Photography Workshop with Chung Li

I've been told that my photography is really good even by professional photographers, but I always respond by telling them I have no idea what I'm doing, I just find the angle I like and play with my flash and take the photo. I've had a DSLR for over 3 years now and I found out through an industry colleague that there was an introductory DSLR class being offered by Chung Li Photography in the Bay Area. So I contacted Chung Li and he still had space available and signed up.

I've always wanted to know how to use my settings and stop using automatic. This was my chance to take a 7 hour intensive class and learn all there is to know about how to take a good picture with the right exposure. Chung explained aperture, ISO, shutter speed and proper exposure. The first half of the day was about theory and understanding the basics of a camera and what everything means. A lot of it didn't make a lot of sense to me until the second half of the day where we got to practice at the Ralston Hall in Belmont. This is where I think I grasped what he was trying to explain to us in the morning.I was at a slight disadvantage since everyone there was a Canon user and I was the ONLY Nikon user. But I managed to figure out my settings based on what Chung was teaching us. I got more and more comfortable using the M (manual) mode and adjusting my aperture and shutter speed, but also getting the right exposure. He also explained about what settings to change based on the desired effect we wanted to capture.


I am so glad I took this class and every day I practice with my camera so that one day it becomes intuitive! Here's some photos I took that day and also I gave Chung a little gift of clay flowers since he had never seen them in person so he had taken some lovely photos for me!
If you live in the Bay Area and want to take a introductory 1 day class to learn about your DSLR, Chung is offering another class on 8/22! Please be sure to contact him ASAP as he only accepts 8 students. He even provides coffee and cupcakes for breakfast! He's a great teacher and for the price for 7 hours you cannot beat it. He will be offering intermediate classes as well in the fall and I'm definitely looking forward to learning more about dynamic posing, studio lighting and post processing. Now I just need to get my LightRoom 2 out of the box and start helping my work flow!
For more information visit www.chungliphotography.blogspot.com. Chung is an AWESOME photographer! So if you're looking for someone to do family portraits or your wedding, he's definitely someone you want to check out and keep in mind as a possible photographer!

I've been practicing with my camera in and out of the studio and will hopefully share in a couple weeks pictures I've been taking. I can see a dramatic improvement in many of my photos, but I have to admit when it comes to my flowers, I still shoot a lot using my Macro setting! Sorry Chung! LOL.