Mastering Your Flash
© Julia Dean
If your goal is to master portable lights, this six-week workshop has it all. Ideal for those who understand their cameras but are not yet comfortable with a portable flash, this hands-on course will carefully explain how to use a flash unit in various lighting situations. We will begin with an explanation of all the buttons and dials on the flash and about different ways to use a flash. We will also discuss why and how to use a flash as the main source of light (meaning a low light situation requiring use of a flash) and how to use a flash as a fill light (balancing ambient light with the light of a flash unit). Participants will learn how to determine exposure, how to control the light output of a flash, ways to diffuse a flash, and how and why to include or exclude ambient light. Demonstrations include using a flash in a direct or bounce mode (on or off the camera), how to use multiple flash, and how to “power down” the flash input for specific effects. Wireless technology will also be demonstrated and used.
With each week’s lecture comes a shooting assignment to be completed between class sessions. The results will be critiqued during the next class. Those shooting film will work with slides. Images shot with digital cameras will be projected through a digital projector. No prior lighting knowledge is required. For participants having already taken “The Crash Flash Course” the first class session will serve as review.
Julia Dean is the director of the Julia Dean Photo Workshops. Throughout her career, she has traveled to more than 40 countries while freelancing for numerous relief groups and magazines. She is also the author/photographer of the children’s book, A Year on Monhegan Island. Julia received a Bachelor of Science degree in photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a Master of Arts degree in journalism at the University of Nebraska. She began her career as an apprentice to famed photographer Berenice Abbott. Later, Julia was a photo editor for the Associated Press in New York.
She has taught for 24 years at such places as the University of Nebraska, Los Angeles Valley College, Los Angeles Southwest College, Santa Monica College, the Santa Fe Workshops, the Maine Photographic Workshops and the Julia Dean Photo Workshops.
