The most common setup for studio lighting for both photography and video consists of three main light sources/directions:
You will need to be able to set up all three light sources/directions to provide optimal lighting for a portrait. Practice this now because I will be asking you to demonstrate this for your Portraiture “test.”
One of the ways that you can make your portraits really look great is by properly posing your subject(s). If you spend the time working with your subject to find the right pose, it can really help your final portraits.
Posing can be different when you’re capturing shots to portray a certain mood or emotion, and poses can be very difficult when you’re working with typical females vs. typical males. Of course, we all know by now that stereotypical gender roles are kind of irrelevant these days, but some of these tips can give you a good starting point for making your subject look stronger or more gentle. Keep in mind that these tips won’t necessarily work right for all genders and all people.
We also have some posing guides in blue photography binders.
Those guides can also be accessed here
For today, practice posing a subject and think about what you are trying to achieve, and how moving your subject’s body in a certain way helps to achieve that goal. Practice now and shoot some portraits. It will really help to look carefully at your portraits later to get a sense of the success of your poses.
Next week, I will have you pose a subject and explain to me why you are giving the directions that you choose.
The next, and perhaps most important, step in getting a good photograph is to actually work with your subject to get the person to look as good as possible. Your actions can make a huge difference in how your subject ends up looking in the photograph, so as a photographer, you want to be as ready and aware as possible.
Tips for helping people look great
Using shadows to improve a portrait
The impact of camera height and lens angle
Make sure you understand the importance of light and how to get and use the best source of light by reviewing the previous post HERE
Once you’ve chosen your location, figured out the best light, and made sure you have a good background, it’s time to make sure you know how to use your camera to capture the best possible image in that situation.
Again, if you want to view these videos on your own, you’ll need to have a public library card (sign up for one here) and you’ll need to log in to LinkedIn Learning
One of the most common types of photographs is a portrait of a person or perhaps an animal or even an inanimate object. Of course, the success of your photo depends on a lot of things, but as always, good light is the most important thing to consider.
To watch these videos on your own time, you’ll need to have a public library card (sign up for one here) and you’ll need to log in to LinkedIn Learning (clicking the links will take you there.)
We won’t be worrying about reflectors and polarizers for now, but if you’d like to play around already, just ask!
Three places to find great natural light
The Rule of Thirds has to be the most common and important composition technique that can improve your photos, but there are several other techniques that we’ll look at as well.
Again, your job is to TAKE GOOD PHOTOS. Don’t take lazy photos where you don’t know what you’re taking a photo of. That leads to my other repeated advice KNOW WHAT YOUR SUBJECT IS. What are you taking a photo of? If it’s not an interesting subject, PICK SOMETHING ELSE! People, animals, or even my action figures could make good subjects.
The new composition techniques you’ll demonstrate and explain are:
Here’s me with bad COVID hair giving some bad examples of the techniques. For better examples, click those links above…
Once you know how to properly work with the available light in any situation and capture a good photo by working with the Exposure Triangle, you should start playing around with some simple composition techniques.
The easiest and most common one of all has to be the Rule of Thirds. You should definitely know this one already, or at least be able to pick it up pretty quickly & easily.
Your job is to take (and explain) 3 photos:
Pay attention to what’s in the background. No more lazy shots in the classroom unless you really compose it well. You’ll be better off moving somewhere else for this.
Fill the frame. Make sure it’s obvious what the subject of your photo is.
If you need some examples and an explanation, here’s a tutorial I made during the big lockdown of 2020:
We’ve looked at the three main controls that affect the amount of light that your camera captures, and therefore impact the photos that you take.
Your job for this assignment is to know which control is the most important for different situations and explain why.
Think about what each control does: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO. Think up at least three different situations where you’d have to make a choice about each of those three, what your choices would be, and why. Take the photo, explain it all in a document or slideshow or video or whatever and hand it in.
You’ll get marks for the quality and creativity of your photos, using the correct settings in the correct situations, and your explanation of each.