only comes with practise and experience which is why again I say if you are dedicated to improving your portrait lighting skills get out there and photograph!

The first portrait taken on our Super class Faye has left in colour because of Christiane’s striking hair.

I love the colour image but when converted to black and white with just a hint of tone added it reminds me of a 1930’s Holywood Glamour Portrait

The final image today is a simple daylight portrait of Christiane taken in one of the booths of the Planet Suite of the Novotel. Daylight coming from camera right and a fill camera left provided by a reflector. That’s it.. simple!

Well as promised the final processed images from Monday’s Lighting workshop held @ Loxley Colour in Glasgow.

We had wanted to get some exterior shots during the day but as usual the weather decided to be nasty and the rain just seemed to sweep over Glasgow and Loxley for most of the day. With one, almost dry, break in the weather I dragged Aicha and our delegates outside Loxleys and down to the the metal fencing that surrounds the building. Though it was light drizzle we did manage to get several shots again using the Quantum Turbo head to light Aicha and her striking yellow coat.

Back inside I wanted to show how to light a portrait with a single soft box using one of the wonderful new Bowens Gemini 500R heads. Faye has processed a colour and black and white version. Let us know your favourite.

And finally back to the Loxley red wall where we shot this image of Aicha using the Bowens Gemini 500R head fitted with the fab Bowens Fresnel spotlight.

Well as promised, and despite the work schedule, unexpected visitors and studio sessions here are a few more images from yesterdays fabulous Lighting Workshop held at Loxley Colour in Glasgow. All of these images were created within the Loxley building, my stair shot using the Quantum heads, Faye’s red wall taken in the Loxley meeting room using our favourite Bowens fresnel spot and finally my daylight shot taken at the window of the Loxley boardroom. A final couple of images tomorrow and then we move on.

First the Loxley meeting room.

The Loxley internal staircase.

The Loxley Board room

Faye and I had a wonderful day in Loxley’s and though just back home and somewhat tired thought I would post a finished image from today.

Our delegates came from all over the UK and thanks to Chris Kay and Loxley’s for providing us with an excellent lunch. This image I took from the first floor of the Loxley Building and it was post processed by Faye during the afternoon session. More fabulous images tomorrow.