MJ2Day - Day One

I'm home from my long, busy trip! I attended Melissa Jill's 2-day workshop in Phoenix, and from there I spent a week in Colorado Springs for my final training with the Navigators. It was a great week, but I have a ton of catching up to do!

During the first day of the workshop, Melissa Jill taught us about various shooting techniques, her favorite lighting situations, posing, shooting locations, off-camera flash, and post-processing. I loved learning from Melissa because she's so down-to-earth and doesn't hesitate from sharing her tips and tricks. When she began the sessions, she said she was going to tell us everything in her brain...and at the end of this first day, my brain was a little tired! Here are a couple highlights from the things I learned on day one:
1. Back Button Focus. I had read about this on Melissa's blog {you can find the post here}, but I'm such a visual learned that I didn't "get it" just by reading her post. But when she explained it in person, it totally clicked for me. I feel like I have so much more control over my camera's focus now, though it did take a while to get used to. It'll take me a while to feel fully confident using the back button, but I can tell I'll never want to go back!

2. Lighting techniques. Lighting is something that has always stumped me. Do I take my subject in the shade...facing the sun...with their backs to the sun using a little fill light flash...? Melissa taught us the 2 lighting situations she looks for, and if that was all I had learned, this workshop would've been totally worth it. First, the edge of a shady area. Like in the shade of a building, right at the edge of where the shade meets the sun. This provides beautiful directional light for portraits. Her favorite lighting situation is backlighting. This is where the subject is lit from behind by the sun, but the sun is partially blocked by something like a building or tree (the simplified explanation!). Then, what's really fun is moving around the subject to create some sun flare!

After our sessions, we all went to Old Town Gilbert for a mock engagement shoot of a gorgeous couple. It was so helpful to learn from watching Melissa in action! I sure can't imagine being photographed by 14 photographers, can you?! I was amazed at how laid back and natural they were! Here are some photos from the day:

I was using too long of a lens to get all of this sweet red door in the photo!

Meghan had such a great laugh!

A taste of Melissa Jill's home - it was beautiful!

Here are a couple funny things my roommate Kama and I saw on our way to the workshop. I still can't believe that truck! I would have loved to see those folks pile all that on top! Yikes! And the photo on the left - don't we all need a good reminder to not eat the billboard?! =)

Stay tuned for a recap of day two!