Fine Art Photography: The Complete Guide
Lesson 18 of 138
Finding Parts in Images

Fine Art Photography: The Complete Guide
Lesson 18 of 138
Finding Parts in Images
Lesson Info
Finding Parts in Images
So what does it mean to layer your inspiration? First, you have an overarching theme. So we've got a theme that you're going to choose for your series that you're going to do. Let's just say today, day two, you're starting your series and you're gonna choose a theme. After that you're going to choose your individual ideas for the images within that theme within your series. Next you're going to choose how to visually express those ideas. You can see how it's already layered, we have a theme, the individual ideas, your visual expression of those ideas, the technical expression, how you put it together, and then your personal expression. So what are you bringing to the table that somebody else would never be able to bring? With these things you are layering your inspiration. Now I think that it's important to add emotion visually and realistically into your images to be able to convey the thing that you're trying to convey and my hope, my goal, is that over the course of this class that ...
you will gain those tools to be able to work emotionally and visually and realistically within your work. As I mentioned I don't care if you don't shoot people, I don't care if your work looks nothing like mine. The fact is that every piece of art has emotion in it and it's up to us to tell the viewer what that is. To somehow visually and realistically show what that emotion is and this is how we connect to art. You might see a piece of work that has been done over and over again, where, I don't know, maybe it's the example of the umbrella and the birds the water. You're like, gosh could I even look at one more picture of an umbrella and birds and water? Then you might just see one that has all those same things but it's the emotion that you get from that particular piece that draws you into it. So how can we use emotion realistically and visually within our work? Now I personally do it like this, with pose, with color, with location, that's just how I do it and you can see that here in this image. The pose has this sort of weird creepy thing going on, we've got a very specific color palette happening that really brings you into the world of the image and the location is very decayed, very dirty, very weird and that all represents an emotion. The last thing that I wanna say here is to think back in your life and go ahead and just try this now just think back to a moment that defined your life. Something that set you on a new course, something that changed your way of thinking. What is a moment for you? It could be different for everyone, it might be the day that you were diagnosed with cancer it might be the day that you had your first child, it might be the day that you graduated high school. For everyone it will be different. What was a defining moment in your life and how would you represent every part of that experience visually? Every single part, how can you break that experience apart and assign something visual to every element? It's really interesting to do this because it allows us to really understand ourselves. To understand each part of what makes us, us. What makes an image mine versus yours, versus yours, versus yours? It's our experience and the way that we represent those experiences that culminates in art that's personal and meaningful for us. This was the very first image that I ever created, literally I got a camera, I set up my tripod, this is what came from it. I really wanted to share this image because I did this exact same thing. I was thinking about experiences in my life that were meaningful and I settled on this one experience where my grandmother, she used to recite this prayer to me before I would go to bed and she would say, "If I should die before I wake "I pray the lord my soul to take." As a child I thought that was incredibly creepy and terrifying, I would just lay in bed like, oh my gosh, I don't wanna go to bed. Because what if I do and then someone's there to take my soul, I just didn't get it. I was very horrified and that stuck with me and of course I laugh about it as I got older, like oh my gosh, I can't believe I was so scared of that. But it really stuck with me as like, that was one of the first times that I learned to be afraid to go to sleep. That's a really big deal for a child to learn that as a kid. So I decided to put that into an image and without knowing it I went through this list in my head. I had never created a picture before, I didn't know how to work my camera I didn't know how to even get something to turn out looking like a photograph, I just didn't get it. So without realizing it I went through all these things in my head as one would have to do when you're taking a picture for the first time. Well what pose will I be in, where will I be sitting and what will my frame look like and what colors are gonna be here and how will I light this and all those things that a beginner would have to ask I did and that ended up being represented in this way. Now can you relate to this image? Can you take some part of your experience, look at this and understand maybe what's happening? Sure, do you understand my inspiration in it without hearing the story? No, there's no way that you could know that that was my experience. But because I had an experience and because I dissected that experience this is what resulted and that creates an original story that hopefully other people can relate to.
Class Description
Creating a great photo for a client is one thing - but turning your passion and ideas into a series that is shared, shown, and sold is a whole different business. If you do it right, you’ll be shooting what you love all the time. Learn how to choose which ideas to create, how to turn your concept into a production, and steps to getting your work seen and even sold in Fine Art Photography: A Complete Guide with Award-Winning Photographer, Brooke Shaden.
This is an all-inclusive workshop that provides the tools you need to run a successful and creative business as a fine art photographer. You’ll learn creative exercises to find and develop your ideas, how to create an original narrative, how to produce your own photo series, post production techniques and skills for compositing and retouching, how to write about your work, ways to pitch to galleries and agents, and how to print your pieces so they look like art.
This workshop will take you on location with Brooke as she creates a photo series from scratch. She’ll walk through every step for her photo shoots including set design and location scouting, she’ll cover techniques in the field for capturing your artistic vision, post-production and compositing techniques, as well as printing and framing essentials.
She’ll round out this experience by discussing all of the details that will help make your career a success like licensing, commissions, artists statements, social media plans, gallery prep, and pricing your work.
This comprehensive course is a powerful look into the world of fine art photography led by one of the world’s most talented photographers, Brooke Shaden. Included with purchase is exclusive access to bonus material that gives exercises and downloads for all of the lessons.
Lessons
- Class Introduction
- Storytelling & Ideas
- Universal Symbols in Stories
- Create Interactive Characters
- The Story is in The Details
- Giving Your Audience Feelings
- Guided Daydream Exercise
- Elements of Imagery
- The Death Scenario
- Associations with Objects
- Three Writing Exercises
- Connection Through Art
- Break Through Imposter Syndrome
- Layering Inspiration
- Creating an Original Narrative
- Analyze an Image
- Translate Emotion into Images
- Finding Parts in Images
- Finding Your Target Audience
- Where Do You Want Your Images to Live?
- Create a Series That Targets Your Audience
- Formatting Your Work
- Additional Materials to Attract Clients
- Which Social Media Platforms Will be Useful?
- How to Make Money from Your Target Audience
- Circle of Focus
- The Pillars of Branding
- Planning Your Photoshoot
- Choose Every Element for The Series
- Write a Descriptive Paragraph
- Sketch Your Ideas
- Choose Your Gear
- How to Utilize Costumes, Props & Locations
- What Tells a Story in a Series?
- Set Design Overview
- Color Theory
- Lighting for the Scene
- Props, Wardrobe & Time Period for Set Design
- Locations
- Subject Within the Scene
- Set Design Arrangement
- Fine Art Compositing
- Plan The Composite Before Shooting
- Checklist for Composite Shooting
- Analyze Composite Mistakes
- Shoot: Black Backdrop for White Clothing
- Shoot: Black Backdrop for Color Clothing
- Shoot: Black Backdrop for Accessories
- Shoot: Miniature Scene
- Editing Workflow Overview
- Add Fabric to Make a Big Dress
- Edit Details of Images
- Add Smoke & Texture
- Blend Multiple Images Into One Composite
- Put Subject Into a Miniature Scenario
- Location Scouting & Test Photoshoot
- Self Portrait Test Shoots
- Shoot for Edit
- Shoot Extra Stock Images
- Practice the Shoot
- Introduction to Shooting Photo Series
- Shoot: Vine Image
- Shoot: Sand Image
- Shoot: End Table Image
- Shoot: Bed Image
- Shoot: Wall Paper Image
- Shoot: Chair Image
- Shoot: Mirror Image
- Shoot: Moss Image
- Shoot: Tree Image
- Shoot: Fish Tank Image
- Shoot: Feather Image
- View Photo Series for Cohesion & Advanced Compositing
- Edit Multiple Images to Show Cohesion
- Edit Images with Advanced Compositing
- Decide How to Start the Composite
- Organize Final Images
- Choosing Images for Your Portfolio
- Order the Images in Your Portfolio
- Why do Some Images Sell More Than Others?
- Analyze Student Portfolio Image Order
- Framing, Sizing, Editioning & Pricing
- Determine Sizes for Prints
- How to Choose Paper
- How to Choose Editions
- Pricing Strategies
- How to Present Your Images
- Example Pricing Exercise
- Print Examples
- Licensing, Commissions & Contracts
- How to Keep Licensing Organized
- How to Prepare Files for Licensing
- Pricing Your Licensed Images
- Contract Terms for Licensing
- Where to Sell Images
- Commission Pricing Structure
- Contract for Commissions
- Questions for a Commission Shoot
- Working with Galleries
- Benefits of Galleries
- Contracts for Galleries
- How to Find Galleries
- Choose Images to Show
- Hanging the Images
- Importance of Proofing Prints
- Interview with Soren Christensen Gallery
- Press Package Overview
- Artist Statement for Your Series
- Write Your 'About Me' Page
- Importance of Your Headshot
- Create a Leave Behind & Elevator Pitch
- Writing For Fine Art
- Define Your Writing Style
- Find Your Genre
- What Sets You Apart?
- Write to Different Audiences
- Write for Blogging
- Speak About Your Work
- Branding for Video
- Clearly Define Video Talking Points
- Types of Video Content
- Interview Practice
- Diversifying Social Media Content
- Create an Intentional Social Media Persona
- Monetize Your Social Media Presence
- Social Media Posting Plan
- Choose Networks to Use & Invest
- Presentation of Final Images
- Printing Your Series
- How to Work With a Print Lab
- Proofing Your Prints
- Bad Vs. Good Prints
- Find Confidence to Print
- Why Critique?
- Critiquing Your Own Portfolio
- Critique of Brooke's Series
- Critique of Student Series
- Yours is a Story Worth Telling
Reviews
April S.
I tuned in for most of Brooke's lessons in this course and watched some of them more than once as they were rebroadcast. First I want to say that Brooke is a very good instructor. Her easy-going, friendly, down-to-earth, somewhat quirky manner cannot be mistaken for unprofessional. She is very prepared, she speaks well (not a bunch of hemming and hawing), she is thoughtful, she is thorough, she is very relatable and at ease, and she is definitely professional in her presentation. I really thought when I first tuned in that it would mostly be background noise while I was at work, sound to keep me company. Not because I didn't like Brooke but I really didn't think I was into fine art photography nor did I think I cared about the business side of things much. Not now anyhow. I was really wrong. Brooke sparked a deep interest in me to delve into fine art photography, to consider creating images for myself, from my imagination. In fact, I realized that this was something I'd been thinking about for a couple of years though I hadn't put a name to it (the idea of creating pre-conceived images based on my own creative goals). I gleaned many little treasures from her about image sizes, working with printers, different types of paper, selling, interacting with galleries, and so much more. I may not need all of what she taught right now because I'm definitely headed in another direction at the moment, but she planted ideas and information in my head that I know will be useful at some point. Things I may not have thought of on my own, but that seed is in my head now so when the time comes, I'll know. I'd really like to buy her course but at the moment, with the holidays right around the corner, it's not in my personal budget. I'm grateful to have caught the live and rebroadcast lessons though, and her course is on my list to own. I think it's a great reference to be consulted over and over again, not watched once and forgotten. Kudos Brooke for really putting together an excellent course.
Ron Landis
I'm retired now, but spent decades in the people and training business. Brooke is extraordinary! Even though this course is extremely well organized and she's left nothing unattended, she moves through it with friendly conversational manners and without a sense of it being stilted. It's as though we are all her friends, not students, as she shares her heart and passion with us. What a joy it is to listen to her. And what a clear, unambiguous command of her subject. Wow! She explains it with such ease using explanations and techniques that won't overwhelm artists just starting their portfolio or the Photoshop-squeamish among us; but despite its simplicity her resulting art is breathtaking and beyond original. I wish more of my professors at school were as engaging. This was by far my best buy at Creative Live yet.
Juli Miranda
She save my life this isolation time. Everything you need to know about fine art photography super well explained and super easy to get. She es funny and sweet as much as expert. it is a super recommendation! Yes!! Thanks. :)