The Secrets of Portrait Photography

The Secrets of Portrait Photography

“We have reached the end of our course on how to take a portrait. It is a great honor for me to have you here by my side in the final stretch of our process. As a final project, I would like to propose that you choose one person, or a few, separately or together, to portray. Also choose a theme within your universe. Build a narrative so that your portraits gain a meaning beyond their own existence as such. Think about creating a family story, a fashion portrait, a staged sketch, in short, something that is not unattainable for you, but that has a narrative and a technical and aesthetic touch. Remember, photography is fragment. In principle, everything we have to understand a photograph will be contained in it. However, that doesn't stop us from having some additional images to help us tell a story. Here is the final result of my essay, I hope it serves as an inspiration:

Another thing that I think is important to emphasize is that there is no hierarchy of themes. Remembering a phrase by the great American photographer Garry Winogrand: "I photograph to see the photographed world", in other words, everything can be photogenic, it just depends on the way it is done. However, many intellectual explanations cannot justify poorly done work. Anyway, each one has to build their own narratives. I hope that, from learning this course, it becomes more fluid for you. I really want to see what you're going to produce, so be sure to publish your final project. I like to repeat a phrase that is already a bit shabby for me: “many people write, from notes on the internet, on social media and a multitude of things that writing communicates, but writers are rare.” With photography, it's the same. : many people photograph, but photographers are rare. It is necessary for the photographer to have style, imagination, technique and things to say through his "writing". Well, if you haven't created a mood board yet, try doing it now, even if you discard it halfway through. You have to start from something. Create a reference folder with things you like. See the Renaissance paintings and sculptures based on the human figure, observe the path of light in the painting, how it falls, and see the portraits of the photographers I mentioned in the course. Anyway, choose a starting point and practice a lot. Shooting is like physical exercise: you have to train to build muscle, and that's how your style will appear. Get to work!”

Partial transcription of the video

“Final Project We've reached the end of our course. It was an honor to have you join me in this process. As a final project, I'd like to propose you choose a person, two or three, or a group to portray. Try to create a narrative, not just a boring portrait of someone looking into the camera or something like that. Make it go beyond a simple portrait. Convey an idea. It can be a fashion shoot, a sketch, it can be a family photo, or someone on their own. Whoever you use as a subject, try to add meaning to that. Even if the person who is the subject doesn't get the meaning, it should mean somet...”

This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.

Course summary for: The Secrets of Portrait Photography

• Level: Beginner
• 96% positive reviews (293)
• 8617 students
• 4 units
• 11 lessons (1h 24m)
• 16 downloads

• Category

  Photography & Video

• Areas

  Digital Photography, Fine-Art Photography, Lifestyle Photography, Portrait Photography