How to shoot studio quality portraits on a shoestring budget

REBECCA MB. PEARSON, PHOTOGRAPHERwww.rmbpearson.photography

About MeI find joy when I can tell people’s stories from behind a camera lens and I have been doing this since my dad handed me a Kodak Brownie Reflex at the age of 10. I started my career in journalism as a beat reporter. Along with my pen and notebook, I always had my camera with me, always ready to take a snapshot of a story that I am writing about. I transitioned into photojournalism about five years ago. My work has appeared in the Bucks County Courier Times (PA), as well as Sunshine Artist Magazine (FL), TimeOut New York (NY), East Village Times (NY), and several other publications. My fine art photography has also been on exhibit at the Soho Photo Gallery, The Bar Gallery in the Lower East Side, the Kimmel Center at NYU, and The Darkroom Gallery in Vermont.I am a graduate of Rider University in New Jersey with a Master of Arts degree from NYU. It’s easy to take a cellphone selfie. But if you want your story told through the lens of a camera by someone with experience, then let’s talk.

Key Lessons• Lighting tools• Lighting and light sources• Basic techniques

• Focus• Framing and Composing• Interacting with the model

• Post processing• Hands-on shooting• Critiques

Lighting Tools

Lighting Tools: The Reflector Disk

Clamp Spotlight with Reflector

Lighting Kit

Basic Lighting Tools

Key lesson: Understanding light

Key lesson: Understanding light

Using a spotlight

Using Flash for Strobe Lighting

Flash as Strobe

Which to use?

Outdoors

Outdoor Portraits

Tunnel Lighting

Tunnel Lighting

Hair lights

Hair lights

Lighting Challenges and Solutions• Try and move your subject to the shade• Use your handy reflector disk – have the model hold it for you.• Use flash as a last resort only

Before Flash With Flash Fill

Before Flash With Flash Fill

Techniques

Focus on the eyes

Zoom In and Frame the full face

Compose in thirds

Direction

Unposed

Unposed

Post Processing

A quick word about photo editing

Before and After

We’ll take a 10-minute break then LET’S SHOOT SOME PORTRAITS