Cuba Libre

My friend John Francis from Catchlight Studios sent me a note last week inquiring why I hadn’t signed up for a workshop at Cuba Libre. John & Susan Germyn operate Catchlight Studios. In addition to their photography work, they also host training workshops for Harmon Photo in Orlando. I told him that I was a bit tired of the group-shoot offerings. There’s nothing wrong with workshops. In fact, I’ve enjoyed many of them. It’s like Baseball Fantasy camp for a day. You get to shoot some cool models, locations, or whatever is the subject of the workshop, plus you get instruction and access to gear that a lot of folks may not own.

The downside of workshops is dependent upon how other participants behave. One of the aspects that frustrates me is when people are taking shots of the model at the same time. That can confuse the model because he or she may not know who is giving direction or where to look. Some workshops are worse than others in this aspect. Fortunately, this one worked out rather well. John & Susan briefed everyone at the beginning of the workshop that the model will take direction from one person at a time. It’s nearly impossible to control the photographers from sniping shots, but at least this way the model knows who is giving direction and you can compose the shots you want when it’s your turn.

The thing that got me to attend this workshop was the location. Don’t get me wrong, the models are lovely, but I had no idea who would be there. What intrigued me was the idea of shooting a fashion/lifetyle scenario in Cuba Libre at Pointe Orlando. Cuba Libre is a restaurant & bar with an outstanding facade; lush colors, patina, wrought iron and a fantastic rustic appearance.

We had three models (Megan, Rachelle & Tasha) and three different areas to shoot. Each area, beside having its own distinct look, also had different lighting opportunities. The top image here with Megan was shot with flash. That particular image was shot with a single Nikon SB-900 through a Lastolite Ezybox. Since the participants had different makes of cameras, we used Pocket Wizards instead of CLS to fire the flash. I shot that image at 1/8th second shutter speed to pull in the ambient light. Despite the fact that the shutter was so slow, the short duration of the flash keeps the subject sharp.

Another station used Westscott Spiderlights; a pair of continuous lights in softboxes. I’d never tried shooting with those before, and I have mixed feelings about it. The good news is that it makes shooting much faster, since you aren’t waiting for any recycle time. If you want to hold down the shutter and blast away, you can do it. What I didn’t like was that it’s your only source of light. That means you need to select a shutter speed fast enough to stop all motion. You can’t drag the shutter to let ambient light creep in and expect a short flash to keep your image sharp. Well, at least I didn’t think of a way to do that during the shoot. I came away with some shots that I really loved, but upon closer inspection on my computer, were a bit softer than acceptable to me. That’s one of the things I like about a workshop, though. You get to experiment a bit to see if you like something or not. My opinion is that the Spiderlights could be great for product shots, table-top, etc. I don’t think that I want to buy them for a model shoot, though. I tend to like slower shutter speeds.

The final station used traditional studio strobes with a variety of light modifiers, including softboxes, umbrellas and a ring flash. Once again, it shows that a workshop is a good way to try out different ways of lighting a scene. I had never tried a ring flash before, but I came away wanting one. Perhaps that’s the downside of trying out different lighting gear; wanting to spend more money so you have those toys in your own bag of tricks.

Despite my hesitation to do another group shooting event, this one really was a blast. We had a small group of 13 people. One person caused a bit of drama and left. Oddly, this seems to happen at every workshop. Once the drama guy leaves, the rest of us just continue shooting to have fun. I’m sitting here with hundreds of shots to review and share with the models. I also made a few connections with other participants who have access to interesting locations, so workshops offer a nice way to network. You can go to workshops for learning, to try new things, or meet people with similar interests. In the end, it’s about helping you make better photos.