It was just about two years ago when I attended a small food photography workshop held by The Austin Food Blogger Alliance. I went in all wide-eyed, and hungry for knowledge. Grasping my first DSLR in hand, still far from confident in my ability to comprehend its inner-workings, I spent that day soaking up as much information as I could. With a little guidance from one of my biggest food photography crushes, Marshall Wright, I was able to increase my understanding, and my skill grew by leaps and bounds. The photos above were taken that afternoon, and are still favorites of mine.
I think it says a lot about that workshop that only two years later I was asked to teach a class on food photography myself. I'm honored to be a part of the Austin Food Blogger Alliance's upcoming Photography Camp. I hope that I'll be able to help other budding photographers the way that Marshall and the workshop helped me.
While other instructors will be tackling details on shooting perfect pictures, I'll be taking on the post-process. My workshop will focus on editing photographs. First, we'll go over how to make basic edits, like crops, brightness and contrast adjustments, and re-sizing for web or print. After that, we'll move on to optimizing photos for social media by adding text, watermarks, and copyright information. I'll go over each task in Photoshop, Lightroom, and PicMonkey, and we'll even take a look at options for smart-phone photography.
Other workshops and classes going on throughout the day:
Food Photography 101 – Melissa Skorpil takes you through everything from how to plan a shoot to setting up lighting and using props.
Don’t Fear the Manual Setting – Chris Perez will help you step outside your autofocus safety zone.
Rig It – Ryan Schierling teaches you how to get the most out of your camera.
Phoning It In – Jane Ko will show that gorgeous photos can come from your phone, too.
All About the Gear – Peter Tsai discusses the best gear for your camera.
plus Breakout Shooting Sessions
The food provided during the event pushes it right over the top of awesome-mountain. Zhi Tea and Better Bites Bakery are providing morning treats. Lunch is being catered by Pamela Janes's New England Style Lobster Rolls. As if that wasn't enough, Chameleon Cold Brew and Dinner Lab will be sponsoring a killer happy hour to wrap things up.
So, what are you waiting for? Tickets are on sale now. $45 for AFBA members, and $75 for non-members. This is going down on Saturday, September 28 from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm in South Austin at the AOMA South Austin Campus.
Chomp.
