moba photography: Oz Kharawala Portraits for Profit Workshop @ Nikon

This is another great course at Nikon. The course deals with the issues running social photography business as well as technical side of the social photography.

In terms of the technical aspects, Oz's approach is very clear; keep it simple. He uses one or two off-camera Nikon's speed lights with umbrella (if necessary) and use the following method:

- Set the ISO to 200 (fix)

- Set the aperture to f/4 (fix)

- Set the shutter speed to whatever the exposure of the background is correct (fix as long as the light condition stays the same)

Then change the output of the flash in the manual mode so that the exposure of the subject becomes correct, so essentially the control variable is only one; the flash output.

This is a very practical approach because in the actual situation time is always the matter. It is not only because the time is always limited and it is necessary to get results in the short period of time but also because it gives the clients a good impression as a professional photographer. People tend to start feeling irritated and to question the ability of the photographer if he is spending long time looking at the back of the camera without taking many photographs.

The course contains the practice of taking pictures of a professional model both inside and outside, which I think increases the value of this course.

I had never taken pictures of a professional model, so I was impressed by how she can change the posture and the facial expression quickly and easily. I should have given instructions or at least communicated with her while I was taking pictures of her, but I couldn't. But still she changed the pose, smiled, looked at the camera, looked away from the camera etc. She looked so attractive through the view finder, which made it really easy to take pictures. I guess she is used to be photographed by inexperienced photographers like me in this workshop, but still I think it was great and I understand the value of professional models.

The workshop also contains the topics about the business side of the photography, and the advice on the branding and the psychology regarding the pricing was really interesting. Since I am not a professional social photographer at the moment, I feel like it is a long way to go (if I wanted to become a social photographer), but still it is great to have an opportunity to listen to the invaluable advice.

Oz also does a separate workshop dedicated to the business issues as well, so for those who are seeking business advice, it is probably the workshop to go.

Some of the photographs I took during the course are as follows (model: Katie Green):