Sooo, everyday since Thursday, January 9, 2014 I have been glued to my computer from 12 pm until about 7 pm that evening. I’m gettin’ my schoolin’ on. No, really, I’m going to school. Unfortunately, I won’t be getting any kind of degree for it but it is free and I will be able to create much better photographs at the end of it. Over these last three days ( yes, I am writing this during a short break – hey, 7 hours is a long day!- on the last day of classes). I am learning how to pose people from a favorite teacher, Lindsay Adler. This opportunity is offered through creativeLIVE, a company determined to provide a top notch education for free. I highly recommend you go check out what they offer. Chances are, you’ll find something there that will intrigue you.
This is week 10 of the Winter photography challenge, hosted by Carrie Swails via her amazing company, Photography Awesomesauce. I am on the tail end of a really nasty sickness that has been running rampant through my family for the last two weeks. It also started raining, almost non-stop, yesterday. The rain continues today but during a brief interlude this morning (before classes started) I dragged my husband and myself outside to get the reflector shot for this week! I have been using car sun shields until now but for this shoot I decided to invest in “real” reflectors for a photographer. Both my husband and I can use them for the videography and the photography we do. The set I got was, well, larger than imagined at 43″! It nearly covered my queen sized bed. Seriously. Huge. Unlike the car sun shields, our new reflector set comes with a scrim (think, diffuser of light) and several shades of reflectors: white, black, silver, gold. I have worked with all of these, via my car sun shield, except the black. “Cause, come on, who gets a black car sun shield? The point is to keep the car cool, not broil the interior. I’m gonna have to read up on use of the black reflector before I head out to give it a try, though.
As I mentioned, my husband humbly offered to be my model for this weeks shoot. So I got him all dolled up (uh, I mean, dressed up) for his moment in the spotlight (really, under a bright gold reflector)! Since the sky was fully hidden behind thick, gray clouds, I primarily used the gold reflector to add a bit of color to the pictures. But I did flip it over once or twice to see what would happen with the white side reflecting what light the sky did give up. It was very windy, too, so I set my camera up on a tripod, held the reflector myself, and used a remote to trigger the shutter. I also, practiced using Lindsay Adler‘s posing tips from CreativeLIVE‘s Posing 101 course. My husband is such a ham and I am pleased as punch with what I got:
*NOTE: I was just reminded of a fact I would like to share with you. CreativeLIVE has been nominated as the Best Education Startup for the 7th Annual Crunchies Awards! I have been voting for creativeLIVE since I found out yesterday (you are allowed to vote once each day) about this honor and I would like to invite you to do the same. Simply click here to be directed to Tech Crunch‘s website to vote for creativeLIVE. And thanks for the support of an organization I have come to love very much!