We are a small commercial studio in the North of England, a few years ago we ran 1-day introductory courses in studio photography, attended mainly by keen amateurs. We're planning on holding another course, and would appreciate any suggestions on what the content should be. So far, most of our students have had no experience of LF, but we have shown how shots are set up and shot on LF, mainly because this is the normal professional tool and partly because it produces decent size polaroids, so that the effects of camera position, lighting and movements can be easily seen. We also shoot on MF. Our subject matter is advertising and commercial - our speciality - and you will see from the above that the course cannot be too technical. We just want to teach people how to approach this kind of work and how to think creatively. Any ideas? Thanks.

-- Garry Edwards (bestsnapper@aol.com), March 07, 2001

Answers

Cursory tour of basics in: film selection, camera operation, and film processing concepts. More in-depth of: a few lighting techniques, proper metering and exposure. For the latter, encourage note-taking if any of your students anticipate doing studio work. You can assess their learning at the end by creating a basic assignment (work in groups of 3) to expose some film of a simple object with a basic lighting protocal you have gone over, such as with the infamous wine glass against a black background, etc. andre

-- Andre Noble (andrenoble@usa.net), March 07, 2001.

How and where to purchase gear cheaply (assuming that's possible in the Isles) dealers you've dealt with, etc.

-- Sean yates (yatescats@yahoo.com), March 08, 2001.

At one time, Calumet had a one-day or half-day course on LF. You might check with them, to see what class materials that they have.

-- neil poulsen (neil.fg@att.net), March 08, 2001.