auto no more: dslr workshop with rachel johnson

on saturday, may 30th i gathered with a wonderful group in crestwood for rachel johnson's auto no mroe dslr photography workshop. rachel blogs over at stupid good rachel, has worked with bon appetit and cooking light, runs her own lunch delivery business here in birmingham and has great insight on how to take your best photos with no fancy equipment involved.

food was our subject, so of course, we had some treats to enjoy after the workshop was over! how fantastic does this quinoa look?!

key takeaways

• light is your best friend. rachel holds what some may consider a controversial opinion: if there's no good light, don't shoot. simple. sometimes you can create artificial light in a slightly dim restaurant by diffusing your phone's flash through a glass of water, but otherwise, stick to natural light.
• manual is not a nightmare. becoming familiar with f-stop, iso and your shutter speed makes all the difference in the world when it comes to adjusting how your photos look. rachel reccomends a shutter speed of 1/125, iso around 300-400 and an f-stop of 3-4. of course, these settings all depend on how much light you're working with!
• use tools like white posterboard or a board wrapped in foil to bounce light and eliminate unsightly shadows. these items are cheap and simple to obtain.
  
  

huge thanks to rachel for hosting this incredible workshop! thank you for being such an asset to birmingham. oh, and thank you for the delicious food! (i didn't get any photos of the brownies - but trust me, they were killer!)

rachel will be moving to austin, texas next month, so texas folks, y'all are in for a treat! visit stupid good rachel for recipes, photo tips and future workshops!