Transcripts
1. How to Make Your Photographs Interesting: Hey there, if you
click on this class, Welcome. My name is Nicollet. I am a photographer. And in this course we
are going to be jumping into all things
portrait photography. We're gonna be talking
about how to make your photographs
more interesting. I know it can be hard sometimes. In this class we're
gonna be talking about point-by-point, different things that
you can consider to make your
photographs a bit more enticing to your audience and a bit more
appealing overall. Some things you may have
already considered, other things may be completely new to you and you might say, Wow, I never considered that. It's gonna be a fun class. I'm excited to talk a little
bit more with you guys about all these little
tips and tricks. So if that's something
that interests you, then go ahead, click the button. Let's go ahead and
start the class. I look forward to
seeing you guys there.
2. Moodboards and Budgets: Hello there and welcome
into the class. Our first topic of
discussion today is going to be budget
and moodboards. As discussed in the
previous little section. Today we're gonna be talking
about elements and prompts. What can you include
in your photographs to make them look interesting and appealing to your viewers or whoever it is that you're
looking to, please. The first thing that I
like to think about is, of course, a mood board. Mood boards to me are pivotal. They're so important if you come in with a vision of
what it is that you want, It's a lot easier to
fill in those gaps of the things that
you might want to include or not include, so on and so forth. So creating a mood board is the absolute first step in any photoshoot and
my personal opinion. The next most important
thing is, well, budgets. How much do you want to spend on your
upcoming photoshoot? Now, for some people,
they might say, hey, it's gonna be a free
photoshoot, do whatever. Yes, it just kinda depends on how how involved you want
to be in the process. I've encountered a good
variety of different things on my photo sessions from models coming with makeup
that did not look good. Morals that come with hair
that doesn't look good. Models come in with outfits
that literally were old. When you were just like look, this is faded or it's peeling. So there's a lot of aspects
of photography that you do have to consider budgets and where you want to spend. For some cases they might come with everything
perfect outfit wise, and all you have to worry
about is the props, location, so on and so forth. But again, figuring out what
your mood is for the shoot, and then figuring out
how much you're willing to spend helps provide the direction and the
trajectory of where it is that you want to
take your photo session.
3. Styling: So now you've broken down
how much you want to spend, what the vibe is,
so on and so forth. And now you have to figure
out, okay, what elements, what prompts can I use to
make my photos interesting? We're going to break it into, I would say about
four or five parts. And that way you guys can kind of figure out ways to make it interesting
within each category. The first thing that I'd like
to talk about is styling. So you can use clothes as an
accessory or as a proper, as an element to make
your photos interesting. As seen in this example, I used a model and the model had some pretty Sheikh
looking sunglasses. We decided to have the
sunglasses brought forward and then have
her in the background. And again, it made the image a little bit more interesting because you're seeing
her through the glasses. In another example showed here, I had the model come
to the beach and I had about 20 yards of
tool that I had sitting underneath my
bed for quite some time. And I said, Hey, find a way
to make this interesting. Let's actually use the tool. So I wrapped her
up at the beach, made her look nice and cute with this fake makeshift dress. God, or to go out into the
shore and a little bit. And then I use the fabric to cross the lens a
little bit tougher, flowing the lens to have it be a little bit
more interesting. Another sample isn't sworn here. I had another model come
and she had a very lacy, loopy, stringy
looking outfit on. And she just did this
stretch and stretch and meter have all of the
strings on her face, again providing another
level of interests. So clothing can be a one
thing that you can use to make your image
Interesting per se. You don't have that much
of a budget to spend, but you want to spend it
on some outfit, go for it. That is a great first step.
4. Backdrops: The next thing in a photoshoot
that can be multipurpose from just an element or a frog, or just the backdrop setting, it's up to you, is well,
exactly that. Backdrops. Backdrops like seamless
paper fabrics, so on and so forth. You can use to make your
images interesting. And you might say,
okay, seamless paper, how can I make my
image Interesting? Well, I'm here to show you. Cutting a hole sometimes
can make it interesting. I did a campaign for a Sunglass Company and we were getting some really cool shots. The stylus came, they
did their thing. They had the makeup
done really well. They had the whole vibe down. But something in me said, how do I pull out the sunglasses to make them the main focus? I thought whom? Let's cut a little
bit of the backdrop and see what we can do. I cut it from the back
and then peeled it in different directions
in the front and then had the model
sticker head through. Honestly, it was one of
my favorite photographs for a long time. I back later with
orange gel and then had a diffused light in
front and again, her face, the sunglasses, you just could see, that
was the primary focus. So you're using your
backdrop is also a good way to make your image interesting. Another studio example that
I have is this one here. I had purchased this
cool pink vinyl that was in the fashion
district that I said, I don't know what I'm
going to use this for, but let me try it. And I hung it up on the backdrop Stand similar to this one. And I just had it laying there. We took a few shots with the
model in front of it and I love that wet sheet look that
was going on behind her. But I said, hm, How about
you go behind the backdrop? Let's see what that would look
like with some adjustments to lighting that also made
the image interesting. Kinda cross her face
in an interesting way. And we were able to get
some images that again, I was super happy with
at the end of the day. So looking at outfits,
that's the first ship, figuring out how you can use them to make your
image interesting. Once you can do that, great. For say the outfits a
little bit more plain, then you can look
to your backdrop setting and figure out, okay, what can I do with this
factor on besides just have it be a backdrop. You feel me.
5. Props: The next element of making photos interesting is
legitimate props, right? So you have your styling, you know how you want to do it. Then you have your setting, which can be either an
indoor studio setting, could be an outdoor setting
up to your preference. Now you're thinking,
what prompts can I use? Again, this kind of goes
into your entire mood board, sort of vibe that you
had often joke with that mood board that we able
to direct and figure it out. But prompts can make it super interesting and you
can use them in a variety of different ways. As you can tell with
a lot of my examples, studio setting is where
I absolutely love and I find it super
fun and it's just, you have to make something
out of literally nothing. And so that to me has always
been a fun challenge. But prompts can just, you know, they light up the
room in a different way. One of my recent samples
was this image here. I had some, I forget
what these are called, but it was like leaves of sort. And we had the model have the leaves in front
of him and just kind of hold it ever so gently. And then I had a assistant beside me and then
he was also kind of fanning those leaves
and we were able to get this element that
just like a flowy, wispy sort of vibe. I absolutely loved it. Again with that same model. I brought him to a home setting and we wanted to go for
lavish riches lives. He had just a general, just a white shirt,
black tie sort of vibe. But we saw a glass and
the glass was like, Okay, Glass for alcohol. Perfect. And we took that glass and we started implementing it within the shots to make
it look like he's a lavish man, drinking. Again, moodboards, important. Gotta know what your vibe
is and you can kind of move into the photoshoot and have that whole
sort of look. But having those
additional prompts can really make an
image Interesting.
6. Depth: My last note when it comes to making photos interesting is, well, considering depth, depth
I think is very important. It is something that again, can make or break an image. Ways to include depth within your photography is even in
an outdoor setting, right? From shooting weddings
for years, like I did. One of those shots that I felt always was super interesting, was shooting through greenery, shooting through flowers,
shooting through the outdoors. You gave this like
peekaboo perspective of someone's watching
such an intimate moment. Let's make it happen. You can do that with a regular portrait photography as well. Someone can be posing
in the background by using the greenery
to shape them. In the outdoor setting, you can get some pretty
interesting shot. So it's something
to consider within your photography Rome is depth. How can I make this
image have a few layers? Another example of depth
that I have done as well is implementing things
that fly around right? In this shoot, I use bubbles. Bubbles, I love they are so fun, they're so cute,
they're so childlike. And there's something
that I think sometimes gets overlooked. And by including these
bubbles in this photo shoot, I just started me the
photoshoot so much more cute. And again, you have this
element of depth where you have these bubbles almost as the foreground focus
and backround focus. But by having a
model who is doing some fun looks, fun expressions, you can create an
image that is now interesting and honestly
a bit nostalgic. So depth is one of
those things that I do like to consider it when
it comes to my photography.
7. Class Project: All in all of those are probably my top things that I would say really can make an
image pretty interesting. Of course, having a mood
board is a great first. Start having your budgets and checks and you know how
much you want to spend. And then from there, consider your styling, consider
your background. Consider your locations. Consider different
prompts that you might want to include to make
your photos interesting. Having a story is so important and it
starts really there. I hope you guys
enjoyed this class and I do look forward to seeing you guys in future classes of mine for your class project. What I want you guys to do
is go through the motions, everything we've
talked about today. I want you to create your
own moodboard and create a photoshoot that is taking different elements
of what we discussed today. Whether it's finding a backdrop and making it interesting. Whether it's including depth in your photography or honestly, finding an outfit
that has layers to it that you can use the
accessories to make. Again, the photograph,
interesting, that is your project. I look forward to
seeing it all down below and let's get it, Let's get creative and
let's create images that really make a statement
and really make an impact. I look forward to seeing all of your projects and we'll see
you guys in the next class.