Uploaded to Flickr on 5th March, 2008.

Yesterday I attended a one-day lighting workshop with Neil van Niekerk, a wedding photographer from New Jersey.

Neil’s workshop was about being able to use on and off-camera flash effectively, something that many photographers tend to be afraid of, since they don’t want a picture to look flashed-out. But the point of the day was showing us ways to use flash such that it looks natural, and many times better than the same shot taken without flash.

We started out the day at the Golden Gate Club in the Presidio, where Neil gave a presentation that lasted until around lunch time. After that, we took a few shots inside and around the building, before heading over to Baker Beach to grab some sunset shots. After dinner at Tiernan’s Irish Pub (where, incidentally, an Irish band was singing Johnny Cash songs…awesome!), we walked around Ghiradelli Square to take some night shots.

The workshop was so much fun, and I learned a ton. While I don’t think I took any blow-me-away shots, I do think that I learned enough to have a solid base from which to start practicing and growing. Definitely worth it, and very…illuminating.

If anyone is interested, I’ll post some of the same shots without flash so you can compare a shot with and without flash.