Fine Art Photography: The Complete Guide

Lesson Info

Shoot: Bed Image

This is a photo shoot with a bed that clearly is not just a bed because we sawed it in half, and the whole idea here was that the home is supposed to be a place of comfort, but everything is splitting apart, and we're going to have our subject just inside the mattress, literally laying in between it on this uncomfortable ground. The original idea here was to actually have the bed inside, in a small room, but the room was too small, and the bed didn't quite fit on the wall, and nothing was working exactly as it should, so that was when I decided to switch everything up and take the bed outside instead of keeping it in, which is sort of a twist on this series so far because instead of taking the outdoors in, we're taking the indoors out and that's how we ended up in this completely beautiful field that we're in which works perfectly for the feeling of this whole entire series. So I'm going to be photographing my model Rachel, if you wanna come on in, and we have her in this gorgeous nigh...

t gown, this is gonna be a very neutral shoot, not a lot of color. And I'm just gonna have you lay down with your head toward the head board, right in between the mattresses. Perfect. I told her earlier this is gonna be the simplest photo shoot ever because all she has to do is lay down, and even fall asleep if you want, you are welcome to. It's not very comfortable though. So we've got these two mattress halves, I took a knife to the mattresses, that's why my hand is covered in dirt right now, because I took a knife to it and then I rubbed dirt on it, poured some water on to make it a little bit muddy, and just to sort of distress this scene a little bit more so that it looks more a part of the field. All I need to do now is make sure that the costume is looking nice, I'm just gonna sort of rearrange things a little bit and I'm going to take one shot with this bed exactly as it is. We've got two friends helping out, holding up the head board and after I get that shot, I'm actually just gonna squeeze the mattress in even further and see if we can sandwich her in between this mattress because I'm not sure which one will look good. As you can imagine, this is a slightly difficult thing to pre-conceptualize and know exactly what it's going to look like, so we're going to see how it looks both ways and either way, I'm excited about this photo, we even have a crow cawing in the distance and it's all very ominous right now. So okay, let me take a look at your costume, I'm just going to spread it out just a little bit. There we go, yep. There, just put some wrinkles on it just like that. And you can just have your arms down at your sides. Ah, yep, exactly like that. And as I look at this scene, I might even have her switch her head to come toward me, toward the camera, which could be a really interesting take on this, but for now, stay there and I'll get one shot just as it is. I'm getting a slightly higher angle up on this chair that way I don't see any of the forest in the background or a house in the background, just the field and the bed. I'm again on my 25 milometer lens here so I make sure that I get the whole scene in and this is looking really, really interesting. So right now in F 3.5, so I'm for the first time deviating from my normal F2, which looks really beautiful. ISO 100 and 640 for my shutter speed at the moment. I'm actually gonna take that up even higher to about 1250, so this is gonna be a super fast shutter. And I'm going to have our bed holders go inward with yep, that's perfect. Okay, Tori back a little bit. Yep, that's it. And I'm going to take this shot. Okay. So I have my image so far, and it could be as simple as that but we're gonna try just two more variations. So Rachel if you wouldn't mind flipping your head toward me, and the reason why I'm making that choice is because whatever is coming closer to the camera is going to look larger, and I don't know yet just in the back of my camera if her feet look out of proportion compared to her head, but I know that it's always very flattering to have the head look bigger than the feet, so we're going to go with this option as well. That looks perfect. If you wouldn't mind Rachel just tilting your head even more toward me, yep, and then closing your eyes. That looks so beautiful. Okay, I'm just refocusing to make sure that her head is in focus here. (shutter clicks) Okay. And I've got that image, so now for the final one that I'm going to shoot here, I'm going to actually push the mattresses together and have Rachel turn on her side so that she's truly sandwiched in, and I do like your head coming toward me. So we'll have you stay like that and yep, on your side, and we're just gonna push this mattress in. Oh, I liked that. That was great (chuckles), see it's so fun when the model has a great idea like that. I'm just gonna move this slightly in. Thank you. You have a lot to handle over there. Okay and now I'll squash you in on this side. Let me know if anything pinches or hurts or, okay you're good. She says she's good. Confirmation from the model, okay. This looks really, really nice. I absolutely love it, completely. Okay. I'm super excited. All right. Head boards look good, everything looks good. Just checking my focus one last time here. (shutter clicks) Okay. And we've got the shot, now I'm gonna take a couple extras just of the grass below, of the field above, and I'm going to have to get a clean shot eventually without our head board holders over here. But that's something that I can do later. Just getting little bits of field from this angle so then I can add that in separately. So this is looking beautiful, Rachel, you may relax, although I think that's exactly what she's doing, so, this looked really good, it's so simple, but if you have a concept that's really beautiful and you have really good props to be able to make that come to life, then everything comes together really simply as this did, so I think we're ready to move on.

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.

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