Geez, I gotta follow David Hobby? Did I think that through?

Even though David, in the rest of his life, is a bit of a night owl, he will take on the morning shift, as he says, employing manual control, where the photog drives the train. For me, I will try to wake everybody up from their post-lunch stupor by spinning up TTL solutions and building on David's direction and teaching.

Planet TTL, as I call it, is an uncertain place, where disaster lurks behind every choice of f-stop and power level! It is a bit of a high wire, in which the photog literally consults with the camera about the path and nature of the light, and there is occasional disagreement, or even an outright argument.

That doesn't mean I don't teach manual solutions, and the mix of manual and TTL. Do it all the time. The important message of what I teach is that it is all about the management of light, and it doesn't matter where that light comes from. True, I use Nikon flashes, but I have Canon (and other systems) users in my workshops all the time. Good light is good light, plain and simple, be it a Nikon, a Canon, or a car headlight. (We won't be using those for demo purposes, however.)

What light is appropriate for what face and situation? Hard light or soft light? One light solutions or multiple light scenarios? Lights from up close or and far away? Soft box or umbrella? White light or gels for color? All lighting approaches say a different thing, and describe the subject at hand differently. It is language that we speak.

The afternoon session will be filled with real time demo, and playing out another round of the ongoing game of making little lights look and feel like big lights. Under that umbrella (ouch!) anything goes.