Portrait Photography: Capturing the Essence of a Subject

1. Introduction: Caption. The essence of someone is not easy. I love the opportunity to not only get to know my clients and my subjects, but also being able to see how I can create portraits and work that really reflects who they are. My name is Alfred Roofs and I'm an editorial portrait photographer originally from Liberia, West Africa, based in Grandpas, Michigan. I create images that showcases black and brown people, promotes equitable action, as well as encourages self reflection and expression. My work has been featured and published in places like the New York Times, Greece, and Grandpa's Magazine, to name a few. As well as being part of numerous exhibitions locally and statewide photography is a consistent aspect of my work and one of my favorite photography is to create. I love the challenge of being able to try to really encapsulate and really capture someone and who they are. The area of storytelling is very important to my work and I love being able to utilize my voice and see how that comes out through my images. In this class, I'm not only going to show you examples of my work and what portrait photography is, but also be able to teach you how to create and shoot, and edit your own. Throughout this class, we'll cover a few things, what portrait photography is, preparation process that goes into that. How important light is, whether that be using stroke or natural light. How really important it is to create comfortability with your subject and how violet is to your shoot and success of your shoot. I'll also talk about the details in terms, poses, and angles and different things like that that go into that whole process of shooting. We also getting to taking a break in how important it is to really have a time during your photo shoot to relax, especially during a long shoe day. And then lastly, we'll go ahead and call our images and edit them as well. If you're looking to improve your storytelling or really establish or really develop more intimacy and comfortability with your models, this is a class for you, you'll be able to follow along, even if you are just a beginning. I'll be sharing pretty much my whole workflow in terms of how I go from preproduction production to post production as well. This class also for experienced photographers who are looking to build more rapport with their subjects and also avoiding some of the awkwardness that sometimes may come with shoots, especially when you're communicating or shooting with somebody for the first time. Taking porch is a really good reminder of just how intimate creating photographs can be. I think being able to have a real safe space and really building a report which is subject is so vital to not only their comfortability with the shoot, but also being able to create great work as well. Looking forward to seeing what you create. Let's get it. 2. Class Orientation: Today we're going to learn how to shoot and edit portraits. You're not only going to learn my process and how I go about doing them, but also be able to create your own as well. In this class, you need a few things, pin and pad to take notes, Your own camera, to be able to create your own computer and software light room to be able to edit the final images, as well as off the camera lighting, if you so to choose to use it. After each lesson, I will give you some tips and tricks just to recap what we talked about in each lesson, as well as some things to consider moving forward to the next lesson. This process is not meant to be stress. Well, I know sometimes preparing for photoshoots can be, but the hope is for you to have fun, enjoy yourself, and be able to learn something in this class. In this class, we'll cover a few things. Portrait photography, what it is and how vital it is to storytelling. The preparation that goes into creating that we'll get into light and how vital that is as far as off camera lighting or natural light, or even using those two together. Talking about the comfortability of your subject and how important it is to have for your photo shoot. We'll get into details as far as posing and different poses, as well as angles to shoot from. Also talk about taking a break and how important it is to find time to relax and shooting, especially if it's a long shooting day. Then lastly, we'll get into coloring our images and editing as well. For the class project, the goal is to be able to create at least five final images. The goal, I think for me, especially with portal photography, is always being able to have a variety of images, a variety of shots. Thinking about posing, shot angles and all those different things. I think it's really important to be able to have five distinctive images. That's for me, the main goal for your class project. In the research section, I've included a class guide checklist and that would be helpful for you to be able to on a list of all the tips of tricks from each lesson, but also your class assignments and what you need to do for each one of those lessons. I'm excited and looking forward to seeing what you create. 3. What is Portrait Photography?: For this first lesson, we will cover what portrait photography is. Portrait photography, also known as portraiture, is meant to, with the help of lighting, backdrops, and poses, capture the essence of who someone is. Portrait photography is where the subject is the main character. Essentially trying to showcase and highlight who they are. Here are a few things to consider when doing portraits. One, it's a form of storytelling. Specifically this picture that I did with Jane K. N. To Curly a local blogger or a blogger in Detroit. I really wanted to not only capture like the details of her face, but also being able to showcase a more serious side. I've known her for years and I know her to be some of that crack jokes and those that have fun, but also has that serious nature to her as well. That was essentially what I wanted to be able to do is capture that part of her as well to another thing to take into consideration is what is the purpose behind the portrait being taken for this collection of self portraits that there with a blue background, I really wanted to be able to one highlight my many facial expressions. Get back to creating and just having fun doing it. And also being able to have something to do in the midst of covid, not being able to have much options to do things outside. Lastly, another thing to take into consideration is what is a bad portrait? I don't think there are bad portraits, but I do think there are portraits that don't represent or clearly reflect the essence of who a person is, as well as not clearly following the mood or following the theme or goal of the shoot itself. My main key tip is remembering that portraits are meant to capture the essence of who a person is. Always. Remember that. I think that's the main goal to think about when going into taking portraits and being able to getting to know that person beforehand, which will obviously get into in later lessons. But remembering how key it is to capture the essence as much as possible of who that person is for. My first assignment for you is to go ahead and research projects and different portraits and be able to find at least three that you really enjoy and postos in the project gallery, but also continue to look at and see different styles and different things that you may like or dislike. Also going to include at least three Instagram handles of my favorite photographers, as well as showcasing their specific different styles. Consider your subject. I think another thing to really think about at this point is to consider who you want to use as a subject for your project. For me, the same goal as you is to be able to have five distinctly different portraits. Whether it be from different angles or different, being a little close up or being a little farther back. I think the main goal is to really just have five ports that are totally different from each other. Again, key takeaways is to make sure you remember how vital portraits are to storytelling. Remember how vital it is to be able to capture the essence of who the person is that you're taking pictures of and, or the story that's being told. As well as understanding that bad portraits are usually ports that don't represent the person or don't capture the essence of who they are or the story that's being told as well. For our next lesson, we'll talk about the process of going into preparing for a portrait. And of course, for the assignment, don't forget to post those three research portraits in the project gallery. 4. Portrait Preparation: In this lesson, we'll talk about preparing for a portrait photo shoot. So there are a few things to consider when preparing for a portrait photo shoot. Having contact with your moderate subject, your location, as well as the mood board and Shotlist. The first contact or communication with your subject starts with a few things. The client is reaching out to you more than likely they have a theme, or an idea, or specific thing that they're looking to do. If they don't hear a few questions that you can ask them to help. What are the image going to be used for? What is the goal or theme? What is the story they're trying to tell? If you're the person reaching out to the client or to a subject, which would be in this case, for this project, here are a few things to consider. What is your vision for the shoot? Who's going to be involved outside of the subject, if anyone? What is the story you're trying to tell as well? Location will be the second thing to consider when creating for your photo session. Here are a few things to consider. What is the vision or the story that you have for the project, the shoot, and do you want to do the photos in a studio, on location, which is usually out of studio or even both. Lastly, creating a moodboard and shot list is the final thing to consider when preparing for your photo shoot. It's important to have this because it's point of reference. Point of reference for inspiration, point of reference to go back to if you get stuck and just give the client or the subject an idea of what you're thinking visually. Here are a few things that your shot list and moodboard should include. Two different shot examples, different poses, as well as different angles as well. My number one tip when going into a photo shoot is reminding your client. Reminding your subject. This is a collaboration. Here's why. One ownership, allowing them to take ownership of the photoshoot as well, and you guys are both working together to create something amazing. And second that we need each other, I need a subject to create. A subject needs to me as a photographer to create. And once we get on the same page, and the same idea of what the goal is, magic can be made. I'm going to show a demonstration of a few things. One searching in terms of creating a moveboard and images to use as inspiration for my project. Then I will also go through a Shotlist as well. But this first video will be a demonstration of me going through Pin specifically and trying to find some images that I really want to either use inspiration or reflect in my project. Specifically talking about the project for me, I didn't really have a specific theme or thing that I wanted to get out with this one specifically, unlike the last class for this one, mainly I really wanted to be able to just experiment, have fun, but also just not have any specific pressure to like say something. These images I'm going to look up. It's really just going to be close up shots and then also having a combination of in studio as well as outside. We're going to search in studio portraits and see what we can find. Studio portraits specifically. Yeah, this is something that I often do when I'm searching and trying to find different images. But I would also suggest, as well as looking at magazines, photo books, a lot of non digital options to be able to find inspiration, inspiration, and things of that nature for your project. Usually what I'll do is I'll go for this lesson as a demonstration, go through pictures and find some images that I may like. Most of them will be close up shots, usually like waste up something like this. Then I'll just say to download, keep going. This is usually my process, this is part of my process anyway of finding images that speak to what I'm looking for specifically. And being that I don't have a specific goal, it opens up the possibilities. But I think for me mainly, I wanted to focus on getting things like this where it's really close up in the person's face, really highlighting their facial features, their hand movements and those type of things. Things like this are perfect example. We have expression here which I think is really good to be a show as well. Then yeah, poses hand movements. Another thing is really just experimenting and enjoying and taking time to really focus on. Yeah, Experimenting, having fun and just seeing what you can create. I think a lot of times we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to reflect other people's images or do things that other people do. Being able to have the freedom to create and have the freedom to not have any pressure, I think is a really good idea. It's just helpful in general. Again, it's another really like the images, the pose that she has right there. Being able to have a variety of poses for your motto is helpful. But it's also based on the project you're trying to create and what you're trying to do. Specifically for me, you definitely want to be hand movements up to a person's face and things of that nature. As you can see the collection here of different images that we're fine, so now we did studio. And of course I'm going to be doing a little shots in studio, but also shots outside. We'll do outdoor portraits, see what we can get. Let's to maybe close up a lot of I already know I'm going to be shooting at a park globally, something like this. Maybe. Yeah, Using the surroundings that you have. Maybe shooting in the grass, maybe get a little bit closer and getting really detailed shots of her face or his face where we were using as a subject. Things like this. Again, another example of hand movement, some shadow work happening here based on if it's the sunny outside, if it's not sunny, and being able to have that option to utilize the sun and utilize the outdoor light to your advantage as well. Again, this is just an example or one of the examples of my process of creating moodboards. I've definitely added more non digital elements. Obviously pictures in Instagram are obvious ones, but Photobooks, magazines, even just on day to day, taking pictures of things that you see, movies and those type of things is another great example of different places to find inspiration demonstrating creating a shot list. I have a little template here. Shot list, template, session title, school, class number two, photographer me. I'm going to go through just maybe three or four different shots that I'm going to put together. I think this is a good reference again, for you to be able to literally write these down, whether it'll be on a piece of paper or type them up like I'm going to. And being able to have another physical example to be a reference back when you're doing your shoe. Usually, I don't necessarily have the physically or a paper physically with me. Usually probably either have it on my phone or something that memorize myself. But I think at the end of the day having these references, good. Whatever works for you in terms of having it on site or having it on your phone or putting it in your head either. I think figuring out what works for you best is important, but usually for me I memorize them and I have an idea shot less. Number one, we're going to do interior interior shot. The shot descriptions will be like say we'll do waste. All right, so interior waist up shot, straight force. I kind of be, I'll be shooting level, you know, level shot of subjects looking at the camera. All right? So it could be as kind of description as that, like level shot of the subject looking at the camera or you can go into, you know, specific details in terms of, you know, model or subject. Turn to left side profile with eyes on camera. I just want to show an example of this is usually, do you fill out this whole thing? I say you can get as detail as possible or not as detail as possible. But I think being able to just have a reference and have an example of here is the list of different shots that I want to get. Now I have an idea and a vision. And I can also share this with my model or my subject. They also know the type of shots that I'm looking for as well. The Movebot List Helps. The theme that you're trying to create helps as well. Let's do three. We'll do interior again. Then they will do chin up, right chin up like a side angle. Will do right side. Super super close face, super face shot of subject and focus is on their eyes. Right? So just another example. Okay, well what do I want to focus on? What do I want the focal point to be on specifically? I wanted to be on their eyes. I want to be on a different part of their face for the shot specifically. So having as much description really helps. But also it's up to you how you want to do it. Granted, being that we'll be shooting outside, we'll do exterior, maybe we'll involve some hand movements here. We'll do, maybe we up again, another straightforward shot. And then we have subjects covering. Covering one eye. Yeah, hands covering one eye. Again, we're showing a different type of shot. We're outside, we're doing, wait up, we're doing straightforward. The model is moving their hands and the added movement to what they're doing specifically for you. This is just three examples of things that put on your shot list. But again, how descriptive or detail you want to do is up to you. I think obviously more details the better. That way you can actually exactly tell your model exactly what you want them to do or even show them. But I think it is really up to you of how detail you want it to be. But I think this is just also good resources to have in creating that process for your assignment. For this lesson, go ahead and put together a collection of reference shots, poses, and all those different things. And put, make sure you put them in. The project gathers. I can see. So key takeaways from this lesson is to make sure, one, you have clear communication in terms of asking questions and making sure that communication is clear between each person, so there's no ambiguity and you know exactly what the vision is for the shoot. Understanding how location plays into that, making sure you're considering different location options for that based on the theme and based on the story being told. And then also creating a blueboard and shot list. In our next lesson, we'll talk about the importance of light and different lighting sources and options to consider. And of course, always post your progress in the project gallery. 5. Natural Light & Using a Strobe: In this next lesson, we'll cover natural light as well as supplementing with a strobe. Natural light is supplemented either by the sun or the moon, and not artificial lighting or light from a strobe or off camera lighting. A strobe light is a continuous lamp that produces a continuous amount of short, bright flashes of light. I love using natural light because it's free and always available for the most part. I usually like to sometimes supplement that with a strobe light or continuous light because that also can add a different element to it. But most of my work and most of my portrait work has been done in natural lighting when just using natural as my main light source. Here are a few things to consider and think about weather that can be rain, shine, sleet, snow, whatever it is. Taking consideration of the weather, how the light is going to be based on the weather, is very important as well, studio or outside. Whether you want to shoot inside a studio and using natural light from the windows, which something I love to do is to use naturalize, especially from students that have really big windows. Use the naturals coming in that way or shooting on location or outside and utilizing a light in that way as well. Another thing I love to do, give an example of this. Next is shadow, or shooting in the shadow. Usually be able to place my subject in a shaded area and using the light that's coming out of that's not in the shaded area as a light source. Similar to like shooting in a student using the natural light coming from the window. Another option is just shooting outside in the sun. I think some shoots, there can be an added benefit to common having just the full sun on your subject and sometimes not. But that's another option to think about as well. For example, this image with my friend Archie. You can see where the light's coming from and have him, that example being my subject in the shaded area. Him again in the shaded area and having the lights coming from the left side so it's not fully on him, but I'm still utilizing the light that's outside. For example of this image of measure, you can see this is an example of shooting yourself fully in the sun and outside. I really love how the sun really beams down on her. I think on her dress and really illuminates that, as well as the grass and green area trees behind her. In terms of all the examples that I gave of shooting in natural light, here is things that I take into consideration to why choose certain natural light sources or options as well. The moon being set, the mood that I'm trying to set, the theme of the story that we're trying to tell, as well as well as the time of day that we're shooting. Lighting can be really a great narrative agent. I think being able to utilize a light and manipulate the light to be able to tell the story that you want to tell is really important. For example, this image, just joy, you can see how the light coming in. This is shot in the studio, having her in a shaded area in the studio using the natural light to come in and have this shadow effect, being able to showcase joy on her face, mainly in her smile and her teeth, again, using the natural light as a narrative agent. Lastly, I think using natural light and thinking about how I can utilize the natural light to be able to not only highlight my subject, but also the story or theme or vision that we're trying to get out in terms of using off camera lighting or a stroke as well. Here are a couple of examples of how I've used them in the past. For the series I did last February for Black History Month, the self portrait series that I did, continuation of my self portrait series that I started during Covid. My main goal was to be able to highlight my skin tone, my face, my facial expressions, my hair. Being able to insinuate all those expressions and facial things that go with being a black man and American sharing those things. I used specifically a strobe light one to be able to really highlight all those details that I named earlier. But also being able to have a light source that I knew would really illuminate me in my skin tone and all those things. For this example, this is a cover that I was able to do for the Ann Arbor District Library for their summer gang which is promoting I'm Reading during the summer. I used my strobe light as a supplemental light, but it was a collaboration with the natural light coming in from the studios, big windows, as well as the studio light. All right, so as you can see this shoot with Erica a few years back, I'm using my strobe light and you can also see there's natural light coming in from the windows. Usually when I shoot in studio, especially natural light window or studios that have like big windows and things of that nature, I like to use my strobe as a collaborative effort. I get the light that's coming in, but also the studio light itself. Having those two work together to create a balance, sometimes you might have a little shadow and that allows using the strobt help balance that out as well too. But for the most part, I like to use them together to be able to show, to give a balance, but also be able to have an added light than what's already coming in from the windows. My assignment for this lesson is to go ahead and choose what light source you want to use, whether it be natural light, just strobe, or even a collaboration of both. Go ahead and figure out what you feel like will be best for your project. Go ahead and let me know in the project gallery. Key takeaways you should have from this lesson is, one, realizing how whatever light sources you choose is used to aid in your project. And then also just being able to have fun and experimenting with different light sources and see the type of image and type of work you can create with that as well. In our next lesson, we'll talk about how to create intimacy and comfortability with your subject and how viable that is to the shoot. And of course, we get to post your progress in the project gallery. 6. Establishing Comfortability: In this next lesson, we'll talk about establishing intimacy and creating a comfortable environment for your subject or client. One of the things I've learned from doing many portraits is how intimate they can be. So being able to have an establishment of intimacy and comfortability with my subject is very important. Them being comfortable with me, and vice versa, whether we're shooting in a studio, where we're shooting in a location, usually it's just me and the subject. So being able to have that comfortability is so important from questions that I ask. And being engaging and having fun and enjoying our time and having music, all those things make an environment much comfortable as well. Here are a few things to consider when establishing comfortability, reach your model or subject, especially if you're having a photo shoot with somebody of the opposite sex and it's the first shoot that you guys are having. I think it's really important to allow that person to bring somebody with them that way. There's already a level of comfortability there because they know that person. And also it allows the photoshoot, I think, to go much better because they have established intimacy with that person specifically, and also the level of comfortability. So it makes things much more smoother. Hopefully, I think asking questions is very important. I'm generally a curious individual, being able to ask questions second nature to me, asking questions, asking about them, what they do, what they enjoy, what they like. Because when somebody is talking about themselves and talking about things that they enjoy themselves, it makes them more comfortable to go off the previous point. Getting your client subject, talking about themselves or something that they're passionate about allows them to be comfortable. I think most times when people are doing that, it just makes the shoots much easier. Of course, cracking a joke, which allows for a natural smile moment also really helps as well. Actually, I ask you a question, are there any tips that you would give to models, especially in like a studio setting? So obviously, there's not like that much space to move around. We're doing more closer shots anyway. But just in terms of like movement, facial expressions, those type of things, what would you any examples or recommendations? I know like for me always practicing in the mirror. So we don't have a mirror. So if you look funny, you do have a mirror. What? Yes. But like when you're on a street with another photographer, you don't have a mirror. So if you look funny you don't know. So practicing in the mirror and getting comfortable with yourself in like your own body position. So like I'll literally stand in my mirror and strike poses and see if it looks weird or do I look funny. So then when I recreate it without a mirror, it still looks. I can picture myself in my head, if that makes sense. Also, just going on Pintra, seeing other models, like whoever inspires you, looking at their work, like oh, I want to create something like that too, the way that they pose. Kind of like watching them. And then doing your thing too, though, like adding your own flavor on it too. But getting inspiration, I think is the best 'cause then you're comfortable and you know what you want, so you're able to do it. And if someone asks you like, I want more of this, you know, okay, this is this. And it's not like you're just standing there awkwardly, like, I don't know what to do. Yeah. So yeah, I mean, the same thing, you know, as a photographer, we're obviously practicing. And I think one of the lesson I talked about, you know, creating moodbores and creating those type of things. So the same thing as a photographer, being able to have your vision, a collection of images that you want to recreate or, you know, kind of create and kind of add your own touch as you were mentioning to it. Same thing, you know, goes for the model as well. So that practice beforehand. Obviously, this is a class for photographers, but in terms of for you being able to give direction as well to your models, especially based on the level of experience that your model may have. Yeah, I think being low key, I feel like I'm a model because I'm like, okay, if I know what I need to do as like a model, I'm able to tell my model what to do. So there needs to be a little bit of that type of experience on the photographer's end, which I think is really important. For example, with this picture with local poet Marcel Price, I really wanted to get a shot of him in action. So I asked him to perform one of his favorite poems, and this was one of the shots that came out of that. Another example of how you can create different types of shots and when you have that comfortability, or give them a chance to be comfortable with who they are in the photoshoot session. This is one of my favorite images. A picture of a friend of mine named Bianca. And where I think we're hanging out doing a mini photoshoot. And I was able to land one of my jokes, and this was her just naturally reacting to that, and I was able to capture her in that natural smile. One of the key tips to establishing accountability is bringing music. I think for me I always have a speaker on hand to not only just play some of my favorite songs, but also allow the client to pick some of their favorite songs and music. I think again, that's another way to create a nice buy. But also allowing them to choose the type of music that they want to listen to, makes them more comfortable as well. Another important thing with having music is also allows and reinforces the collaboration and ownership effort. Because for this Photoshos always a collaboration. I'm doing my job, they're doing their job. And also allowing them to have ownership of the photoshoo as well. Making them feel that it's part of theirs and it is theirs to. So making sure that, you know, there's comfortability with your mom, obviously work together. So there's obviously comfortability with that. Usually I would have music, but I want you guys to be able to hear me normally. We have music playing, those type of things to create a vibe and those type of things as well too. Those are things to consider when we're shooting, especially if you're in a smaller space or if you're outside those type of things. That warmer time right here. You good? Good. It's the first time she's ever been flustered all. First time. Alright, you're ready. My simmer for this lesson is to come up with a few questions to ask your subject. Whether that be focus on their passion or focus on who they are. And make sure you post those in the project gallery. Key takeaways for this lessons and make sure your subject is comfortable. That is so vital to having excellent shoot. And then to making sure that you have questions to ask them. Being really engaging about what their passion about and who they are as well. In our next lesson, we'll talk about changing things in terms of talking about the details, poses, and different shot angles as well. Of course, don't forget to post your progress in the project gallery. 7. Changing It Up: Details, Poses & Angles: In our next lesson, we'll talk about the importance of details in your shoots and the importance of changing of your poses and angles. One of the things I don't like when I look at other photo shoots, or even considering when I'm creating my own, is seeing the same shot from the same angle in the same shoot. I think it's very vital and important to be able to have a variety of angles and cups and farther back shots that create a difference. As well as having a variety of selections of images as well. For this with Kiki back in New York a few years ago. As you can see, looking at each one of the images, there's a variety, there's difference, there's different angles, there's different poses, there's shot from different parts of the space that we're in. I think it's like somebody's apartment or something like that. Being able to have that variety, that difference is very important and I think makes photo sets much more interesting than the same shot from the same space. Capturing detail, I think is very important to doing portrait photography. I think sometimes you can be very vital to the story that you're trying to tell or the person that you're shooting that could be highlighting specific part of their face or really getting really close up whether their eyes or their hair or even details in the outfit that they're wearing in this portrait entitled Just Joy with the Model Man, you can see just how specifically I'm capturing the details of her expression in her face and how the lighting also helps with that too. As well as these other images you can see with the top, her lip and her face. How those things are also really specified in terms of the details of those things, but also how each one of those shots really highlight those specific things as well. Key tip will be really experimenting, I think when it comes to shooting details and poses and angles. I think really trying any and everything and going and seeing what comes out of that. You might be surprised of what you create or what you like, even know what you don't like. And maybe sometimes putting away the shots that you don't like and then coming back and later and seeing them may give you much fresher eyes and who knows, you might like them to. So most models would need direction. Lady doesn't need that much direction because she knows what she's doing. But I think as a photographer, being able to give direction and know what you want from your model is important. But also just like, oh, if they do something like you really like that, you'll go back and do that again. So those type of things is really important when we're shooting. Perfect. Alright, and of course, you know, showing your model what they're doing so they can know what to improve on as well is very helpful. Can we do? Sorry. I like like like this. Yeah, but it's a little bit, A little bit Show a little bit. Both shoulders? Yep. So not too. Yeah, yep. Perfect. Yep, There we go. Yep, yep. And then kind of lean in towards me a little bit. Yep. So another thing is backdrop. Obviously we're using the brown. And I have a couple of options, but making sure your backdrop obviously meshes well with color. Wearing black pretty much can do anything with that, but based on the story, based on the type of project you're trying to create, the type of colors that you're using is very important. As well as the wardrobe of your model as well. Perfect. Can we start to watch Oh, yeah. Live a little Details. Details. Details. So yeah, that's one of the things I've learned over the years is it'd be the little details that you miss or, you know, make sure aren't perfect that my assign for this lesson is for you to find a couple of examples that fall under details, angles, and poses. Just finding a collection of examples of each one of those things and posting those in the project gallery. Key takeaways for this is make sure to experiment and experiment. Make sure you try new things and see what happens. You never know what you may be surprised by. And also, don't forget to create shots that don't look the same. In the next lesson, we're talking about the importance of taking a break in your photo shoe. Of course, don't forget to post your progress in the project gallery. 8. When to Take a Break?: In this lesson, we'll talk about taking a break and how important that is for your photo shoot. Photoshoots can also be long and time consuming. So being able to figure out a time to take a break during that process can be really helpful for not only you, your subject, but everybody else involved. Here are a few things to consider when thinking about when to take a break during your photo shoot. One, the length in terms of like, well, how long do you anticipate the shot to be? All the people that are going to be involved in the photo shoot as well, From subject to makeup artist or hairstyles and et cetera, including you and location and outfit in terms of how many locations you're doing, how many outfits you're doing. And then lastly, equipment being used and being able to consider being, tearing down and transferring those to various locations as well. Ways to factor in a break is one, scheduling it before the Photoshoes's already set in the time frame. Two, going the flow and seeing how everybody is feeling during the shoot and going from there. Also outfit changes and location changes can be also another good time for a break. She time. Now that you have all those things in consideration, it's time to go ahead and do your shot. Here are a few reminders and key tips for your shoes. Don't forget. Obviously, have fun and enjoy the process to bring a speaker. Especially be able to create a playlist from everybody involved. That way, vibes are happening and silence shoes are never fun. So being able to have music playing in the background is always very important. Really fun. And then lastly, don't forget to think about how creating intimacy with your subject and the people involved. And also being able to consider how the project or goal, or theme is vital to this project as well. Congratulations, you have got to this point. Give yourself a pat on the back for being able to understand what a portrait is taking in terms of the preparation that goes into that, factoring in your light and all the things that go with that process. Being able to establish intimacy in connection with your subject and also the people that are involved as well in the project. Factoring in the details, whether it be different poses or different shot lists or different shot angles, as well as well as being able to remember how important it is for taking a break and how violet is to the whole project. And obviously shooting and creating. Next obviously will be culling and editing. But again, congratulations for reaching to this point for your summer. For this lesson, there's three things. Make sure you answer the questions of things to consider when considering factoring and putting in a break for your photo shoot. Go ahead and write down how you plan to actually go ahead and take a break during your photo session. And don't forget to select the five images that you plan to edit, which we'll be talking about in our next lesson. Next time we'll be talking about coloring and editing. Make sure you put your progress in the project gallery, as well as the five images that you plan on editing in the next lesson. 9. Culling & Editing: For our final lesson, we will talk about cling and editing and why that's important. So when it comes to editing, there's really not a specific style. I think everybody has their own style or some people don't. I think why people edit a certain way varies for various different reasons. I'm definitely going to talk about two images and why edit them the specific way that edited them. But here are also some factors that go into why people edit the way they do style. Some people have their personal style like things to be a certain color or a certain way. That's usually up to them. Or it is influenced by various different things, details. So some people like to focus on specific details of an image. Will just have really detailed shots as well to lighting. Some people like to have things to be a little bit brighter or a little bit darker or in between for various different reasons. To then vision, That could be client's vision. That can also be the project that you guys are creating and the vision for that and how that influences how somebody might go about editing. And then lastly, moodboard, I think is really important to consider your mood board, but also the mood that you want to set for the images as well. So for example, this image I shot in a pretty woody area. And it wasn't actually until I got the images back on my computer that I realized I really wanted to make it black and white. And we talk about personal style for my black and white. I love to make black and whites, in terms of my personal style for creating them is to be a little bit darker and have a little bit of mood to them. So I like to make sure I bring the brightness down a little bit a, a little bit more contrast. And that's how I like to use, allow to really just have my black and white images. For this portion of a bride, I really wanted to focus on details. There's a few things I really want to make sure was highlighted in this image was the beauty of the bride, her immaculate dress, her hair, just how big it was, and then also her ring as well. All right, we are finally at editing portion of these portraits and what I did was already went through my Norman process which is usually I put my photos in photo, you can do this as well. Put them through photo. I kind of go through all of them. Get rid of the blurry shots, the shots that I don't like, the shots that don't necessarily fit what I'm looking for, all of those different things and then I import them into light room. Um, so this is the portion that we're at, that's my process. You can do that process as well or find a process that works for you in terms of really cutting down to your favorite or best shots that fit what you're looking for, for your project, for your idea, for your shoot. Whatever it is, I am going to edit these top ten, I'm not sure. Maybe I'll narrow down to five, then maybe I'll do like six. Going to even, maybe three each. I'm going to go through each one of these. I going to have some presets that I usually use, which is this crisp, clean in color right here usually is my starting point. For me, that's what precets are for me, is always a starting point. And then go through, yeah, what you're looking for. One of the things I've been doing a lot lately is dropping my whites because it gives sometimes like this muted look. That's something I'm going to do with, especially the ones that I've done inside and then go from there. Usually my color shots, I like to try to make them as vibrant as possible in sometimes not so, but usually that's my goal for color that I try to do. Yeah, I'm pretty happy with these. And then we're going to move to the outside images, same thing. I'd like to start with crisp, clean color, which adds some vibrancy to everything which I really, I really like this pose. I think what I'm going to do is definitely crop in because I don't want to get her nail right here. So what we'll do is crop in and then find I do like that and then right about there don't bend perf. So I kind of work, I like to have things sometimes a little bit farther from me, so I kind of get an idea what the framing is. So we'll move that up a little bit right there. Yeah, I really like that framing actually pose everything in her face. If you know me, I like things to be as natural as possible. I mean, we have bumps on our face, so I'm not always the person to be like, oh, let's make everything perfect. Of course, there's some things in some shots where, you know, cleaning up the face and making a place. Kind of look perfect is, you know, there's space for that. But outside of that, this is how I like to kind of keep it. So I'm yeah, I'm pretty I like the way that looks from my standpoint. And then we're going to do the same thing with the rest of the images and we're going to Yeah. Sync. So I I'm not going to do crop this time. I'm going to crop individually. So kind of as I save so much time. Yeah. Honestly, after looking at the rest of these, I know I told myself I'm going to do what, six. What I think I'm going to do is honestly keep I guess you guys are, you'll probably see which one I selected, but I'm happy with all eight of these. I probably will choose definitely the black and whites that that we have another option. And probably yeah, I think those six right there are the ones I'm going to go with again, another step through my process of editing portraits. Of course, these are environmental portraits, so they're more closer up to the person in the subject. But as you can see, you give you guys a little variety of black and whites are a little bit dark, black and whites are a little bit lighter than that one. Black and white inside shooting with natural light coming in of what I like to do, my favorite is shooting outside of the natural light in those things. Get a little option, a little variety of each one of these things throughout there. Yeah, Yeah, of course, you go through the editing process again. Have fun with it. Don't stick to one specific thing and then see what happens. Yeah. All right. Please out for your final assignment. Make sure you edit your final five images and put them in the project gallery. Key takeaways. I think two things that you can pretty much take away from this lesson is one experiment and have fun. I think being able to experiment with different styles of different colors and figure out what either you like and what you don't like. It doesn't have necessarily be a personal style. It can just be preferences and things that you enjoy or things that you noticed that you enjoy or things that you notice that you don't enjoy. Then I think secondly would be figuring out how the project and they can aid in your editing and how editing to be able to make sure that project and story is really total. Well, congratulations, You just wrapped up your final lesson. Don't forget to make sure you post your final images in the project. I'm looking forward to seeing those. And in our next lesson, we will talk about recapping everything that we've learned in this class piece. 10. Conclusion: Congratulations, you have made it to the end of the class. Give yourself a round of applause for all the work that you put in, all the time that you put in, as well for taking each one of these lessons. I just want to say it's been a pleasure being able to not only share some of my favorite portrait photography work, but also being able to the knowledge and wisdom that I've gained over the years as well as a photographer. To recap, we have talked about what portrait photography is and how vital to storytelling. We've talked about preparing for a portrait. All things that go into that location, Scouting or getting a subject or the theme, and those type of things. We've talked about lighting and also well as supplemental lighting and how that is vital to having additional light to your already one light source or multiple light sources. We talked about the comfortability with your model or subject and how vital that is a great shot and productive shoot. We talked about details as far as posing and different shot angles and things that go into that as well. We also talked about taking a break in how important that is to a photo shoot and being able to have a time to relax and chill before getting back into things. Then lastly, editing and calling our images editing process and seeing the transformation of your images as well. So I hope this class not be inspired you to take more portraits, but also inspired you to take a lot of the lessons and wisdom that you learned, as well as the knowledge you learned over the lessons. And be able to apply it to other photography types as well Too, don't forget to upload your final five images. We'd love to see what you created. Be able to get feedback and comments and also you owe it and posts on social media. Don't forget to use the hashtag ports with Outfield. You'll be right here. We love to be able to see you know your work on Total Media to be able to share to my followers as well too. Thank you again for taking my class. It's been fun being able to share all the portraits of photography that I have. And as well as being able to teach some of the lessons and give them the wisdom and knowledge that I've gained over the years. As always, don't forget to check out past classes that I've done. Follow me for future classes. And of course, leave me a review on how you think I did with this class. I really appreciate it. As always. Till next time. Peace.