Portrait Class Recap

Things I learned in my Rec Center Photo Class:

1.  Try to do portraits during the “golden hour”… one hour before sunset.  And always have a reflector on hand.  The other “golden hour” of the day is one hour after sunrise, but I’m NOT a morning person, so not sure how often that will work out.

Check out how evenly lit Robin’s face is with the use of this reflector!  The sun is shining directly onto the left side of her face, but the reflector makes both sides look great!  (FYI, our teacher is a huge lover of “props”, hence the boxing gloves!)  Of course, for the real portrait, I would have made sure the reflector isn’t in the photo!

2.  Shoot in RAW.  I’ve always been afraid of RAW, but I shouldn’t have been.  It’s   A.  MAZE.  ING.  It does help to have a book (or person) to show you how do so some of the basics.  Shooting in “Manual” mode is important too.  Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I don’t.  Manual is a real trial and error process. 

Above picture taken straight out of Camera (SOOC).  Below, same photo with a “vibrance boost” using the adjustment sliders in the RAW converter and then cropped.  Super easy and doesn’t look “over edited”.

3.  Be willing to invest in good photo editing software.  We all want great photos straight out of the camera, but in today’s world, editing is what gives your pics that extra “pop”. 

      

I’ve heard good things about Adobe Lightroom, but didn’t understand just how cool it was until I saw my teacher use it.  It is the ideal software for photographers who shoot in RAW format exclusively because you can do all your RAW adjustments in the program and then convert large batches of photos into JPEG (or other) formats with one command.  I would have asked for this for my birthday, but I really want a MAC too…. and all things must be purchased in order.  No sense in buying this program for my PC if I am going to be getting a MAC anytime soon.  I’m nothing if not patient. 

4.  Don’t leave home without the tripod.  You never know when you will need it.  None of us had a tripod for this shot, so we used the table.  Have you ever seen these kind of shots and wondered how they do it?  I’ll tell you… It’s a 15 second long shutter release.  The guy in the middle (our teacher) is holding as still as possible (which is why he’s not smiling) and someone else is running around him holding colored lights and waving them all over the place.  Awesome, no?  I can’t wait to try this with my kids, once I get my tripod fixed.

5.  Take More Classes!  Taking this one class rejuvenated my desire to go back to school.  I don’t want to get a degree or anything fancy, I just want to take some classes to solidify my knowledge base.  I’ve been reading all over blog-land how many fabulous photographers have “self taught” themselves, but I’ve come to realize that I just don’t have the right personality for that.  I enjoy figuring stuff out on my own, but I really prefer the classroom format where someone else is outlining the curriculum.  I found out that the nearest community college to me has a pretty decent number of photography/Photoshop classes.  And they have classes during the day that work for my schedule so I can still be free in the evenings for the kids.   Cheap and convenient?  Don’t think it gets much better than that!