Learn to Shoot Like a Pro with Kim Hoshal

Saturday, September 1 - Tuesday, September 4 (four full days; five participants) $995.00

This special four-day comprehensive workshop is designed for digital landscape photographers who want to markedly increase their knowledge and control of their DSLRs; most likely, capable & proactive intermediates ready to take the next step and learn to shoot like a professional. Drawing on our own and our students’ previous workshop experiences, we’ve developed an innovative instructional approach that emphasizes simplicity, technical skills, creative vision, and artistic sensibility.

With the stunning landscape scenery of Sedona, Arizona as a working canvas, Kim will instruct a maximum of five highly motivated photographers thru an intensive four day curriculum that will include an equal amount of time spent in the field and in the digital darkroom, with emphasis on both the technical & creative aspects of landscape photography.

The digital darkroom portions of the workshop will work with Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop & Photoshop Elements. This is an intermediate/advanced workshop and students are expected to have had prior experience working in these photography software programs.

We’ll shoot each morning and evening in beautiful Sedona with afternoons spent in the classroom for hands-on digital darkroom work. While virtually guaranteed to capture stunning images in the middle of Sedona’s incredibly photogenic summer monsoon season, the principal goal of this workshop is for you to leave as vastly improved landscape photographers.

You'll learn the basics and not so basics of:

  • Attaining proper exposure through the use of aperture priority, thru-the-lens (TTL) metering, RGB histograms, ISO and exposure compensation to insure optimal exposures for the highest quality files;
  • Achieving classic landscape focus (sharp throughout) utilizing aperture priority mode, proper f/stops, manual focus, focus confirmation, focusing distances and hyperfocal charts. You’ll also learn how and when to appropriately use selective focus;
  • Using your tripod both to insure the highest technical quality in your captures and to fine-tune your compositions;
  • Using a variety of camera parameters and equipment like timed shutter release, cable release, mirror lock-up, live view, customized menus and settings that will allow you to operate fluidly and quickly in the field;
  • Expanding  your creativity and improving your compositional skills using a variety of techniques--diagonals; "X" marks the spot; the frame-within-the-frame; top down, left-right flow; leading lines; background/ middle/foreground proportional relationships—that will enable you to visualize the variety of different perspectives in every scene, make a proper lens choice, and correctly use filters;
  • Developing a professional digital workflow, including file archiving & organization, RAW processing, layer-based final processing, & fine-art printing using Lightroom and Photoshop

In addition to our field instruction, Kim will utilize multi-media presentations for demonstrations and participant critiques. There will be a minimum of two nightly participant image review & critique sessions. All participants will leave with an 11”x17” print of their favorite photo.

Finally, expect a wealth of information about available books & websites that will allow you to continue your growth long after our last sunset together. In addition, all participants will be able to post their images online in our Southwest Perspectives Participants Galleries and share your images easily with your families and friends.

Transportation & Itinerary

Unlike most of our guided expeditions where lodging & transportation are provided as part of the workshop fee, being centrally located in Sedona gives participants the opportunity to book their own lodging at a variety of luxury resorts. Our workshop fee is less and you have the freedom to choose your own accommodations. Students will have to provide their own transportation.

Day 1 - Saturday, September 1

We’ll meet at 1PM to introduce ourselves, discuss individual participants’ workshop goals and briefly outline our daily schedule, safety issues and group dynamics. Kim will give a multi-media presentation on the variety of locations we’ll be shooting and we’ll begin our workshop-long discussion of composition and creativity. We’ll go over the basics of the technical aspects of shooting like a professional landscape photographer and outline our approach to instruction.

At 4PM, we will proceed to our sunset shoot location determined by weather and lighting conditions. There we’ll begin working on the basics of field photography—composition, focus & exposure. With sunset at 7:45PM, we’ll most likely work until 8PM.

Day 2 - Sunday Setember 2

We will begin our day at 4:45AM shooting the delightful waterfalls, reflecting pools, and sandstone cliffs of Slide Rock State Park in Oak Creek Canyon with emphasis on long exposures of flowing water as we take advantage of the magnificent early morning reflected light that characterizes this section of Oak Creek.

Following breakfast at Indian Gardens, we'll return to Kim's studio for participant portfolio critiques. We’ll critique images based on composition, exposure, focus, lighting and creativity.

We'll spend the rest of the afternoon getting started with Lightroom, with a focus on file organization, archiving and RAW workflow.

Sunset will be spent at Red Rock Crossing further refining our field techniques.

Day 3 - Monday, September 3

Starting at 4:45AM, we'll head into Oak Creek Canyon for early morning at the West Fork Trail. Mid-morning will find us shooting Sedona vistas from Schnebly Hill.

After a late breakfast, we will continue our work in the digital darkroom beginning with Photoshop. We’ll outline the digital workflow process through to the final edits focusing on using non-destructive, layer-based adjustments in Photoshop.

After working through most of the afternoon, we'll choose a sunset location based on weather conditions and student feedback.

Day 4 - Tuesday, September 4

Our morning will begin again at 4:45 AM with a morning shoot that will be determined based on conditions, followed by a short stop for breakfast.

After breakfast we will continue our digital darkroom work by processing participants’ photographs from the workshop using Lightroom & Photoshop. We’ll go through the entire workflow process from beginning to end, preparing each photograph for the day’s printing session.
We’ll break for Lunch around 1PM and reconvene to continue processing photographs until it is time for our sunset shoot.

What's Included (and what's not!)

Unlike most of our guided expeditions where lodging is provided as part of the price, this workshop gives participants the opportunity to book their own lodging at a variety of world-class Sedona resorts. The workshop fees reflect this. Students will have to provide their own transportation.

While some early morning and mid-day snacks (yogurt, breakfast bars, trail mix, etc) and water will be provided to tide you over on our long days, all formal meals and drinks are the responsibility of participants.


Participant's Physical Fitness Requirements

As there is always an element of risk in any adventure associated with the outdoors, participants must be physically fit and capable of participating in outdoor photography in field locations and aware of any associated risks created by field locations and weather. Workshop instructors will take considerable time to familiarize participants with safety precautions, almost to a fault. It will be the responsibility of each participant to listen and follow precautions carefully. Your safety is our #1 priority and if necessary insuring your safety will take precedence over ruffled feathers!!

All participants are required to provide on our Registration form current and accurate medical information. Where applicable, participants will be required to provide medical release forms from their supervising physicians to participate in the outdoor physical activities associated with workshop photography.

Policies

Southwest Perspectives Photographic Workshops, Derek von Briesen, Kim Hoshal, all guides, and cooperating agents aim to provide every participant a safe, educational, and enjoyable experience. We act solely as agents for you regarding accommodations, special activities, and travel, by any means, and assume no liability for any act, error, omission, injury, loss, delay, mishap, or damage to persons or property arising from any cause during the course of the workshop or in transit thereto.

We can accept no responsibility for losses or additional expenses due to delay or changes in the services to be provided. We reserve the right to change our arrangements should conditions necessitate, or to cancel any aspect of the workshop due to exceptional circumstances.

In the event that we deem it necessary to cancel the workshop we will provide a full refund which the participant(s) acknowledges as full and final settlement. In the event of a workshop cancellation airline tickets, car rentals and hotel reservations associated with participation in this workshop will not be refunded. We recommend you purchase refundable airline tickets and make refundable car and hotel reservations. We strongly advise purchasing some form of trip insurance. We also recommend you carry travel and camera equipment insurance.

At the time of Registration, a 50% deposit is required. Payment in full must be made thirty days prior to the workshop. In the event that a participant cancels their workshop reservation, the cancellation must be at least sixty days prior to the workshop to receive a full refund. Cancellations less than sixty days prior to the workshop will be subject to $100 lost booking fee.

As there is always an element of risk in any adventure associated with the outdoors, participants must read the liability release form carefully. Participant's signed/dated release will certify that said participant is physically fit and capable of participating in outdoor photography exercises in field locations, and is fully and completely aware of any associated risks created by field locations and weather.

Meeting times, meeting places and itinerary are subject to changes dictated by the weather, the road conditions and other imponderable variables that are part of doing landscape photography. We will be carrying cell phones but reception is not always possible. You are responsible for being at the meeting place at the designated time and have your photographic & camping equipment with you.

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