Well, Monday morning I came 15 minutes earlier and that was fucking right decision cause following 30 minutes we were only talking about how bad it is for photographer to be late for a meeting. Some guys were…David didn't like it. Understandable =)
First of all we've been asked to get to pairs and take 1-2 shots of your partner. I was lucky enough to be put together with Lisa cause she's very interesting person I think and I'm not alone in this opinion.
Then David showed us his work which has been exhibited at National Portrait Gallery. Impressive!
What is a portrait?, - he asked
Portrait- is a picture of a person who knows he's is being photographed. Good portrait says more about photographer then about an object of a shot. You shall bring your eye to a person. It's your opinion, it's how YOU see this person. And that's why it's hard to photograph a person, whom you find not interesting.
About lightning David said that he loved daylight and didn't use flash. Traditionally photographers use 80mm lens for making portraits.
Tips:
Relationships with person is a key factor to a good portrait.
Sunlight can be a problem so try to soften the light. (captain obvious...)
Then we had something like psychological exercise, we had to look for 1 minute at the face of your partner to remember all the most interesting and unique traits of appearance. Cause you have to find main feature of a person's face and make it a centre of your shoot.
Then David talked about how much a person's mouth can show. You've got to relax person unless u want to make him look stuff. RELAX YOUR MODEL. Make couple of compliments. MAKE THEM FEEL GOOD ABOUT THEMSELVES.
Posture.If your hands feel comfortable - u feel comfortable. (example, series of photos of people doing different movements by their hands with looking at camera).
Not bad idea to watch american top model show. I've seen it and agree with this advice.
Background
Plain background looks better.
In the process of taking portrait we can have small changes in clothes (move scarf, etc.)
Tip: tight lips look baaaad.
While shooting: ask for small movements. Don't allow friends of a model be there. People look for approval.
David said there's a book about what photographers say to their models but couldn't remember the name…fuck(.
!!! never take photo of kids without permission of their supervisor !!!
!!! If u want to change something in posture, clothes or appearance of a model ask: "do u mind if i touch you?" . Tounch a person with outer side of your hand cause that's not so personal.
Then David asked us to take photos of each other for 10 minutes. That was a lot of fun ))) Here you can see couple of photos of Lisa I took during this exercise. Still not enough time!
And finally we've been asked to go outside and ask strangers to pose for us so we can make their portraits. OMFG, how stressful that was for me u can't even imagine O_O How much I love my cosy photo studio....mmmm.....=D Worse part is that every guy I asked to pose for the portrait tried to flirt with me...wtf!& O_o
Ok ok, that's an example of the crappy crappy photos i ve got after 40 minutes of my efforts.
In conclusion: unfortunately David din't tell us anything new about the technical aspects of portrait photography. Though he gave a lot of psycological tips.
So...next step is to be exhibied at National Portrait Gallery! =D
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