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Choose Every Element for The Series

Lesson 29 from: Fine Art Photography: The Complete Guide

Brooke Shaden

Choose Every Element for The Series

Lesson 29 from: Fine Art Photography: The Complete Guide

Brooke Shaden

photo & video

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Lesson Info

29. Choose Every Element for The Series

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Next Lesson: Write a Descriptive Paragraph

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Yours is a Story Worth Telling

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Choose Every Element for The Series

I think if we start breaking down images, then we can plan them so much better. If we really consider every single element of what goes into a picture, first of all, you'll probably have more confidence to sell your work, at better prices. Because if you really think about every decision that goes into an image, there's a lot of decision making involved. And in fact, I have a friend who's pretty indecisive, and she, one day, was like, I'm gonna make a self portrait. I'm just gonna do this. I've seen you do it so many times. I'm just gonna do this. And she sends me these pictures; she's texting me these pictures of her like, laying in her apartment wrapped in a bed sheet, and with the text, this is so hard. And I was like, yes! What a great feeling for a photographer to have somebody that you know be like, wow, what you do is really hard. It's very satisfying because they're thinking about every single decision that we make really easily oftentimes. What camera angle am I going to use? ...

How do I choose my settings? What wardrobe am I gonna use? All those things. There are so many decisions. So let's talk about them. All of the decisions. First of all there's lighting. And I'm just gonna make a comprehensive list of everything I could think of. And if you think of something that's not here, just let me know, and we will add it to the list at some point. But we've got lighting, okay? That's like, first and foremost. You're a photographer, you definitely have to know something about light. Composition. So, I want you to put yourself in the mindset of somebody who has never taken a picture before, and how daunting this list will be to think about. Composition, props, any objects you wanna put in the frame. We've got the set, the location, where are you going to do this when you have literally every option in the world. You could do it anywhere with anything. What are you going to wear for this particular image that you're trying to create, or will your model wear, if that's applicable? Hair and makeup, you know? Are my pig tails appropriate for this photo I'm going to do? Or are they not? Most likely not. But one can dream. Camera lens. I mean, literally, what are you going to use? So, are you going to change your lens, do you want it to be wide, do you want it to be tight? Posing. How am I going to sit or stand, or jump in this picture? What am I going to be doing? That's the hardest one for people who have never taken a picture before, I find. They're like, oh, there's a model. Do something, model. Have you ever heard people say that? Just do something. Oh no. We have to tell them. The time; time of day, time period. Could be either one, but we have to think about those things. The emotion or feeling that you're trying to communicate in the image. The mood and atmosphere. How do you want it to feel, how do you want it to look? The colors that you're choosing; super important. The editing of the image; if you're going to edit it, or not. What will this turn into later? Your physical shooting process. How is it going to go? Do you wanna have five assistants who are all doing the work for you? Do you wanna do it all by yourself? What is your process? Is there a certain genre that you're trying to work in? Do you have an idea of a fairy tale princess photos shoot that you wanna do, and if so, how do you make all of these things fit that genre? Will you print the image later on? Do you ever want this to be in print? Are you paying attention to the resolution? Are you paying attention to the file sizes? Things like that. I couldn't think of a better word for this, but does it have any ephemeral qualities? Is it a piece of art that will go away one day, that has a short shelf life, or is it something that will live on and on, and on? How are you going to work within that? And then theme. Is there a theme that you're working with? So, this is a lot, oh, one more. (laughs) Interactivity, yes. So is this an art piece that is interactive for people? Do you want people to engage in any certain way later on, or is this something that you're gonna keep just for yourself? That's a lot of things to think about. I mean, and this is just what I came up with off the top of my head when I was trying to make a list. And you might think of something else. And if you have anything else, let me know. Still very long list though. But if you do have something, do say. Okay? Okay. That's a lot of things though, and so, when my friend sent me that picture, and she said, this is hard, I didn't just think, ha-ha, she knows how hard it is. I really thought, it is hard. It should be hard, and too often it's not hard for us, 'cause we don't think about these things every single time we take a picture. Let's just be honest. I know that I don't. For sure. I mean, there are so many times when I go create, and I'm like, I love the look of that tree, I'm just gonna make something with it, 'cause it looks cool. And then I start. And, I always get to the end of that process feeling a little bit, one, guilty that I didn't really think it through, and two, I don't really like it that much. It could have been better if I had just thought about every single one of these things, which is daunting. Nobody wants to go out on location, and like, you've got your camera, and you've got this model doing something really cool, and you're like, one moment, while I go through my checklist. Nobody wants to do that. But what if we did? That's my point. What if we did. What if we went through every single one of these things for every single picture we took? I feel like, inherently they would have to be better, or at least more meaningful, 'cause better is a bad word, but more meaningful. In my opinion. So that's what I try to do with my images. And this is actually an image that, I did not love how it turned out. And there were many reasons why I didn't love it. And it was okay, I mean, I'm not saying like, oh, look at this horrible picture that I did, but there were some things lacking. But nonetheless, we can still talk about all of these things, all of these crazy things that went into it. So I thought about, where am I going to take this picture? It was 4am when I got up to take this picture, and part of me was like, you know, I'll just do this against my wall here at home later after I sleep in til seven o'clock. That was part of me that said, I could do this by compositing. I could just put myself in this location later, and who really cares? But then the other part of me said, no, I like to create with experiences. I want to be there. I want to have this experience. So I went there at 4:30 in the morning, and I took this picture. I brought my hula hoop, my trusty hula hoop, that I love so much. It's purple and glittery, and I always have to fight that, but, there it is. I brought a stool. So, so far, what you know is this: I went on location, I brought the props with me that I needed to do everything there without having to composite too much, except for the actual hula hoops that I photographed on location for lighting consistency and angle consistency. And then, I've got this dress, so I'm making conscious decisions about location and wardrobe. I've chosen a location that's pretty nondescript, I've chosen a wardrobe that is certainly nondescript, very simple, all blue, no real time period associated with it. I'm not showing a face, so there's no character consideration here. It's not about the person, it's about the form. And then if we go back, we can probably choose something for every single one of these things that was a consideration, and I would even argue that maybe was not a consideration; that I just forgot to think about. And that's probably why it fell short for me with this particular image.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Guided Daydream & Writing Exercises Workbook (Lessons 1-11)

Creating an Original Narrative Workbook (Lessons 12-18)

Finding Your Target Audience Workbook (Lessons 19-27)

Planning Your Series Workbook (Lessons 28-34)

Set Design Workbook (Lessons 35-41)

Compositing Workflow Checklist (Lessons 42-49)

Editing Workflow Checklist (Lessons 50-55)

Location Scouting Workbook (Lessons 56-60)

Stock Image Downloads for Practice (Lessons 61-72)

Organizing Your Portfolio Workbook (Lessons 77-81)

Pricing & Editioning Your Work Workbook (Lessons 82-89)

Writing Contracts & Licensing Images Workbook (Lessons 90-98)

Gallery Best Practices (Lessons 99-106)

Pitch Package Workbook (Lessons 107-111)

Writing Your Brand Workbook (Lessons 112-117)

Marketing Workbook (Lessons 118-122)

Social Media Workbook (Lessons 123-127)

Printing Methods Checklist (Lessons 128-133)

Self Critique Workbook (Lessons 134-137)

Bonus Materials Guide

Syllabus

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Brooke Shaden

Brooke explores the darkness and light in people, and her work looks at that juxtaposition. As a self-portrait artist, she photographs herself and becomes the characters of dreams inspired by a childhood of intense imagination and fear.

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topics covered in this class

Fine Art Digital Photography

Ratings and Reviews

April S.

I tuned in for most of Brooke's lessons in this course and watched some of them more than once as they were rebroadcast. First I want to say that Brooke is a very good instructor. Her easy-going, friendly, down-to-earth, somewhat quirky manner cannot be mistaken for unprofessional. She is very prepared, she speaks well (not a bunch of hemming and hawing), she is thoughtful, she is thorough, she is very relatable and at ease, and she is definitely professional in her presentation. I really thought when I first tuned in that it would mostly be background noise while I was at work, sound to keep me company. Not because I didn't like Brooke but I really didn't think I was into fine art photography nor did I think I cared about the business side of things much. Not now anyhow. I was really wrong. Brooke sparked a deep interest in me to delve into fine art photography, to consider creating images for myself, from my imagination. In fact, I realized that this was something I'd been thinking about for a couple of years though I hadn't put a name to it (the idea of creating pre-conceived images based on my own creative goals). I gleaned many little treasures from her about image sizes, working with printers, different types of paper, selling, interacting with galleries, and so much more. I may not need all of what she taught right now because I'm definitely headed in another direction at the moment, but she planted ideas and information in my head that I know will be useful at some point. Things I may not have thought of on my own, but that seed is in my head now so when the time comes, I'll know. I'd really like to buy her course but at the moment, with the holidays right around the corner, it's not in my personal budget. I'm grateful to have caught the live and rebroadcast lessons though, and her course is on my list to own. I think it's a great reference to be consulted over and over again, not watched once and forgotten. Kudos Brooke for really putting together an excellent course.

Angel Ricci

When the title says comprehensive, it means comprehensive! I loved every part of this course. It's inspirational, motivating, and insightful towards creating art work. Even if you are not necessarily considering a fine art specialty, the concepts discussed in this course are applicable to many areas! I find this super useful as a videographer and photographer and look to apply all of these exercises and concepts for my personal and business work moving forward. It is lengthy, but you will not regret a single minute. Brooke Shaden is an amazing artist and educator. I recommend keeping up with her work, presentations, and any future courses that may come in the future.

Ron Landis

I'm retired now, but spent decades in the people and training business. Brooke is extraordinary! Even though this course is extremely well organized and she's left nothing unattended, she moves through it with friendly conversational manners and without a sense of it being stilted. It's as though we are all her friends, not students, as she shares her heart and passion with us. What a joy it is to listen to her. And what a clear, unambiguous command of her subject. Wow! She explains it with such ease using explanations and techniques that won't overwhelm artists just starting their portfolio or the Photoshop-squeamish among us; but despite its simplicity her resulting art is breathtaking and beyond original. I wish more of my professors at school were as engaging. This was by far my best buy at Creative Live yet.

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Choose Every Element for The Series

Choose Every Element for The Series

Lesson Info

29. Choose Every Element for The Series

Lessons

Class Introduction

Storytelling & Ideas

Universal Symbols in Stories

Create Interactive Characters

The Story is in The Details

Giving Your Audience Feelings

Guided Daydream Exercise

Elements of Imagery

The Death Scenario

Associations with Objects

Three Writing Exercises

Connection Through Art

Break Through Imposter Syndrome

Layering Inspiration

Creating an Original Narrative

Analyze an Image

Translate Emotion into Images

Finding Parts in Images

Finding Your Target Audience

Where Do You Want Your Images to Live?

Create a Series That Targets Your Audience

Formatting Your Work

Additional Materials to Attract Clients

Which Social Media Platforms Will be Useful?

How to Make Money from Your Target Audience

Circle of Focus

The Pillars of Branding

Planning Your Photoshoot

Choose Every Element for The Series

Write a Descriptive Paragraph

Sketch Your Ideas

Choose Your Gear

How to Utilize Costumes, Props & Locations

What Tells a Story in a Series?

Set Design Overview

Color Theory

Lighting for the Scene

Props, Wardrobe & Time Period for Set Design

Locations

Subject Within the Scene

Set Design Arrangement

Fine Art Compositing

Plan The Composite Before Shooting

Checklist for Composite Shooting

Analyze Composite Mistakes

Shoot: Black Backdrop for White Clothing

Shoot: Black Backdrop for Color Clothing

Shoot: Black Backdrop for Accessories

Shoot: Miniature Scene

Editing Workflow Overview

Add Fabric to Make a Big Dress

Edit Details of Images

Add Smoke & Texture

Blend Multiple Images Into One Composite

Put Subject Into a Miniature Scenario

Location Scouting & Test Photoshoot

Self Portrait Test Shoots

Shoot for Edit

Shoot Extra Stock Images

Practice the Shoot

Introduction to Shooting Photo Series

Shoot: Vine Image

Shoot: Sand Image

Shoot: End Table Image

Shoot: Bed Image

Shoot: Wall Paper Image

Shoot: Chair Image

Shoot: Mirror Image

Shoot: Moss Image

Shoot: Tree Image

Shoot: Fish Tank Image

Shoot: Feather Image

View Photo Series for Cohesion & Advanced Compositing

Edit Multiple Images to Show Cohesion