Combining nudes and landscapes
Albert Watson
Lesson Info
51. Combining nudes and landscapes
Lessons
Meet your Master
01:26 2Learn from the journey
15:24 3Using inspirations
08:43 4Photography is stopping time
09:27 5Albert's library of ideas
08:30 6Tips on preparing for a portrait shoot
12:10 7Setting up the studio
04:56 8Understanding studio collaboration
07:35The importance of casting and hair & make-up
08:59 10Foreground studio set up
08:46 11Studio session with a model - set up 1
11:23 12Studio session with a model - set up 2
05:55 13Studio session with a model - set up 3
08:01 14Picking the best shot
03:36 15Working with photoshop
13:14 16Creating a portrait of Alfred Hitchcock
04:18 17The gigantic question... Colour or black and white?
07:55 18One day with Kate Moss
05:06 19Learn to have your ideas ready
06:14 20Using Polariods
06:29 21Creating beautiful photographs of hands
04:45 22Controlling natural light
05:38 23Shooting a monkey with a gun
06:27 24Choosing your format
07:13 25Composition and lens
04:47 26Shooting landscapes. The Isle of Skye
15:18 27Planning and ideas for a landscape shoot
06:32 28Creating still life images
13:48 29Photographing the Lost Diary
10:53 30Shooting album covers
03:09 31The Strip Search Project
10:28 32Shooting Las Vegas landscapes
08:24 33Photographing Breaunna
07:21 34Balancing daylight, God bless America
03:45 35Creating the Maroc Project
10:21 36Creating the Maroc shoot
08:11 37Photographing sand dunes
04:09 38Photographing Moroccan children
10:42 39Advice on making portraits
10:12 40How to be alert to finding photographs
07:35 41Making a portrait of Mike Tyson
02:39 42Creating intense colour in a photograph
03:04 43Portraits of rap stars and a Golden Boy
08:40 44Photographing Jack Nicholson
04:20 45Creating a portrait of David Cronenberg
02:14 46How to light only using two $10 bulbs
07:29 47Studio fashion set up 4
10:47 48Studio session with a model. The geography of a face
13:05 49Look inside the picture
02:56 50Creating memorability in an image
02:54 51Combining nudes and landscapes
04:52 52A perfect print
07:50 53The business side of things
06:50 54Conclusion and farewell
03:55Lesson Info
Combining nudes and landscapes
(lighthearted music) I think I've mentioned a few times in the talk, about the importance of preparation. And there's another word that goes into preparation, which is concept. So, the preparation and concept is part of your thinking. It's not just turning up and saying well I'm so good as a photographer, I don't really need to think about anything until I get on the set. Preparation really is ganna do you well. Conceptual thinking also helps, so that's something you should be practicing. I'm ganna show you now an example of something that was preparation in the extreme. I'd always wanted to do this series of double exposures with landscape and also nudes. And I had done a project on the Island of Skye off the west coast of Scotland, beautiful island. And I shot there some very very simple, textural backgrounds: trees, leaves, rocks, where I was able to think about there would be a nude with, you know, in the back of my head, with these various elements. So I did a whole series when ...
I was doing also Landscape photography as well. So I held onto those for a couple of years and then finally I got it together back in New York to shoot some nudes and incorporate these textural landscapes with the women. So I've done a whole series of these, there's actually 60 or 70 of them. (lighthearted music) I'm just emphasizing concept, thinking about things, preparation and so on. So this is a rather extreme example of preparation where I had this idea of the double exposure and the landscape picture was done two years before I actually got to shooting the nudes. But I had the makeup artist kind of bronze the body because then I knew it would take the tattooing of the landscape, the double exposure onto her skin. And the basic idea for the nude series was also a little bit A Midsummer Night's Dream, a little bit of a tribal, strange, mystical place. That was where the whole idea came from, you know. A little bit strangely, Lord of the Rings or something. So, I had these landscapes, textural landscapes and then I proceeded with the nudes, and then this image here, you can examine it and you'll see how the skin is almost, takes on a tattoo that looks a little bit primitive. And it's a very good use of the computer to compile an image. And, I'm a big fan of the computer, I'm a big fan of the past, 30 years ago, 40 years ago film, but I'm also a fan of all the new technology as well. And just because you shoot a digital camera doesn't mean to say that you can pick up a roll of film next week and shoot a roll of film. Film hasn't gone yet. But this is a good example of preparation. So in the computer, it's actually quite easy on the surface to just do a double exposure, you're basically overlaying two images together. It's a little bit more complicated than that. Because you want to feel that this image is tattooed on the body. So, you really have to isolate the nude from her background and then you're dropping the landscape primarily onto the body. So there is, of course, some very delicate Photoshop work that you have to do. And you have to get the balance the density of the landscape on the skin the skin shouldn't be too dark, it shouldn't be too light, so this is a really beautiful way of working with modern technology and putting together a really interesting image. And it's very very flexible. So I had shot maybe as many as 30 textural landscape pieces for this project, and therefore I had a lot of flexibility when I combined them. (lighthearted music)
Ratings and Reviews
Richard A. Heckler
"Unless you're Mozart"...this course is an invaluable asset. I'm a pro, humanitarian/documentary photographer, & wilderness...and I've learned much from the 40+ sessions here. This is truly a Master Class...next best thing to being with Albert. And although I could watch studio sessions forever, this course offered a very balanced curriculum of technical information, artistic encouragement and guidance, and a open, generous window into the thinking of a gifted artist and photographer, sifted from decades of first class experience. Kudos to all involved. Excellent!
a Creativelive Student
I purchased my first CreativeLive class in 2011 and have continued to purchase many classes over the years. I have learned so much from the many great instructors. This one is not a technical class that will tell you to set your camera at f4, 1/60, ISO 400 and you can get this shot. If you are looking for that, there are many other options. If you have a solid working knowledge of photography, this class is so much more. The way it was filmed is like you are there with him in conversation or in the room with him watching him shoot. To see and understand the how and why he does what he does. Not to take anything away from other classes that have helped to give me a strong understanding of photography, this is my favorite CreativeLive class so far.