Advice needed - Photography Course recommendations?

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MissTiffany

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Hello!

I am an actress and I am wanting to start taking actor headshots as a career alongside my acting.

I have the contacts ready, an art background, and a good eye for photography...

But I need some sort of training/course/classes to help me get started.

Something which specialises in Portraiture.

Any help/ideas???

Also any books on Portrait Photography that people recommend?

Many thanks,

T x
 
:wave:

Welcome to TP :)

Most colleges run basic portrait courses that will give you a grounding in the subject.

You'll need to invest in some sort of lighting though, if you're planning to do "professional" headshots though.....
 
Thank you! and thanks for your advice - I will look into this!

About the lighting, yes I had realised this. But actually the photographer who took my headshots which I love used natural lighting for most of them.
 
Take a look at Lighting for Portrait Photography by Steve Bavister (published by RotoVision). Its not cheap - £17.50 on Amazon, but its worth every penny. Covers both studio and environmental work and its one of the few books I regularly pick up for ideas and techniques.

Good luck.

Courses - can't help there :)
 
I recently went on an "Art Nude" course run by The Flash Centre (google them). It wasnt cheap - but it was a very good course - learnt loads about studio lighting setups. They do a portrait course too (amongst others). Depends how much you are prepared to spend.

The RPS also do some good courses - try looking on their website.

Local adult learning centres may do them - I did quite a good portrait course at Burton Manor college (Cheshire) a few weeks back - that was relatively inexpensive. I have however been on other courses there that were less informative.
 
Miss Tiffany,
save your money. The courses, even the city of guilds courses, are not worth your time or money in my opinion (and I used to lecture on one).

The time the course takes, you could learn a LOT more on your own and by reading books and asking a few pointers. Provided you can learn by your mistakes, you can learn as much as any course will teach you. Spend the money the course would cost on a couple of good books, invest the same amount of time into PRACTISING AND EXPERIMENTING and you will have as much knowledge as the course would give you in the same time for a fraction of the cost....there I have just saved you the cost of a two head studio set up, so go buy the lights and background instead fo paying the lecturers, most/many of whom are failed photographers (which is why I gave up th electuring, it was driving me insane how stupid, dull and worthless the other teachers were - lord knows what they thought f me!)

PS - Is The Stage still around - was always a good source to advertise in for work. I used to do plenty of "entertainers" book pictures and for postcards.
 
Lensflare said:
Miss Tiffany,
save your money. The courses, even the city of guilds courses, are not worth your time or money in my opinion (and I used to lecture on one).

The time the course takes, you could learn a LOT more on your own and by reading books and asking a few pointers. Provided you can learn by your mistakes, you can learn as much as any course will teach you. Spend the money the course would cost on a couple of good books, invest the same amount of time into PRACTISING AND EXPERIMENTING and you will have as much knowledge as the course would give you in the same time for a fraction of the cost....there I have just saved you the cost of a two head studio set up, so go buy the lights and background instead fo paying the lecturers, most/many of whom are failed photographers (which is why I gave up th electuring, it was driving me insane how stupid, dull and worthless the other teachers were - lord knows what they thought f me!)

PS - Is The Stage still around - was always a good source to advertise in for work. I used to do plenty of "entertainers" book pictures and for postcards.
Click to expand...

:eek:

I haven't done any courses (although most would say I should :D )

A mate of mine signed up for one of the Open university course and it really helped him !
 
Thank you for all your ideas and advice!

I should have said - I am based in London and I want a course in London. But thank you for your suggestions!

I am currently considering Central St Martins in London http://courses.csm.arts.ac.uk/shortcourse.asp?ct=3&ma=5&cat=43&ci=7121
- anyone any experience of this course? heard anything about it?
It is expensive, and I know courses are but I do feel I want to do one. I'm a bit too nervous to trust myself to get going and I just need a push in the right direction.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
You'll need to invest in some sort of lighting though, if you're planning to do "professional" headshots though.....
Click to expand...

And it just so happens.............lol
 
The company I work for does the IT support for the The Royal Photographic Society - RPS. I have heard good things about there courses!!:)
 
Lensflare said:
Miss Tiffany,
save your money. The courses, even the city of guilds courses, are not worth your time or money in my opinion (and I used to lecture on one).

The time the course takes, you could learn a LOT more on your own and by reading books and asking a few pointers. Provided you can learn by your mistakes, you can learn as much as any course will teach you. Spend the money the course would cost on a couple of good books, invest the same amount of time into PRACTISING AND EXPERIMENTING and you will have as much knowledge as the course would give you in the same time for a fraction of the cost....there I have just saved you the cost of a two head studio set up, so go buy the lights and background instead fo paying the lecturers, most/many of whom are failed photographers (which is why I gave up th electuring, it was driving me insane how stupid, dull and worthless the other teachers were - lord knows what they thought f me!)

PS - Is The Stage still around - was always a good source to advertise in for work. I used to do plenty of "entertainers" book pictures and for postcards.
Click to expand...

I strongly disagree - I have found that working with an experienced professional at a workshop for a day not only speeds up the learning process, but also gives you much practical experience under instruction - which can leave you feeling more confident. I would highly recommend Chris Burfoot's introductory course in portraiture. It costs £135, is held at Lacock and is a fantastic course. You will come away with a small portfolio of images, an exellent understanding of how to set up and meter lighting and several lighting set ups which you can repeat yourself. If you intend to then buy some studio lighting for your own use, students used to receive a discount voucher for elinchrom lighting - check with Chris to see if this is still the case. You can book the course through either the Flash Center or the RPS. I've done all 3 of the Chris's workshops and they are without doubt worth every penny.
 
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