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New Session Begins:
Week of Sunday September 12, 2010

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Portraiture and Lighting Curriculum

Week 1: Review of Lighting and Exposure Concepts
  • Lecture – Overview of portraiture; Basic lighting equipment; Getting correct exposure in low–light and contrasty situations; Contrast in lighting for faces; Diagramming a lighting plot
  • Demonstration – Review of fundamental lighting types
  • Portrait Assignment – Portraiture with available light in a non–studio setting
Week 2: Single Light Source
  • Discussion of Week 1 assignment – students will display pictures; class will hypothesize about the light sources; each photographer may choose to comment
  • Lecture and Demonstration – Composition of portraits; Addressing the eyes; Shadows on the face; Angle of camera on subject; Evaluating the Subject's Face Before Shooting
  • Portrait Assignment – Composing the face with a single light source
Week 3: Multiple Light Sources
  • Discussion of Week 2 assignment – same format as discussion from previous week
  • Lecture and Demonstration – Multiple light sources; Making a portrait textured and three dimensional; Setting up a traditional studio portrait; Departing from the traditional – creating a unique lighting scheme for each subject
  • Portrait Assignment – Creating a portrait with at least three light sources
Week 4: The Subject in Context (Backgrounds and Environment)
  • Discussion of Week 3 assignment – same as previous weeks
  • Lecture and Demonstration – Composing with a background; Daylight portraiture; Depicting the subject's circumstances or environment; Combining artificial and natural light
  • Portrait Assignment – Shooting in specific locations
Week 5: Focal Length
  • Discussion of Week 4 assignment – same as previous weeks
  • Lecture and Demonstration – Lens choice and focal length; Distortion for artistic effect; Personalities of different lenses; The photographer's inflection in the portrait
  • Portrait Assignment – Portraiture with unconventional lenses and angles
Week 6: Multiple Subjects
  • Discussion of Week 5 assignment – same as previous weeks
  • Lecture and Demonstration – Lighting for multiple subjects; Inverse Square Rule as applied to portraiture; Subject interaction – using relationships as context; Larger group portraits
  • Portrait Assignment – Lighting and composing for subject interaction
Week 7: Putting It All Together
  • Discussion of Week 6 assignment – same as previous weeks; this week the class will also speculate on the relationship between the models
  • Lecture – Capturing the subject?s persona; Literal vs. conceptual portraiture
  • Discussion – Portraiture experiences (an exchange among students moderated by the instructor)
  • Portrait Assignment – Instructor distributes a list of suggested self–assignments for further study of portraiture

Interested? Register for Portraiture and Lighting here

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