Answer to an email question

Boy am I cheating, today. Rather than writing something original, I’m just pasting the answer I gave in an email.

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Hi,
I have dreamed of being a photogragpher most of my life. I can't say I am the best. I need alot of help. PS is my best friend, because my pictures aren't. I had my first "job" the day after Thankgiving…A wedding. I chose to use my new Gary Fong. It stole my light. I had to turn my flash all the way up and increase my ISO as well. My pictures were dark and grainy. My bride's mother and sister are upset, because it's taking too long to edit the photos. My husband is discouraging me, because editing the photos is taking time away from family.(I work full time as a nurse as well, and have a VERY demanding 4 year old.)
Lighting is my biggest obsticle. I want to go to school…my husband says I don't need it, I can teach myself. What can you recomend?
I am 52 years old, I feel like I am running out of time to live my dream. Waaaaaa, Right?
Thanks,

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_____, divorce the husband and put the kids up for adoption!!! OK, no wait — don’t do that. But don’t give up on your dream.

Many top photographers don’t have four year degrees in photography, but ALL have regularly attended workshops and seminars. Even though I teach workshops, I still try to attend one or two, every year — and I’m 64 and shot my first wedding in 1972.

As for the Lightsphere — any diffuser, by definition, will attenuate the light, to some degree. Also, understand that there is no universal tool that is perfect for all situations. Still, for studio quality light, the Lighsphere is one of the best. The key is to use it properly: Flash on TTL, camera on manual: 1/30, ISO 400, f 2.8. Of course, you may need to make changes, depending on specific situations, but the general idea is to shoot as wide open as possible, depending of the depth of field needs, and then to drag the shutter a little.

What is taking so long, re: editing? I mean, if you are just compensating for underexposure, why not write an action to add an f-stop, of whatever is the appropriate adjustment. Do you have Lightroom? If so, you can increase exposure on one image, then sync 100s of other images in just a few minutes.

Too late for the wedding that you already shot, but learn to use what the camera is telling you — learn about the histogram and the exposure information it can give. If you do that, and check your exposure, periodically, you will never shoot an entire event, again, only to learn the you blew the exposure. Those tools are there for a reason – learn to use them. They are ‘free’ and covered in your owner’s manual.

While school is nice, and can speed up the learning process, there is still a huge amount of information available online — google !!!

A great resource for learning flash is http://strobist.blogspot.com/

Also, if you haven’t, already, immediately join the [b] School.

Changing the way photographers connect. Join The [B] School Today!

Thanks for taking the time to write.

— Thanks to all of you who take time to write, and place some trust in my opinions