Shooting the Background Images
Brooke Shaden
Lesson Info
33. Shooting the Background Images
Lessons
Class Introduction
07:25 2Overview of Brooke’s Journey
20:13 3Your Timeline is Nonlinear
05:37 4Using Curiosity and Intention to Build Your Career
03:26 5What Factors Dictate Growth
08:24 6Organic Growth vs. Forced Growth
05:18 7Niche Branding
04:57 8Brooke’s Artistic Evolution and Timeline
24:27How Can You Get Ahead if You Feel Behind?
10:02 10Ideation and Conceptualization to Identify Meaning in Your Art
05:54 11Idea Fluency
10:33 12How to Represent an Idea
07:01 13How to Innovate an Idea
07:07 14Creating a Dialogue With Your Art
05:48 15Conceptualization For a Series vs. a Single Image
03:43 16Transforming a Single Image Into a Series
03:12 17How to Tell a Story in a Series
03:28 18How to Create Costumes From Fabric
07:20 19Brooke’s Most Useful Costumes
02:19 20Using Paint and Clay as Texture in an Image
02:56 21Create Physical Elements in an Image
10:22 22Shooting for a Fine Art Series
05:45 23Conceptualization: Flowery Fish Bowl in the Desert
04:08 24Wardrobe and Texture
04:54 25Posing for the Story
05:32 26Choosing an Image
01:23 27Conceptualization: Rainy Plexiglass
11:34 28Posing for the Story
04:17 29Creating Backlight
02:37 30Photo Shoot #1 - Creating a Simple Composite
17:51 31Photo Shoot #2 - Creating a Dynamic Composite
06:31 32Photo Shoot #3 - Creating a Storytelling Composite
07:40 33Shooting the Background Images
06:14 34Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Working With Backgrounds
24:35 35Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Retouching the Subject
04:20 36Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Color Grading
02:45 37Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Floor Replacement Texture
15:24 38Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Final Adjustments
03:21 39Editing Samsara Shoot #2 - Cropping and Editing Backgrounds
05:25 40Editing Samsara Shoot #2 - Selective Adjustments
03:55 41Editing Samsara Shoot #2 - Adding Texture + Fine Tuning
03:21 42Editing Composite Shoot #1 - Compositing Models
06:58 43Editing Composite Shoot #1 - Expanding Rooms
02:17 44Editing Composite Shoot #1 - Selective Color
02:47 45Editing Composite Shoot #1 - Selective Exposure
04:04 46Editing Composite Shoot #2- Masking Into Backgrounds
10:45 47Editing Composite Shoot #2- Creating Rooms in Photoshop
06:11 48Editing Composite Shoot #2- Compositing Hair
05:07 49Editing Composite Shoot #2- Global Adjustments
04:49 50Editing Composite Shoot #3- Blending Composite Elements
05:00 51Editing Composite Shoot #3- Advanced Compositing
08:46 52Editing Composite Shoot #3- Cleanup
03:34 53Materials for Alternative Processes
06:20 54Oil Painting on Prints
05:41 55Encaustic Wax on Prints
03:09 56Failure vs. Sell Out
05:14 57Create Art You Love and Bring an Audience To You
03:35 58Branding Yourself Into a Story
05:40 59The Artistic Narrative
05:26 60Get People to Care About Your Story
03:36 61Get People to Buy Your Story
11:36 62Getting Galleries and Publishers to Take Notice
03:41 63Pricing For Commissions
06:43 64Original Prints vs. Limited Edition Prints vs. Open Edition Prints
02:11 65Class Outro
01:00 66Live Premiere
16:14 67Live Premiere: Layers of Depth 1
04:41 68Live Premiere: Layers of Depth 2
07:12 69Live Premiere: Q&A
16:10 70Live Premiere: Photo Critique
47:33Lesson Info
Shooting the Background Images
we're over here at this wall because the thing that we're going to do with the pictures that we just shot is to kind of transpose them against this wall. Like I said, if we just shot against a backdrop, then there wouldn't be any context. And you have to have context to really understand the story of the image. This is where location comes in. In representational art, we have to represent a location by showing a location. Otherwise, it's just the either of darkness, and there's nothing there to ground us. So here, I'm going to be shooting this wall as a plate. Ah, plate is just a blank shot that you put something into. So I'm not shooting myself here because I already shot myself on the back drop. I'm just going to shoot this wall so that we can put the backdrop up there against the wall. We're going to do that very simply. And for this shot, I don't need the camera to be vertical, so I'm just gonna go ahead and turn it back the horizontal, and we're going to frame this up pretty simil...
ar to how we did the other shots. I'm not going to change the height of the camera. That way, everything is still at the same angle, so we shouldn't have a perspective issue at all. And I'm just going thio, get as much of the wall as I can. Really, really simple. I'm just gonna get it in focus right there and take a quick shot of the wall. It's really simple, not a lot going on. I just photographed the wall and I focused down at the baseboard, and I'm gonna lock my focus now to manual focus on my lens. And then I'm going to tilt up just to get the blank wall with just a little bit of the floor showing that's going to give me enough wall to tilt up with the reason why I just locked My focus. There is because the camera doesn't know what to focus on when there's just a blank white wall in the shot, so it's going to keep searching for focus. So I locked it off just to take that one picture. So I've got the baseboard on the floor and the wall, and eventually it's just going to be me standing in the space. But with a dark wall instead of a white wall. So that's how I'm dealing with that. Now I want to make sure that I get some sort of depth, some interest in the shot. So it's not necessarily just one strip of a wall, which would be totally fine. But I want some options. So I'm going to move the camera over here and I'm going to shoot this corner of the wall. So I'm moving my camera over so that I'm not just rotating it at the corner, and I'm going to shoot this wall here with the hope that it gives some visual interest to the shop. So I just focused again on the baseboard, and I'm going to quickly take that picture and then same thing, manual focus with a tilt up to get that shot. Now, what I've done here is I've essentially allowed myself to take the corner of the wall and flip it so that it looks like we're looking into entire room, so that's gonna be the gold there. Now, the final thing that I want to do is just a really fun bonus self portrait, because I got inspired when I started looking at the space and I love this archway. So I want to do something where I'm peering around the archway. But then my body disappears inside of the arch. So let's just see how it looks to do a really quick, fun self portrait in this space. I'm going to move my camera ever so slightly to get more of that archway, and then I'm going to again go vertical because I'm photographing myself and I will be vertical in the frame. So I'm making sure to get enough of the wall and myself, but not too much so that it doesn't look like I'm really tiny in the frame. And I'm just keeping all of my settings from before. So not doing anything in particular with that. All right, making sure I'm on auto focus very good and finding my remote. Got it. And let's see how this looks. This is just a fun little bonus, because I absolutely love when I have the opportunity to be inspired by a space. This has nothing to do with a Siri's right now, and it's important to know that while I love the idea of conceptualization off a really specific Siri's, that really takes a lot of care in all of the images involved. It's also really nice to play and have fun. And to just be inspired by your space. The more you study your own creative process, and the more you think about what themes and what ideas are important to you, the easier it will be toe walk into any space and find your voice in that space. So this is mine. My little version of playtime with many years of conceptualization under my belt. So I'm going to go over here to take this photo and I'm just gonna have fun. Bye. Posing by peering around the corner. We'll see how it goes for the first time. I'm not so sure. Okay, let's check. Okay, Not bad. I look a little clunky, so I'm going to try another pose. Just trying to be a little bit more elegant. It's not my thing, but I'll do my best. Get all my hair off. Okay? Yeah. Okay. Let's see. Not bad. I like that quite a bit. So I'm going to leave it there. I hope that you enjoy these images and that you have fun editing them. I can't wait to see what you dio And remember, the next time you're shooting it can be fun. It can be playful. And especially if you think about compositing from the beginning, all the way through editing, you're going to have a much easier job of it, so have fun.
Class Materials
Ratings and Reviews
a Creativelive Student
Brooke never fails to deliver. I found this course superb from start to finish. From exercising your creative 'muscle', demystifying taking self portraits, and showing that they don't have to be perfect before you begin editing, to walking you through her editing process and how to price your work. Brooke's enthusiastic personality and excitement about the work shines through it all. Definitely recommended!
Rebecca Potter
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Brooke for this amazing class. Inspired and so full of practical knowledge, this is the best class I've ever watched. You have given me the confidence to pursue what I've always been afraid to do. Watch this space!
Søren Nielsen
Thank for fantastic motivating an very inspiring. The story telling and selling module was very helpful - thanks from Denmark