Review Portrait Course Review

Glen

Uncle Glen
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Glen
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Right I'm about half way through this, please watch this space, if I get my finger out I might have it done by around 10pm (y) Ok so it was 11.30 ish what's a few minutes among friends??

('bout time I here some of you say) :woot:
 
Really interesting, many thanks for sharing that - was a good read :clap:

Looks like its definately worth the money and time if you want to do portrait work.

(y)
 
Thanks, I do applogize for my spelling even with spell checker its not great! Come to think of it neither is my grammer, oh well you can't be great at everything......:bonk:
 
Made up for it with your pics though, some pretty good ones in that .PDF ;)

(y)
 
Thats a great review mate. Thanks for sharing that. Looks like it's a worthwhile course. Some great pics in there too...great results (y)
 
That was more like a very good lesson than a review :)

I don't have much interest in studio work but that was a good read with quite a few helpful tips.

Well done!
 
This is a great help. I've taken a portrait course at the local college which was great- 5 weeks @ 2 1/2 hours per week for £50. If you want a no pressure method of learning portraiture try this route as well as considering the whole day courses

JohnB
 
thanks ;) What kind of portrait course was it John, what college was it at?
 
I went to the Bracknell & Wokingham college for the Portrait course. This was the same place for my City & Guilds in Photography. Cracking place & very helpful. I will try to post some images at the weekend from the course [must look at the thread on how to post images]

JohnB
 
Thanks for the review Glen, I really enjoyed reading it. (y)
 
Glen - THANK YOU - EXCELLENT READ :clap:

you mention "He also said whatever lens you are using,
write down all the Fstops available for that lens, this way you will have full knowledge of what range your lens covers. Each lens you have may be different."

Sounds a bit dim - but how do i go about doing this?

Thanks again

Allan
 
Think the best way is for example @ ISO 100 go into perhaps AP mode start of at the widest ie F4, start to take a picture, hold your button half way down then wind the click wheel to 'decrease' your apperture, I think in the viewfinder you will see all the F stops available for that lens.

I think this is the easiest way, but I could be wrong. (anyone?)

Ultimately, when in manual mode doing a shoot and your meter says you need F14 but you only have F13 or F16 you'll know straight away what you can achieve. All lenses are different, and will give different Fstops away from the standard F1/2/4/8/ etc...you may get in betweeners
 
Glen, when you say the victim was sitting with the lights at their level.... I always thought the lights should imitate the sun....high up and 45 degrees over.... perhaps thats where im going wrong! :(
 
No, well I say no, its not how he teaches positioning. We had four positions for the front lights throughout the day:-

1. High key shots of model on the floor, they were at waist height pointing square on, no tilts forward at about 45* in each corner if you like.

2. With the group shots, we raised one high updirectly behind the camera in the centre of the shot, then the other up to about shoulder height, again at the same angles above.

3. On the Black background, depending where you wantd the light only one was used and it was at the side of them waist ish height as she was sitting down.

4. One light directly above her to achieve the effect it the last of my pics.

The hair lights were very high up at the back pointing basically to where ever you wanted on the head/hair.
 
Thats a great read Glen......Thank you

Your shots in the review are cool too (y)
 
Cheers DF, I'm definitely looking to get a lighting setup after crimbo, either in the sales or if I can wait that long at the Focus Show @ the NEC.
 
Thanks for sharing your course notes with us all. I attended a 2-day Wedding and Portrait course with Simon and his colleagues in July 2005 and thoroughly enjoyed it. The mistake I made was to listen and watch so intensely, that I did not make any notes. Simon was so helpful - even a couple of months later, when I needed a problem solving - he would always ring back. Well worth every penny. Gillian
 
(y) glen that review was awsome mate well worth the effort that you have put into writing it out :clap: :clap:
 
Really enjoyed reading that review Glen, very interesting, this is an area of photography I am keen to develop my skills in.

Our Photography Club recently held a practical night at a local studio which I really enjoyed and was pleased with my results of.

I did enjoy the interaction with the models also, does help I am sure if you have a model who knows how to pose correctly.

Thanks

Richard
 
Good review! (y)

I'm going to take a family portrait tonight with no lighting and just the normal living room background (bookcase, fireplace, mirror, etc). Am thinking of using A-DEP setting to get everyone in focus. :geek:
 
I think Glen might have moved it or is tinkering with it as it doesn't work for me either :(

Pity really cause I liked it.
 
Sorry chaps, will re-instate the link pronto like.......:bonk:
 
No sorry, I thought about taking the setup shots half way through the day, if you look below at the rough image this shows the positions etc.....

Lighting.jpg



Camera set to F14 after taking the reading from the model, back lights @ F16 1 stop more to blast background away, front lights F11. The model was about 6ft away from the background. The back lights were about waist to shoulder height. The front lights were about the same too.
 
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