The art of a good picture is an art indeed. It is one challenging to master, and despite taking numerous photographs a day one we are far from perfecting. So far our skills simply cover us avoiding shadow, lunging, ducking and diving over our favourite flex bowls begging for the best light, which ultimately results in ‘likes’.
A likeable photo is achieved once the science has been studied, so pens posed and pads open we were ready to learn!
The London Jessops School of Photography is located just above their Oxford Street store, tucked away behind the lanterns of China Town and Lights of Soho. This makes it a top spot for testing the newly acquired skills after an hour or two in the classroom.
The pace of the class kept us short attention spanned personalities hooked, working through the technical bits in thorough detail. We looked at everything from the lens, to the light studying different modes the cameras offered and when to use them. The team on hand were well endowed with endless information, carrying 60 years of camera clicking experience between them, ranging from underwater snapping, to photo styling.
We began by understanding how a camera works, the nitty gritty of the internals and how they produce the portraits they do. The mood of the class was both relaxed and welcoming, and despite a variety of different experience and levels of skill we were made to feel totally comfortable no matter the question asked!
A highlight of the morning was testing shutter speed by capturing a water balloon mid pop. Turns out H has a hidden art for the split second!
Once we had mastered the ‘exposure triangle’ of shutter speed, aperture and IOS (pixels) we were let loose into the city with tasks to test. We were asked to capture depth of field, motion blur and a leading line. Motion blur saw E prancing along the line of lanterns China Town remains so proud of, while H did her best to capture E airbound. The outcome was far from desired, slightly resembling a figure spotted only in the ground of Hogwarts!
The final stage had us posing! We were given a short insight into the world of fashion, one neither of us are very familiar with unless that fashion is the latest Airmax. Nonetheless, it was one of the area’s most relevant to us as ‘photographers’. We learnt the angles, lighting and a few tricks of the trade to ensure we were always capturing our best side!
We can’t wait to try our hand at another of their more specific workshops.
Who wants to join?
Level 1
Level 2
Wildlife
Motorsport
Commercial Fashion
Macro
Exotic Macro
Wildlife Hides
Landscape (Weekend away to Mull or New Forest)
Safari (Namibia)
TTH x
