Beginner Photography Workshop By Robert Sullivan with special guest: Miami Herald’s Al Diaz

• Learn photography basics
• Learn to use your camera in settings other than AUTO or SCENE MODE
• Get introduced to advanced concepts and techniques to learn later

This scheduling of this workshop addresses the concerns from many of our newer photographers that our past workshops and program nights were too often on advanced topics. New photographers often don’t even know what they don’t know and are at a loss as to where to start. As with most photographers, Robert experienced this issue and spent money on the wrong equipment and software. He remembers, well, wanting to get off to a running start but not knowing which were the best choices or even what the options were. He knows how to get new photographers past this frustrating information hurdle and will do so in this workshop.

The intent of this workshop is to jumpstart the learning process for our newer photographers by showing them how to get off of their automatic and/or scene settings. By the end of this workshop, attendees will know how to take control of their camera settings and intelligently capture scenes as they want to instead of how their camera thinks the scene should be captured. Attendees will learn basic photography fundamentals and they will be introduced to advanced techniques that they can look forward to exploring in future workshops (this will be the first in a series of workshops).

Recounting the stories behind many of his photographs and using them as examples, Robert will teach the basics of photography and illustrate photographic fundamentals, techniques, and rules (as well as when to break those rules). He will detail his workflow to include planning his shot (or entire photography trip), how to evaluate a scene considering many variables, what settings he uses, how to capture the scene, how he sometimes shoots tethered to his laptop computer, and how he post-processes his images to include his choice of software and why. He will have, on display, much of his photography gear such as cameras and lenses, external speedlights and remote triggers, studio flashes and light modifiers, equipment for macro photography such as extension tubes, as well as other gadgets that you may or may not have heard of such as the Camranger. While he will be following a general outline, he strongly encourages attendees to come with their questions and make this workshop, very much, a discussion to help them become better photographers. This is your chance to ask the questions that you haven’t yet had the opportunity to ask and delve into topics that you have wondered about.

This will be an information packed presentation which will be followed by an opportunity to break out into smaller groups so that brand specific settings can be discussed in detail. Robert will cover Nikon and Al Diaz of the Miami Herald will cover Canon. If a prospective attendee shoots another brand, please contact Robert Sullivan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. as soon as possible so that he can arrange to have someone knowledgeable in that brand on hand to lead that group.

This will be a workshop packed with an incredible amount of information: at first to teach the fundamentals, and then to introduce you to advanced techniques and concepts for you to explore in the future. Here are some of the points that Robert will cover:

• What exactly is photography?
• The only three factors necessary for a proper exposure (Only three?  Well, that simplifies things!)
• How those three factors relate to each other
• The effects throughout the range of each of those three factors and their pros and cons
• The benefits to taking your camera off of automatic mode
• How to purposefully and intelligently create the image you want instead of hoping your camera does it for you
• Why he shoots in aperture priority 90% of the time
• The "rules of photography" and when to break them
• Composition tips for different types of photography
• When to shoot wide angle and up close, and when to shoot telephoto from far away (either way, the frame can be filled with your subject, but the differences are huge!)
• What he uses:  He will have his equipment on hand and explain what it is, why he uses it, and the purpose for each
• What equipment you should upgrade first
• How he evaluates a scene and the steps he takes to capture it
• His workflow from image capture, through processing, to printing
• Lightroom or Photoshop?  He'll explain why one is, hands down, his preference
• What is a Plugin?  Hint: It's not an air freshener but it can speed up your post processing
• What lies ahead for you as you learn more about how to create excellent imagery?

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Cost: Free with Kendall Camera Club membership. Only $10 for non-members, to benefit Kendall Camera Club, and which may be applied toward a KCC membership at the workshop or at the first general membership meeting following the workshop.

View Robert Sullivan’s website here: www.robertsullivanphotography.com

Here is a gallery with some of Robert's amazing images: