As a member of the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (SWPP)I decided I would take advantage of one of their members courses which was planned for Bournemouth.

The course was being run by John Denton and was billed to cover ambient and flash lighting portraiture. An added bonus was that John had secured the services of Nikki Hafter as our model.

The day started with a get to know you session and then we were straight into shooting in ambient light with John showing us techniques and tips to make the best of the location we had, while Nikki helped out with the posing.

The image above was taken simply by sitting Nikki in a doorway and the black background achieved due to the light falloff within the building.

We then ventured outside and shot Nikki against the surrounding architecture with John demonstrating how great shots can be easily and quickly captured by thinking about the direction of the available light.

Another change for Nikki and now John introduced some flash, explaining about its use and showing how simple it is to use.

Next it was change of outfit for Nikki and down onto the beach.

Going a bit off topic I took the opportunity to take some hi-key shots as the light and Nikki's look really cried out for that treatment.

Here John demonstrated how flash can be used to balance ambient light, underexposing the background to give drama.

A really simple an effective technique to add that something extra to portraits. Especially bride and groom sessions.

We finished off the day at the waters edge experimenting with a more arty setup to give a striking image reminiscent of a car bonnet mascot!

All in all a great day. A big thanks to John and Nikki who we great and to The Societies for organising the day. As a member it is great to catch up with other members and share ideas and network.

If you are thinking about attending a day then from my experience I can only thoroughly recommend you do.