The expo floor at Photoshop World is probably one of my favorite places. Oh don't get me wrong, I love all the different sessions you can take, but the expo floor, to me, is the heart of the conference because that's where you see what different companies have to offer, and do your extra learning.

It's not just vendors showing off hardware/software either, there's 2 mini theaters which give bonus classes from people such as Dave Black, Jeremy Cowart, and Helene Glassman. There's also a filming of Photoshop User TV.  The Grid was also filmed this time around (being a new show, it wasn't there last time), but if you were on the expo floor, you couldn't hear what they were saying.

The big draw, however, the last couple of expos has been the Westcott Shootout Booth.  Picture this - an area broken up into 4 separate sections. Each section has a scene that changes each day. It could just be a model sitting on a chair, it could be Red Riding Hood lost in the woods, or a samurai with his geisha.  Each scene is lit using Westcott Spiderlite constant lighting.  As a photographer, you can just go over to any of the scenes, and photograph the models.

Finding space to go over was the difficult part, since they were mobbed all the time.  I actually got lucky several times when I was over there and the models were on break, so once they came back, I had a prime shooting location.  I tried to just take my shots and move on, since honestly, how many shots do you need from the same angle with the same pose?

One thing that was added for this PSW was at certain points during the day, there were instructors in various scenes talking about models, posing them, talking to them, and shooting them. I actually found it very useful since I normally don't do this kind of shooting.  I did notice one of the instructors was standing in front of everybody though, preventing them from shooting, but other than that, it was a good idea.

I love visiting the various booths on the expo floor as well to see what's new, what's cool, and what I should buy.  I do know several people working at the booths (the APC crew, and onOne Software's Brian Matiash), so I enjoy being able to go around and talk to them.  There's always demos to sit through, books to buy, and people to talk to.

Related Posts: PhotoShop World Orlando 2011: The Concert Precon