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Skillshare

Creative Self Portrait Photography for Beginners

via Skillshare

Overview

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This beginner photography course will cover all the necessary equipment, skills, and techniques to achieve beautiful professional-looking self-portrait photos. Fancy or expensive camera equipment is not required, as this class is meant to emphasize that anyone with a creative mind and willingness to learn can achieve stunning photos with little resources.

Whether you want portraits for your blog, social media accounts, or simply to build your portfolio, self-portrait photography is a skill that I believe all creatives should learn. It’s challenging, but it will push you to think so far outside the box that you might begin to wonder if there even was a box in the first place.

This course will include lessons on:

  • Basic setup for self-portraits
  • How to use a remote or self-timer with your camera
  • Developing your artistic eye in order to utilize light in a creative way
  • Finding the best locations for your shoots
  • Helpful tips including how to pose and how to become more comfortable in front of the camera
  • Best practices for editing your final photos

Class Project: During the course, students will be asked to find a simple location within their own living spaces to get creative and practice the learned self-portrait techniques.

While this is a beginner course, it is recommended that students have some prior knowledge of camera settings, lighting, and portrait photography. The more you understand about lighting and composition, the quicker you will be able to create more unique self-portraits. Once again, students will not need expensive equipment for this course. While it will be taught using a DSLR for the examples, self-portraits can also be done on any cellphone with photo and self-timer capabilities.

Syllabus

  • Introduction
  • Basic Equipment & What You Should Know
  • Location Scouting & Finding Inspiration
  • Getting Set Up to Shoot
  • Posing: How to Get Comfortable in Front of the Camera
  • Editing Your Final Photos
  • Recap & Final Takeaways

Taught by

Shea Jordan

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