The practical approach to portraiture (workshop)
Portraiture is the staple of any photographer’s body of work. We all take portraits of friends, family, colleagues and even strangers!
While it’s not difficult to photograph a portrait, the difference between a passable portrait and a GREAT portrait depends on a number of factors, including the pose, lighting, position and the ability of the photographer to engage the sitter.
Greg Perry and I ran our Practical Portraiture workshop on Sunday 2nd May. With a full house of 10 participants and two portrait sitters (our amazing models), we looked at what photographers need to consider in order to make great portraits. From lenses to lighting, to posing and strobing, the day-long workshop covered a gamut of topics to improve your portrait photography.
Starting with indoor portraiture, using available window light, we then moved outdoors to show participants how you can take portraits even in the most challenging of lighting conditions — shooting portraits at 1pm out in the open! The emphasis of this workshop was to demonstrate that you don’t need high-end gear in order to take effective portraits: just a good portrait lens (a telephoto zoom will do), a reflector and a speedlight (external flash) with an adjustable head.
Our amazing portrait sitters, Goyder and Amy Marie, were fantastic and made each shoot at various locations in Fremantle a great experience for participants. This was Amy Marie’s first workshop with us and she handled herself beautifully – a stunning young woman with a great deal of poise and style in her manner.
Here are a few photographs from the workshop.
If you missed Practical Portraiture this time, keep an eye out for an announcement for a second workshop mid 2010, or contact me to get added to the waiting list for this and other photography workshops.
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