Tomas Mendoza Photography

Last night’s Class on lighting certainly was interesting and reaffirmed some old believes I have. It might be bulky and heavy (but not as heavy as an Army Back pack) so bring as much equipment as you can… it’s better to have and not need than need and…Sorry, I don’t have it.

I asked a friend to join our class and be the model for the night and when the shooting begun… my main camera decided to take the night off, the strobe filter holder broke…I had to improvise and use my backup camera and another flash and set it as slave. Now, this is something that doesn’t happen often and when it does we have to be prepared and think on our feet.

If we are going to freeze a moment in time then is only fair for us to adapt as fast as the moment we’re trying to capture

The best part? The students were directing me to correct the light as they kept seeing the results on the monitor…and I have never worked with anybody directing me so it was a great experience and I hope the students learned how directional light works. It pays to have Backups, take the time to know your equipment and learn how to use it

I just completed Tomas’ photography workshop and I can’t say enough GREAT things about him and his class. He gave me a better understanding of how to use setting on my camera such as f-stop, shutter speed and ISO and in turn the pictures that I am taking of my family have been a million times better. I would recommend that anyone who wants to learn more about their camera and how to improve their pictures take this class! Tomas is a great teacher and you can tell he has a passion for what he is doing. Thanks Tomas!

Kelli Merrill

I’ve been into photography as long as I can remember. Nothing special, just regular point and shoot stuff. I never entirely did it with a sense of art, but mostly just to capture the moments. Eventually I noticed and had comments that my shots were great and were very artful. I eventually started trying more from the artist prospective. I bought my Nikon D80 in 2007 planning on trying to be a tad more “professional” with my photography. I unfortunately didn’t use the camera all that much and still preffered my Canon powershot as it was easier and more compact. About mid-year 2008 I started playing around with my D80 much more and trying to figure out all the settings. I took it with me everywhere on my work travels for opportunities to capture landscapes and people. I could not figure out how to use anything, but full Auto mode. I tried reading some books, but just did not grasp the concept of everything working together (aperture, shutter and ISO). I did some searching for photography classes in the DFW area and got in contact with Tomas Mendoza who had a six-week workshop close to my home. I wasn’t expecting much, but to learn the basics. Tomas astonished me with his knowledge and techniques. I immediately started to understand how the triad (A, S, ISO) each worked and what they specifically did. Ever since taking Tomas’ workshop I have worked pretty much in Manual mode since now understand how to bring everything together for my conception of the perfect shots.

I highly recommend Tomas’ workshop to beginners and even some advanced persons interested in photography. It is a GREAT benefit!

Ryan “Dre” Ondrey

I would suggest that anyone who would like to improve their photographs and better understand their camera take this class.
I now understand f-stop, shutter speed and ISO and I am able to take pictures that look great. My friends and family cannot believe that I am the person taking the pictures because they have a professional quality to them now.
Thomas is a great teacher who is very personable and has a sincere desire to share his love of photography with others. 
You will not be disappointed!
-Lauren

Picture taken by Lauren

An assumption we need to get out of the way is that in Digital Photography there is no Happily ever after. That’s right! Keep in mind that first you have a concept of a picture then you prepare and take the picture and finally you begin post-production
This last stage is as important (if not more) as the rest of the process. Post-Production covers pretty much everything we do with the picture once we release the shutter.
This is the Hardware and Software I use for Photography. On the hardware side: PC with Windows XP with dual P4 3.2 GHz CPU, 4GB of memory, Dell Flat LCD, Epson Printer and a bunch of External Maxtor One Touch Hard Drives. On the software: Photomechanic, Photoshop CS2, Fotofusion, Memories on TV, Genuine Fractuals, Panorama Maker, Tiffen DFX, JAlbum, Dreamweaver, Mcafee, Backup Exec, Nero and various recovery utilities.
Workflow has to be as systematic as possible so I use PhotoMechanic to ingest my pictures to the corresponding month/year. I do this every day or after I’m done with a ‘project’. I use Photoshop (and plug-ins) to edit pictures when needed making sure I keep the originals and work on copies ONLY. Most importantly, I have all my data on a separate Internal Hard Drive so if Windows get hosed I can re-install Windows and not loose a single picture. Also, I make backups to external Maxtor Hard Drives

Use a dedicated Drive and store by year

…then, store by month