Fine Art Photography: The Complete Guide

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

Lessons

1Class Introduction
2Storytelling & Ideas
3Universal Symbols in Stories
4Create Interactive Characters
5The Story is in The Details
6Giving Your Audience Feelings
7Guided Daydream Exercise
8Elements of Imagery
9The Death Scenario
10Associations with Objects
11Three Writing Exercises
12Connection Through Art
13Break Through Imposter Syndrome
14Layering Inspiration
15Creating an Original Narrative
16Analyze an Image
17Translate Emotion into Images
18Finding Parts in Images
19Finding Your Target Audience
20Where Do You Want Your Images to Live?
21Create a Series That Targets Your Audience
22Formatting Your Work
23Additional Materials to Attract Clients
24Which Social Media Platforms Will be Useful?
25How to Make Money from Your Target Audience
26Circle of Focus
27The Pillars of Branding
28Planning Your Photoshoot
29Choose Every Element for The Series
30Write a Descriptive Paragraph
31Sketch Your Ideas
32Choose Your Gear
33How to Utilize Costumes, Props & Locations
34What Tells a Story in a Series?
35Set Design Overview
36Color Theory
37Lighting for the Scene
38Props, Wardrobe & Time Period for Set Design
39Locations
40Subject Within the Scene
41Set Design Arrangement
42Fine Art Compositing
43Plan The Composite Before Shooting
44Checklist for Composite Shooting
45Analyze Composite Mistakes
46Shoot: Black Backdrop for White Clothing
47Shoot: Black Backdrop for Color Clothing
48Shoot: Black Backdrop for Accessories
49Shoot: Miniature Scene
50Editing Workflow Overview
51Add Fabric to Make a Big Dress
52Edit Details of Images
53Add Smoke & Texture
54Blend Multiple Images Into One Composite
55Put Subject Into a Miniature Scenario
56Location Scouting & Test Photoshoot
57Self Portrait Test Shoots
58Shoot for Edit
59Shoot Extra Stock Images
60Practice the Shoot
61Introduction to Shooting Photo Series
62Shoot: Vine Image
63Shoot: Sand Image
64Shoot: End Table Image
65Shoot: Bed Image
66Shoot: Wall Paper Image
67Shoot: Chair Image
68Shoot: Mirror Image
69Shoot: Moss Image
70Shoot: Tree Image
71Shoot: Fish Tank Image
72Shoot: Feather Image
73View Photo Series for Cohesion & Advanced Compositing
74Edit Multiple Images to Show Cohesion
75Edit Images with Advanced Compositing
76Decide How to Start the Composite
77Organize Final Images
78Choosing Images for Your Portfolio
79Order the Images in Your Portfolio
80Why do Some Images Sell More Than Others?
81Analyze Student Portfolio Image Order
82Framing, Sizing, Editioning & Pricing
83Determine Sizes for Prints
84How to Choose Paper
85How to Choose Editions
86Pricing Strategies
87How to Present Your Images
88Example Pricing Exercise
89Print Examples
90Licensing, Commissions & Contracts
91How to Keep Licensing Organized
92How to Prepare Files for Licensing
93Pricing Your Licensed Images
94Contract Terms for Licensing
95Where to Sell Images
96Commission Pricing Structure
97Contract for Commissions
98Questions for a Commission Shoot
99Working with Galleries
100Benefits of Galleries
101Contracts for Galleries
102How to Find Galleries
103Choose Images to Show
104Hanging the Images
105Importance of Proofing Prints
106Interview with Soren Christensen Gallery
107Press Package Overview
108Artist Statement for Your Series
109Write Your 'About Me' Page
110Importance of Your Headshot
111Create a Leave Behind & Elevator Pitch
112Writing For Fine Art
113Define Your Writing Style
114Find Your Genre
115What Sets You Apart?
116Write to Different Audiences
117Write for Blogging
118Speak About Your Work
119Branding for Video
120Clearly Define Video Talking Points
121Types of Video Content
122Interview Practice
123Diversifying Social Media Content
124Create an Intentional Social Media Persona
125Monetize Your Social Media Presence
126Social Media Posting Plan
127Choose Networks to Use & Invest
128Presentation of Final Images
129Printing Your Series
130How to Work With a Print Lab
131Proofing Your Prints
132Bad Vs. Good Prints
133Find Confidence to Print
134Why Critique?
135Critiquing Your Own Portfolio
136Critique of Brooke's Series
137Critique of Student Series
138Yours is a Story Worth Telling