People Photography Course

So about six weeks ago I attended a People Photography Course (like a portrait class but less structured) at the local college (where I also work). It was a 6 hour course (1 hour lunch) put on by local photographer Tom Cooper.

Now I really didn't know what expect for myself from the course. I have a good knowledge of photography basics (Shutter, Aperture, ISO). I wanted to improve my skills with posing in a general sense as I want as "natural" a look in photographs as possible. I also wanted to work more with natural light and maybe some flash or reflectors for fill. I knew one of the major things I would get out of the class would be to watch and learn from all of the other photographers including Tom.

The class was small to start with and then one person had to leave for medical reasons and another was actually a model and left after an hour. The class was a mixed bag with varying degree's of technical skills.


The first hour we talked (we all spoke not just Tom) about how we saw "People Photography" and what we wanted to get out of the day. Tom arranged it so we were in a small meeting room (at the local college) with big windows with some drapes. It offered a a good light to shoot a few shots with.

I was trying out a lens I had just bought the Nikon 35-70 F/2.8. It seems a little soft at F/2.8-4.0 but after that it is very sharp. I am also noticing that it flares (I think that's the right term) when shooting into a bright light source. Does some weird things to the highlights when shooting at certain angles to the sun. I think I remember reading something about this. I digress.


So after some more instruction from Tom we headed outside. Now the sun was pretty bright at this point (a little after 10am) so the first thing I'm doing is looking for some shade to shoot in. A few minutes into the shoot the model had to go. So from that point forward class members were the models. The first thing I tried to do was find an angle I could shoot that didn't have a really bright background as the generally the brightest part of the photograph draws attention. We had the model sitting on a picnic table in a covered courtyard. Beyond the courtyard was another part of the courtyard that was fully exposed to the sun. I found this much to bright to use as a background. So I moved to the other side of the model and shot into the shaded courtyard. This was ok but there was a lot of different lines (part of the construction) that would intersect with the models head and so on.... I thought about using fill flash but I wanted a shallow-depth of field (so large aperture) but with that amount of light it wasn't happening (later I thought using a Neutral-density filter might have worked).



A little later we moved into the shaded part of the college which I liked. I know in certain types of photography there is something called repeating elements (like the posts of a fence). I tried this with the background of the portrait (pillars of the building) but it was more distracting then anything. Might have worked as a lead in now that I think about it.







After this I became the model in the bright sun. I think Tom wanted us to shoot in the bright sun as a learning tool. I know it was good for me to see (even if I wasn't shooting). Tom used a medium size sliver reflector. It actually worked really well even in the intense sun. I have more respect for the models now all those people pointing their camera's at you!! . On top of that the light from that reflector is bright! (Thank-you to another student for providing the photo of me)







After some more lessons we went for lunch. I just went home for lunch. The plan for after lunch was to head to a nearby heritage site. This place has many old (for the area not very old) that have lots of character. All during my lunch I was thinking about the possibilities of the shoot. I even showed up early to check things out.

It wasn't what I would call a good time of day to be shooting portraits (about 1 pm) but we were there to learn and sometimes you have to shoot in those conditions. I just needed to find some shade to shoot in!. I was going to shoot with another student Pam. She had a family friend Mike come as her model. I then just got a call from my girlfriend. She was going to come and be my model along with her two daughters.








So I shot the first 10 minutes with Pam and a family friend of her's. We were given a list of various things to try for our portraits (like shooting into the shade, or into the sun). I found these exercises really pushed me. The first thing I wanted to do was find some shade and use some fill flash. Now a big part of me going to the course was to push myself; I had to fight the urge!



My girlfriend and her 2 daughters showed up to be my models. I ended up shooting my girlfriend while her daughters were off doing portraits with a couple ladies. After some stuggling with my shots I decided to start to push myself and went right out into the mid day sun with my model. I did find that the lens (as mentioned above) was not working shooting into the sun but I kept trying. With Toms instruction I did get an alright shoot at 45 degrees to the sun. I also found this great house in the shade to shoot in.










Overall it was a great day, a great class and a step forward in my photography.