There’s a lot of excitement that builds up around ShutterFest as it approaches each year. And this innovative photo conference in St. Louis never disappoints! If you aren’t familiar with ShutterFest, just imagine over 2000 photographers learning and shooting with live models both day and night, all in one of the most glorious historic venues imaginable, St. Louis’ Union Station Hotel. I marvel at the way in which Salvatore Cincotta (ShutterFest’s producer as well as Editor in Chief of Shutter Magazine, which I write for) orchestrates it all. Kudos to him and his amazing team! It’s such an honor and pleasure for Eileen and me to be part of this event as it improves businesses and lives. ShutterFest2016 will surely sell out just as quickly as it did the last two years; so get a spot now if you’d like to be a part of it! (UPDATE: ShutterFest 2016 is now OPEN for registration, with an “Extreme” option for an additional business-focused day.)

Eileen and I are super relational people, so our favorite part of ShutterFest is meeting attendees. This conference is also unique in the special care it takes to tear down any barriers between newbie photographers and the experts and instructors teaching them. We are available and hands-on with students over the entire course of the event. It’s exhausting, and simultaneously invigorating and inspiring! We learn so much from our students, too.

Here are some of our images from just one workshop Eileen and I taught together: “Light Makes Right,” all about off-camera lighting technique and workflow for fast-paced wedding days. We use a combination of multiple strobes/speedlights to give us complete control and improve any “poor” lighting situation throughout the day. From bouncing flash indoors, to mounting multiple flashes together on a light stand outdoors to overpower the sun. Our students got our basic 3-step solution to compose most (but not all) of their dramatic shots on the run; then we discussed ways in which you can “break the rules” to get more creative. Those basic steps are: 1) backlight or sidelight your subject with sunlight, which we had precious little of during this particular overcast shoot; 2) take a manual exposure, metering -1 stop or so below your ambient/natural light, to darken the environment (preferably “spot metering” instead of matrix metering, which is where most cameras are set by default out of the box); then 3) turning your flash on and taking a test shot, adjusting its strength higher or lower to properly expose your subject.

As you can see in the example (above), we metered for the environment, darkening the exposure until the bright sky and clouds became visible. However, our model was left in shadow. Next we added the flash, making him the true focus of our composition. Finally, I added one of our custom Blume presets to give the image a finished look, and used Lightroom Retouching Toolkit for quick and easy clean up to the closeups below! Voila! Epic and dramatic.

Because our settings were manual, I could count on true consistency in every shot. It didn’t matter where I moved, how my angle changed, what distance my camera was from my subjects, or what extraneous light might enter my camera. Manual settings allow me to make the creative decisions and tell my camera/lights what to do, rather than allowing them to “make decisions” based on incomplete information. I do occasionally use TTL flash. But remember, if you use TTL (automatic flash exposure technology), your camera settings must be completely manual to compensate. If your flashes and camera are both in any type of automatic mode at the same time, they will confuse each other and you’ll get inconsistent results at best. In this case, I was able to walk away, bring the bride into my image, change position, and shoot away without losing time or re-setting any of my equipment!

Sometimes natural light is all you need. Although I like to lower my flash power dramatically and use it as a delicate “fill light” even in most of my “natural light” images, it is not always called for. The images below worked because of the soft, overcast day; and because a large stone wall (which happened to be white in color) helped to reflect directional light back toward my subjects as I nestled them near some small, potted fir trees for added texture and dimension. And if you’d like inspiration about posing your subjects more professionally, you can download our eBook “From Posed to Playful” free for a limited time.

Good luck with your continued use of off-camera light! It really is the most powerful tool you have as a photographer, helping you to tell the stories you want in the locations where you want to tell them — without becoming dependent upon fickle weather and lighting conditions. Great job to all our students who attended this class and others; we’ve loved seeing some of your finished images as well! Keep your work and your questions coming, everybody. 🙂

(Below) Awesome metal name tags from Photo Flash Drive, whom we already love and use for our customized products. Speaking about off-camera flash to our super cool class. Getting our mug shot on the “red carpet” upon arrival.

(Below) Cracking up over the 8-foot banner of our faces hanging from the Union Station ceiling.

(Below) One of our classroom marquees. From a balcony, Eileen watching the amazing indoor laser show projected on the domed Union Station ceiling.

(Below) Catching up with world-class photographers and friends, Scott Robert Lim and Kristy Dickerson.

(Below) Parting shot, taken over the shoulder of attendees who had “rented” this model for their personal portfolio-building shoot. An awesome part of the ShutterFest conference!