What I Learned from the Canon Photoeskwela

Last September 25, I attended the Canon Photoeskwela at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran conducted by international photographer, Del Benson. He was spontaneous, hands-on, and interactive the whole session, making us feel more interested as he focused on "Lighting." I was not jotting down notes as paper and pen were unavailable so here are the things that he taught us, according to my memory.

Mr. Benson tackled the basic elements of light in photography namely "light source," "specular" and "shadow." He also told us something about diffused spot, or as I understood it, the part that is neither the specular nor the shadow. Specular is the mirror-like reflection of light from a surface, while Shadow is an area where direct light from a source of light cannot reach due to obstruction by an object, which is the cue ball itself, as referred to the photo below.

The light source can be a natural light (sun, window, outdoor), an artificial light (electric bulb, lamp, candle, etc.), or a reflector (something that reflects the original source of light). He even demonstrated how to make an immediate photo studio by just using a window as the source of light, three student volunteers wearing white shirt as reflector, and a chair where the subject could take a pose. The demo also showed us the difference between a photo with a reflector and a photo without one.

More than the basics, Mr. Benson taught us how to capture emotions by taking pictures of people as our subject; that there is no better way to preserve a family's history than to take actual photos - candid, carefree, and unobstrusive. He also said that online photos (uploaded through social networking sites such as Facebook) are not creating a legacy. Files can be corrupted at any time and it is all gone forever. We have to print photos to make history; to make memories last; and to create a legacy.

Interested to see my sample photos? Wait till I upload all of them. Internet connection at home has been cut. Sorry.