Lessons
Class Introduction
04:10 25 Shots That WOW
14:08 3Four Fundamentals of Photography
08:05 4Create a Visual Impact with Composition
07:04 5Importance of Foreground and Background
08:30 6Create Depth in Landscape Images
18:09 7Photos Don't Always Follow the Rules
02:11 8Composition Practice Exercise
10:41Composition Critique of Student Images
05:28 10Keys to Posing
05:37 11Shoot: Classic Elegance Female Pose
14:46 12Shoot: Modern Female Pose
09:04 13Shoot: Rollover Female Pose
08:10 14Female Hands & Arms Poses Overview
19:52 15Shoot: Hands and Arms Poses for Female
08:58 16Seven Posing Guidelines
04:18 17Headshots Poses with Male Model
14:59 18Shoot: Headshot for Male Model
06:45 19Shoot: Sitting Poses for Male Model
10:03 20Shoot: Leaning Poses for Male Model
06:43 21Shoot: Standing Poses for Male Model
03:32 22Keys to Couples Posing
10:31 23Shoot: Couples Posing
06:17 24Couples Transitional Posing Overview
14:28 25Shoot: Transitional Posing
15:25 26Keys to Group Posing
07:12 27Accordion Technique with Groups
07:46 28Shoot: Accordion Technique
04:11 29Shoot: Best Buds Pose
04:54 30Shoot: Talk with Your Hands Pose
02:33 31Shoot: Lock Arms and Hold Hands Pose
04:34 32Run at the Camera and Dance in Your Seat Poses
04:13 33Shoot: Pod Method Pose
17:58 34Posing Critique of Student Images
09:32 35Introduction to Lighting
05:38 36Soft vs Hard Light
17:10 37Difficult Lighting Situations
05:52 38Bright Light Techniques
18:16 39Overcast Light Techniques
10:34 40Low Light Techniques
10:27 41Lighting Techniques Q&A
14:58 42Drama Queen Lighting
06:26 43Laundry Basket Lighting
09:44 44Make it Rain Lighting
03:48 45Smart Phone Painting with Light
07:53 46Mini LED Bokeh Lighting
08:22 47Choose the Right Lighting System
13:30 48Hybrid Flash System
06:42 49Innovative Accessories
05:35 50Gear Overview
06:19 51Theatrical Post-Processing
06:07 52Ten Keys to Post-Processing
08:37 53Essential Skills to Post-Processing
08:25 54Headshot Post-Processing
24:53 55Bright Light Post-Processing
09:45 56Flat Light Post-Processing
14:46 57Low Light Post-Processing
08:24 58Introduction to Fine Art Post-Processing
09:06 59Light & Airy Fine Art Post-Processing
27:34 60Dark & Moody Fine Art Post-Processing
13:36 61Post-Processing Critique of Student Images
36:56Lesson Info
Ten Keys to Post-Processing
So let's get into 10 Keys to Post Processing. One, you gotta amplify the main focus of the photo. That's the thing, and great photos that have impact, there's one idea there - bam! You see it and it's conveyed immediately. That's impact. When you look at the photo and go, oh, what's he trying to do there? Where am I looking at? Oh, okay, there it is - zero impact. So you use your post processing to focus somebody's attention onto what you want them to look at first. And then arrange all the other elements to complement what you're trying to focus. Okay, so how do you do that? One, you eliminate or reduce the distracting elements. Okay? You could influence the viewer to see the entire frame of the picture. That's what you want to do. And so that's where cropping comes in, it's like, okay, you gotta see some dead spots in your image and go, okay, I need to crop that because those aren't really adding to the picture and I'm losing impact with that in there, so let's crop that out so more ...
of the focus is right here. Okay? But at the same time you do want them to focus on that one specific part, but then you want every single pixel in that frame them to look at. So, what you gotta do is say, boom, look at this first and then oh, look at all these other things that complement that. And the more things that you use to complement and add vision or add meaning to that main thing, the better the photo is. And it takes a lot of skill to really have a picture that does that well. Okay? So, four, create mood or feel. And that's what you can do with post processing by changing the tone of things, right, enhancing the lighting. Lighting is probably the number one thing that can change the mood. You could have the same client there but put different lighting on it and bam, it can be a completely different mood. Right, and then on top of that, post processing can do that on top of that. Extend your creative vision. I talked about that in the beginning. And that's really important to separate yourself. Now you can't, what I'm doing here, like if you're shooting a wedding, you can't do it on every single wedding. Picture, that's just like insane. Some client wanted me to do that. I go, that would be like $200,000 a wedding. (laughs) That's not a bad idea. But (laughs) These are just like generally - I'm not getting into basics and anything like that, I'm getting into like, hey, you want to make this into a signature piece, right, with your heart and soul in it and make it unique to you, and so post processing is a must for that. Today's photography, okay, today's photography is simply just not taking the picture in camera and then say, here. It's really what you do with post too. And it's more and more of the post is getting involved with it. And it's okay, it's okay. I know some of us who are in the film dance fighting it, but it's okay that way because you know what, it's extending your vision, right? The people who complain about that say, "Well, I just wanted to learn this part in film and then now you're adding that part. That's not fair." Why would you say something's not fair when it allows you to extend your creative vision? Right? And so you gotta embrace it, and there becomes a point where you gotta say this is what it is, maybe I should learn it. You know, maybe I should buy a few Creative Live classes on it, you know? And again, sometimes if you have great fear about this, you learn a few things here and you make a difference in your photos, you get excited about it. It's just like lighting. Like I show people how to use the one flash - Oh my gosh, that's so amazing! And they get totally hooked by it, but they were scared to death of it in the beginning. Right? So it's just part of what photography is now. So we have to embrace this and go with it. Perfection. Perfection creates timeless images. Okay? So that's what we all want to do with our images, we want things that we can look over and over and over again, and as we develop as photographers and artists, the pictures that are more perfect are the ones that we can look at that last forever. So if you go to all the great museums in the world and you see those photos that have been around hundreds of thousands of years, it's basically because there's some perfection in that photo that's executed extremely well. And it's perfect, so you can just keep looking at it over and over and over again. Like great sculpture. They take years to develop it but it looks exactly like the human form, or even better than the human form, and you're like, wow, over and over and over, right, again. Like David, right, in Italy. Anybody go see that? Even though some things they say like his wrists or his forearm is too long or whatever, but people just come by the droves and go, wow, I wish my butt looked that way, that's awesome. (laughs) Okay, post editing. You know what it is? It's a million micro adjustments. It's not one, you know what, just buy these actions, bam, there it is, perfect image. Every image is so different, if you're really gonna make that image sing and make it perfect, you've got a million micro adjustments all over the place, and when you add all those million micro adjustments up it's like, there's your picture. Okay? So it's tedious, yeah. It can be very tedious. But it's making something perfect, so what do you wanna do? We can't make things perfect overnight, it takes time. Okay? Here, key: when you have an image, especially if you're gonna submit to competition or something like this, here's one of the key things. You've gotta have details in the darks and you have details in the highlights. And make sure - not unless, you know, it's intentionally supposed to be all black background, and that's fine. But in general for a picture you've gotta have some details in the darks and details in the highlights. So when I shoot I'd rather be on a little bit of the dark side because I don't want to blow those highlights out. I can always bring back the darks and get some detail back into it, but if you blow out the highlights then you've gotta recreate some information and you know, I've done that plenty of times, trust me. (laughs) So, okay, here's another key thing. Eyes will focus on the brightest and the sharpest elements. So when you're trying to make your focus on that image, it's gotta be the brightest and the sharpest usually. Not unless you're doing some avant garde thing and maybe not. But in general. And so how do you tell that? Well, you just take a look at the picture and you kind of squint like this, and whatever just like pops out at you first, that's where that's the brightest point. Okay? Another way too, let's say you're working on Lightroom and they have that small thumbnail over to the left. If you look at an image really small, you see what's the brightest point. Because it has to reduce everything down into simplified form, so that's - a lot of time, when I'm not sure about the balance, I go over there and look at the small icon over there, that little sample image, and I go, oh okay, yeah, not quite bright enough or too bright or whatever. I use that a lot of times.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Vitor Rademaker
This course is amazing! Scott is extremely straightforward. He goes directly to practical problems, tips and etc. He explains every thing very clearly, and he is also very funny and charismatic, making you laugh as you learn. He shows that you don't need a lot of expensive gear to make very nice pictures. So I have saved some money as well, cause I was about to buy some gear that I wouldn't need right now. It is for sure one of the best photography courses I have ever attended to! I highly recommend! Thanks a lot Scott! You are the best!
user-9994d2
I have purchased a number of classes, this being one of them. The quality of the information was good and the level at which Scott spoke was appropriate for me. Having a course sylibus would add greatly to the value, which usually is not part of the programs I've purchased including this one, unless I've missed it. I believe the speaker should be required to provide one. After watching the videos, much of material can be recaptured by seeing it in writing. I would like to hear back from Creativelive their thoughts. In sum, good topic, good speaker, good technical audio and video quality by Creativelive
user-b48fe5
Another fantastic class with Scott Robert Lim! The combination of his knowledge, willingness to share, passion & entertaining personality makes him a top choice for photography education. Learning not only the "what", but the "why" & "how" can transform one's entire approach towards MAKING pictures. A constant inspiration to get better & better through practice.
Student Work
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