One on One Classes now available

Richard Charpentier HDR, Notes from Rich, Photography, Photomatix, RLC Design Leave a Comment

For over a year now I’ve heard the same question.

“When are you going to start doing classes?”

The answer today?  Now.  Yesterday I conducted my first official one on one photo class with a regular client of mine.  He’s been taking many design and photography classes over the past few years in your standard classroom format, and he really wanted to try something different.  So we scheduled an individual class on HDR, and got together yesterday for the session.

How did it go?  Well, we’ve already scheduled a second session.

I’ve done several one on one’s over the past year, but never offered it as an actual service.  Yesterday was the official start of the offering.  But to let you know, prior clients have come back for follow ups, and that’s why I decided to start officially offering this as a service.

While we covered HDR setup on his camera, settings for indoor and outdoor scenes, Photomatix, using Lightroom with Photomatix, and what really goes into HDR, I’d say all of that wasn’t the important part of our session.  What was the most important part?

Getting the client familiar with his camera.

He’s had a DSLR for over a year now, and it gets used a lot (in automatic mode).  And he was still extremely unfamiliar with all of the menu options on the camera.  While we covered starting into HDR fairly well, I noticed that the most important part of our sessions was getting him comfortable with his camera.  We actually over ran the session by 20 minutes, but that was okay with me.

Client #2 for one on one training has already signed up.  Next Monday we’ll be getting together to do an introduction on using a DSLR.

You know what really confuses people?  Aperture, shutter speed, what’s ISO all about, etc.  Not kidding, these are the biggies with everyone I’ve ever talked to.  How do you change your depth of field?  Why should I shoot in RAW.  What’s up with ISO, shutter speed, and aperture?  Should I just use automatic?  Do I need a better camera?  Lenses? And so on……..

In addition to one on one classes I’m looking to do a few series for groups this year.  Topics?  Introduction to your DSLR, Real World HDR, Introduction to Photoshop, Introduction to a Lightroom Workflow, and finally, Creating Stylized Images in Photoshop. Why these topics first?  Because this is what I get asked about multiple times per week.

Classes with Rich Charpentier

Starting out, the one on one training is available now.  Drop a note or comment here if you’re interested.  It’s $65 per hour for one on one training.  If you want to bring a friend along the rate goes to $50 per hour each (so that’s a savings of $15 each).  After yesterday’s session, I can tell you it’s worth it, and I’ll be posting my clients’ comments on here soon.

Ah, testimonials!

Over the next month I’ll be getting some packages together for group classes, and when ready I’ll announce it here.  I’ve already got the class structure ready, just need to fill in some more presentation information.  It won’t take long.  Back in my wireless engineering days I used to put tech packages together for folks brand new to switching and networking.  Tech writing for novices is a specialty of mine.

So, why don’t you do more detailed tech writing intros here Rich?  Uh, I want to make a living…..  🙂

Here’s looking forward to an interesting and educational year here at the Airstream Chronicles.  Oh, and wait until you hear about the workshops I’m going to start offering (more on that in February).

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