At the start of September I was invited to take part in a photography workshop with Pandora Maund from Going digital. I jumped at the chance of attending, I love to learn and believe it’s very important to continue improving upon your skills after you finish in education. Ever since I took a lighting course at the V&A last November I’ve had my eye on courses and Pandora’s didn’t disappoint. I was also keen to meet more people from Sheffield so this sounded like the perfect opportunity.
The hotel was very easy to find, it’s situated right next to the Sheffield United football stadium so you can’t miss it. Our morning started of with an introductory photography workshop. We covered all the essentials such as depth of field, aperture, white balance, composition, focal point and exposure. Pandora and her team popped ’round to each table to show us some simple shortcuts for our cameras and to ensure that everyone was keeping up to speed. I didn’t feel awkward to ask a question because the whole team was very friendly (essential when you’re on a course).
After the session was over we all headed downstairs for lunch. The event was hosted at the beautiful Copthorne Hotel which is part of the Millenium Group. They put on a very stylish and delicious selection of food which was much welcomed after a morning of learning. The staff were really friendly at the hotel and it has warming and cosy feel to it. If you’re in Sheffield for business or a weekend trip then you should check it out.
Once lunch was over we were all set a few challenges and headed into the Sheffield United football stadium. The lovely Fran from the fantastic blog, The Style Creative was my partner in crime for the afternoon. We snapped our way around the stadium armed with our new skills.
Here are 3 simple but useful tips to keep in mind next time you’re snapping photos for your blog:
– White Balance – If you’re shooting inside your house then try out the tungsten setting – it will help with that annoying orange/yellow light that you’ll be familiar with.
– Large Depth of Field – For a large depth of field (everything in focus) set your aperture to a large f number – this will give you a long shutter speed so it might be useful to use your tripod.
– Small Depth of Field – For a small depth of field (subject in focus and background blurred) use a small f number – this will give you a slow short shutter speed and it’s good to use when you’re doing portraits.
I had a very good day, picked up some handy tips and met some lovely people. Thank you to Copthorne Hotel (check out their post on the day), Going Digital and Joe Blogs for inviting me to the event.
I’m keen to take more courses in the near future to continue improving my photography skills, if you know of any good ones in Sheffield, London or Cambridge then please let me know.