A few of the methods I use in Photoshop follow. Always create at least one retouching layer.

Lighten whites of eyes or irises: Brush, opacity 7, mode lighten, foreground white
Alternate: select eyes and change levels with mask to hide other stuff.

Define eyelashes, lips, etc. Brush, opacity 10, mode multiply

Whiten teeth: Brush, opacity 12, mode color, foreground white
Alternate: Brush, mode lighten, 7-15%

Alternate: Desaturation sponge. This may result in a graying down of the area.

Darken: Brush, opacity 20, mode Multiply, black or white in foreground

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Office Hours: By appointment before or after class on Thursdays. Email me at Natalie@fobesphoto.com or call me at 206.937.9375 to set up an appointment.

Text/Supplies: No textbook. Material fee: album: app. $40 Model fee: app. $20.

File Naming Protocal: last name_first name_2013_assignment name.format. Make sure the metadata is filled out with your copyright, contact info and keywords. Assignments are to be turned in as jpg digital files with metadata and without adjustment or retouching unless otherwise noted on assignment.

Course Objective: To develop an understanding of the two main areas of retail photography: portraits and weddings

Classroom standards

• My expectations will be based on real world business behavior, services and products

• Arrive before class starts

• Don’t schedule shoots or appointments until after class

•Late assignments are not accepted and are graded as zero unless you have extreme circumstances. Assignments are late if not in my drop box by 9 a.m.

• Absences not emailed or called in before class starts are unexcused

• Computers must be turned off unless you are taking notes with them.

• No side conversations please. If you have something to say please say it for all to hear

• First offense on talking or computer you will be warned. Second: you will leave

• Poor grammar and misspelling in assignments will be considered (if applicable)

• Choose a partner to help you edit your images

• I suggest you “Dress for Success” when guest speakers visit

• Take notes in class and don’t rely on handouts

• All students are expected to read my blog

• I expect active involvement and participation and it will be part of your grade

• I expect respect for every person in class. Please pay attention to others who are talking

• Any questions or concerns please make an appointment to meet with me

• Please review the Student Code of Conduct and your Student Contract.

• No food or drink allowed in class. This is a College-wide rule.

To get the most out of this course you must be:

• willing to work hard
• aware that each assignment is a potential portfolio piece
• motivated to learn more than required for class
• willing to get the safe shot and then try to expand your creativity with riskier ones

ADA Accommodation: If you need course accommodations based on a documented disability, have any emergency medical information I should know about, or need special arrangements in case of building evacuation, please let me know at beginning of the quarter or as soon as possible.

Schedule: While this schedule reflects my plans for the quarter, I reserve the right to adapt the curriculum as needed.  I will let you know if and when any changes occur.

My SCCC blog: www.fobesphoto.com/blog password:  phobiz

Week 1  April 5

Class expectations and goals

Syllabus and assignment review

Introduction to retail photography

Selective focus and available light

Bouncing off walls, ceiling with speedlite

Assignments due Week 2:

1. Collaborative Group shot of entire class with names listed in order. You all will collaborate on creating one shot. Pass/fail

2. Your favorite portrait to date. Be prepared to succinctly say why you think it works.

Week 2  April 12

Posing basics for Portrait photography: show twisting, separation of arms, pose from the ground up, added multiple people. Lynda.com

The message of light and mood

Basic lighting for traditional portraiture

Assignment due Week 3: Portrait using flash-on-camera as key bounced off wall, ambient as fill. Be sure to include 2 photos. The first shows the scene with only ambient. The second shows it with added light. See assignment sheet for all the details.

Week 3 April 19

Talk about steps in a portrait session

Heier engagement session using the techniques of bouncing

Simple slide shows including title slide and ending slide, music that determines sequencing

Licensing music and making sure it matches the photos

Critique of portraits using flash bounced off wall as key

Assignment due Week 5: Portrait Session slide show. Location portrait session with different poses, locations and light. No studio setups. 15-20 photos with different poses and approaches. You must not photograph a family member or student in the photo program. Create slide show of portrait session and formatted as a Quicktime movie. You must use royalty free or licensed music and include the license in your folder. One source: http://triplescoopmusic.com see assignment sheet for all the details.

Week 4  April 26

Business of retail portraiture including CODB, COGS, setting packages, prices

Basic selling techniques

Week 5 May 3

Assignment due Week 5: Portrait Session slide show.

Week 6 May 10 Port Townsend

Week 7 May 17

Portrait retouching

Introduction of wedding photography Business models and contracts

Wedding day schedule and lighting techniques handout

Review: Posing basics for couple shots

Review: Working with group shots: posing, organizing and being efficient

Week 8 May 24

Models posing as wedding couples at Cal Anderson Park. Scout out locations prior to shoot.

Assignment due week 9: Two RETOUCHED couple shots of the models

Week 9 May 31

Relationships of photographs in wedding story (or any photostory)

Wedding workflow and post production

Editing and presenting

Review: LR web galleries.

Critique of models shoot

Assignment due week 9: Two RETOUCHED couple shots of the models

Week 10  June 7

The best of slide shows

The best of Models

Album review

Quarter review

Assignment due week 10: Designed album with 10 sides that have been retouched. Use the Roma album, see below.

See assignment sheets for the full descriptions of what is required.

The Roma Album is available through B&C Photographic Supply, 245-B SW 152^nd St., Burien, WA. 98166. 206.433-4488. Ann or Ryan.

OR contact a 2^nd year about using one of theirs. Remember that neatness is part of the grade. If it is scuffed up you will be graded down.

Grading Standard:

The following grading standard is from Seattle Central. The final grade will be based on assignments (90%) and class participation (10%).

All files submitted must have the metadata filled out including your copyright, contact information and keywords.

Assignments

Unless otherwise noted on assignment, all photo files must be unretouched or adjusted, 10 inches longest side, jpg format with copyright, keywords and your contact info included in metadata.

File must be titled: your last name_first name_2013_assignment title_sequence (if needed) .jpg.  Each assignment has a file name example.

Files must be dropped in my dropbox before class starts at 9 a.m. or they will be counted as late. Late assignments are not graded and you will receive a 0.

Due Week 2:

1. Collaborative Group Shot of entire Class. Only one shot is turned in. Faces must be clear with numbers on the body and numbers on the names listed in SEATING order.

ClassPortrait_2013_portrait.jpg                     Pass/fail

2. Your favorite portrait to date. Be ready to succinctly say why it succeeds as a portrait.

last name_first name_2013_portrait                                        Pass/fail

Due Week 3: Flash-on-camera bounced off a wall to create a key light.  This assignment shows you how to create beautiful light in a flat-lit scene. You will bounce your flash off a wall to create side, loop or Rembrandt lighting using the ambient light as fill.

The first shot should be of the person in the unaltered, non-directional ambient light. Fluorescently lit rooms are perfect. Meter the light to get the base exposure. When mixing flash and ambient light, ambient light determines your flash settings.

Bounce the light off a wall. Taking meter readings with your handheld meter, set the flash so that it is one stop brighter than the ambient light. Do not adjust anything in post. I want to see this right out of the camera. To be done on location. No studio lights or backgrounds.

Yourlastname_first name_2013_keyflashno

Yourlastname_first name_2013_keyflash              10% of grade

Due Week 5: Location portrait session of someone who is not family or in the photo program. Use different poses, two locations and two different lighting approaches to create a variety of photos with a variety of feelings.  No photos can be shot in the studio or with the studio strobes. You must use only available light, or enhance the light with your small flashes or reflectors.  Edit the take down to 15-20 photographs. Create a slideshow of these photos with licensed music. All slideshows must be a Quicktime movie no matter what you use to create it.

Fifty percent of the assignment grade will be based on the portrait session. The criteria will be effective lighting, composition, expression, posing and selective focus.  You can tweak in LR but your don’t have to retouch these photos.

Fifty percent of the assignment grade will be based on the slide show. You must include

1. an intro slide with your subject’s name and your credit line and website,

2. an ending slide with your name, copyright notice, phone, email, website and music credit and copyright

You will be graded on how well the music works with the photographs and how you transitioned between slides.

You must include a licensing agreement showing you have the right to use the music. You can license the music from either a commercial site like TripleScoopMusic.com, Incompetech.com or Brucetunz.com or directly from the artist. There are other sources available on the web.

I’ll be demonstrating how to create a slideshow in iPhoto but you can use other software too. Additional information on how to create slideshows can be found on www.lynda.com

No matter what software you use, the slide show MUST be a Quicktime movie.

Put the slide show and the licensing agreement in a folder and drop in my drop box.

Your last name_first name_2013_slideshow                                                30% of grade

Due Week 9: Models posing as wedding couples. Two RETOUCHED couple shots taken of the models. Drop in my drop box

Yourlastname_first name_2013_models_##.                     20% of grade

Due Week 10: Designed album portfolio using the Roma Album.

Start the album on a right hand page with a title page including your name and subject

End the album with your contact information including name, copyright, phone, email.

Photographs must be taken for the class assignments.

Photos must be retouched.

At least three spreads must have more than two photos on them. All pages should be designed. The album will be graded on quality of prints, neatness, effectiveness of retouching, tone adjustment, creative techniques and design.

Please note: The Roma Album has 20 sides but you need to do just 10 of the pages.

The Roma Album can be purchased from B&C Photographic Supply, 245-B SW 152^nd St., Burien, WA. 98166. 206.433-4488. Ann or Ryan.

In addition to handing in the album you must drop your jpg files of the finished spreads into my dropbox.  A spread is two facing pages.

Yourlastname_first name_2013_album_##                                                            30% of grade.

Ten  percent of your overall grade will be based on participation and professional behavior.

Assignment Evaluation PHO 133

Grade:

Name:

Date:

Assignment:

Critique

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Before you even start a portrait session you should have met with your client and discussed the message of the photo, the clothing and their concerns. This meeting is great for helping you avoid problems on the day of the shoot and arranging your lighting to compensate for any physical problems.

During the meeting we cover their clothing, jewelry and makeup. We discuss any concerns they might have about their body. I may introduce the price of the products I offer. And I start thinking about the lighting and posing.

Just as importantly, this meeting introduces the idea of us working as a team. I want them to know they have an important say in how the portrait session goes. That we are working together to achieve the same goal: an amazing portrait.

There are a few rules that will help you when you are arranging people.

Avoid the body in the middle of the frame, feet pointing straight to the camera, face forward, hands to the side stance unless you want that aggressive pose for some reason.

Instead, create movement in your images by adjusting body parts. As Bambi Cantrell says, if it moves, bend it! (when appropriate.)

After you have set up the pose, stop for a moment to check the heads, hands, shoes and background. Make sure your subject is sitting up straight and have them extend their necks. Make sure there are no rolls: posture is everything.

Posing from the bottom up: Your goal is to pose a person in such a way that you can take a number of different angles and get great shots. This means starting at the feet or the bottom if they are sitting on the floor.

Stagger head heights. Remember the expression lips to eyes.

Pose in sub-groups. The most important people in the middle. Pose them first then add another 2-4 person sub-group.

Standing shots. Position the person so s/he turns their tummy away from the main light. This will put most of their body in shadow and is known as narrow lighting. This is a great “slenderizer” technique. Have the person stand with their back foot parallel with the camera and their front foot pointing to the camera. Have them put weight on their back leg and bend their other leg slightly. This causes the body to naturally turn a little away from straight on to the camera. The hips are shifted and natural as are the shoulders. If you have someone tilt their head slightly it will lower their shoulders. If you have them bend their arms and maybe put them in their thigh, in their back pockets or on their hips it will create another nice line for the eye to follow.

If a person is sitting on the floor have them sit on one hip to create movement in the lines. The top leg should be over and in front of the bottom leg. Have their supporting hand parallel with the camera while their other hand is draped on their thigh. Try tilting the head in different directions to change the mood.

Guys are great posed behind a woman in this pose. Have him kneel with the leg closest to the camera bent and forward. He can then fold his arms and rest on that knee. Never have a man sit or kneel with his lower torso pointing straight at the camera.

Chair shots: Soft pose: The chair is turned into the light. Have your subject sit on one hip and leaning on the chair of the arm. The bottom foot goes in front and the top foot goes behind. Always show the side of the hands. Never have them pointing straight at the camera. Hard pose: The chair is pointed toward the light. The legs are open. The leg closest to the camera is slightly forward. The back leg is bent backward. Have the subject lean on the arm of the chair possibly holding his/her hands.

Shoot from below carefully. Very few people look good from that angle. If you do have to shoot from below try having them tilt the crown of their head toward you so the plane of their face is more parallel with the plane of the camera.

Problem solving
Shoot from above to emphasize the eyes and minimize double chins.

To avoid protruding ears, make sure their face is never turned directly at the camera.

Slenderize people by having them turn at an angle. Have space between their torsos and arms. Separate their legs too. Use short/narrow lighting so that most of their face/body is in shadow. Or put something between them and the camera: another person, the back of a chair, a column. The bride’s veil over her upper arm

Another trick is to have them sitting with their back to you, leaning on an arm and looking over their shoulder to you. Again, a slight tilt to the head adds to the lines of the body. Or position them behind something or someone.

A great way to shoot a head and shoulders shot is to have the person sit in a chair with their feet on the floor. Then have them lean with one arm on their knee. You should from slightly above catching the nice diagonal of their shoulders and uplifted face.

If you want to add dimension to a thin face use a telephoto lens to flatten the features or use broad lighting. Don’t put anyone on the edges of a wide angle or it will broaden them!

To minimize skin imperfections or wrinkles, use flatter lighting.

In profile shots “cheat” the eyes. Instead of having model look straight, have them turn their eyes slightly toward the camera until you see their irises.

You’ll hear me talk a lot about cutting off body parts. Don’t cut a person’s arm off in an awkward place, ie, wrist, elbow arm or mid hand. Be mindful of where you cut off someone’s legs. Thighs are good most of the time. Below that, beware!

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password: