Dynamic Portrait Photography: Working With Natural Light

With just a friend, a camera, and a creative vision, you can turn a sunny day into a spectacular shoot!

In this class, we'll dive deep into different natural light techniques for portrait photography while learning new ways to engage with subjects to create emotive work. For many photographers just starting out, it can be challenging to think of new and inspiring ways to photograph your subjects. I will go over how to use natural lighting techniques to create dynamic photos without fancy equipment. In addition, we'll go over how to edit your photographs to enhance the natural light in your images. We'll also go over how to find new and interesting places to work, even in your own backyard!

Lighting techniques we'll cover include:

• Direct Light
• Back Light
• Lensflare
• Working With Shadows
• Using Props

This class will be expansive for aspiring and amateur photographers who may feel stuck in their approach to working with friends or models. You'll learn the ins and outs of natural lighting and the many different ways in which lighting methods can be used to create images on even the smallest budget. It is helpful to have a basic understanding of how how to adjust your aperture and ISO, and how they are connected, before starting this class.

I would suggest students who sign up for this class to have basic knowledge of photography on DSLRs and have access to a camera with at least one lens to use. If you don't have a DSLR, you can use a smartphone and download a manual photography app such as Moment or VSCO. I will be using Adobe Lightroom for the editing portion of this lesson.

Thank you all those who watched this class in July, through your views we raised $1300 for the Black Trans Femmes in the Arts and the Black Women Photographers Relief Fund.