Shoot: Black Backdrop for Accessories
Brooke Shaden
Lessons
Class Introduction
19:06 2Storytelling & Ideas
27:34 3Universal Symbols in Stories
03:19 4Create Interactive Characters
02:16 5The Story is in The Details
04:13 6Giving Your Audience Feelings
05:49 7Guided Daydream Exercise
04:20 8Elements of Imagery
02:19The Death Scenario
01:47 10Associations with Objects
03:01 11Three Writing Exercises
06:39 12Connection Through Art
30:35 13Break Through Imposter Syndrome
07:40 14Layering Inspiration
23:13 15Creating an Original Narrative
07:42 16Analyze an Image
04:12 17Translate Emotion into Images
04:31 18Finding Parts in Images
06:02 19Finding Your Target Audience
04:05 20Where Do You Want Your Images to Live?
12:01 21Create a Series That Targets Your Audience
32:43 22Formatting Your Work
06:08 23Additional Materials to Attract Clients
07:24 24Which Social Media Platforms Will be Useful?
04:17 25How to Make Money from Your Target Audience
11:27 26Circle of Focus
07:55 27The Pillars of Branding
06:18 28Planning Your Photoshoot
09:05 29Choose Every Element for The Series
07:38 30Write a Descriptive Paragraph
09:37 31Sketch Your Ideas
17:27 32Choose Your Gear
02:50 33How to Utilize Costumes, Props & Locations
26:18 34What Tells a Story in a Series?
13:06 35Set Design Overview
01:43 36Color Theory
19:50 37Lighting for the Scene
12:05 38Props, Wardrobe & Time Period for Set Design
06:00 39Locations
04:31 40Subject Within the Scene
07:26 41Set Design Arrangement
05:46 42Fine Art Compositing
03:46 43Plan The Composite Before Shooting
10:29 44Checklist for Composite Shooting
18:52 45Analyze Composite Mistakes
12:11 46Shoot: Black Backdrop for White Clothing
10:42 47Shoot: Black Backdrop for Color Clothing
08:36 48Shoot: Black Backdrop for Accessories
08:17 49Shoot: Miniature Scene
09:59 50Editing Workflow Overview
01:57 51Add Fabric to Make a Big Dress
08:35 52Edit Details of Images
08:09 53Add Smoke & Texture
10:47 54Blend Multiple Images Into One Composite
24:58 55Put Subject Into a Miniature Scenario
17:55 56Location Scouting & Test Photoshoot
22:10 57Self Portrait Test Shoots
22:30 58Shoot for Edit
04:21 59Shoot Extra Stock Images
10:01 60Practice the Shoot
25:07 61Introduction to Shooting Photo Series
03:33 62Shoot: Vine Image
10:40 63Shoot: Sand Image
09:50 64Shoot: End Table Image
04:59 65Shoot: Bed Image
06:18 66Shoot: Wall Paper Image
05:54 67Shoot: Chair Image
08:02 68Shoot: Mirror Image
06:57 69Shoot: Moss Image
05:48 70Shoot: Tree Image
07:33 71Shoot: Fish Tank Image
04:09 72Shoot: Feather Image
09:00 73View Photo Series for Cohesion & Advanced Compositing
07:35 74Edit Multiple Images to Show Cohesion
36:55 75Edit Images with Advanced Compositing
29:33 76Decide How to Start the Composite
09:35 77Organize Final Images
21:37 78Choosing Images for Your Portfolio
08:19 79Order the Images in Your Portfolio
16:28 80Why do Some Images Sell More Than Others?
16:03 81Analyze Student Portfolio Image Order
11:42 82Framing, Sizing, Editioning & Pricing
02:19 83Determine Sizes for Prints
16:44 84How to Choose Paper
13:56 85How to Choose Editions
07:18 86Pricing Strategies
18:59 87How to Present Your Images
13:26 88Example Pricing Exercise
09:39 89Print Examples
08:23 90Licensing, Commissions & Contracts
04:44 91How to Keep Licensing Organized
06:07 92How to Prepare Files for Licensing
07:28 93Pricing Your Licensed Images
12:33 94Contract Terms for Licensing
12:07 95Where to Sell Images
04:55 96Commission Pricing Structure
08:23 97Contract for Commissions
12:17 98Questions for a Commission Shoot
08:45 99Working with Galleries
08:58 100Benefits of Galleries
07:39 101Contracts for Galleries
10:32 102How to Find Galleries
05:22 103Choose Images to Show
08:53 104Hanging the Images
03:38 105Importance of Proofing Prints
08:04 106Interview with Soren Christensen Gallery
21:59 107Press Package Overview
04:35 108Artist Statement for Your Series
18:20 109Write Your 'About Me' Page
09:04 110Importance of Your Headshot
03:55 111Create a Leave Behind & Elevator Pitch
20:19 112Writing For Fine Art
04:44 113Define Your Writing Style
14:49 114Find Your Genre
06:41 115What Sets You Apart?
02:25 116Write to Different Audiences
05:10 117Write for Blogging
39:57 118Speak About Your Work
14:21 119Branding for Video
07:37 120Clearly Define Video Talking Points
14:27 121Types of Video Content
31:45 122Interview Practice
13:22 123Diversifying Social Media Content
22:32 124Create an Intentional Social Media Persona
24:48 125Monetize Your Social Media Presence
18:46 126Social Media Posting Plan
04:01 127Choose Networks to Use & Invest
02:57 128Presentation of Final Images
19:13 129Printing Your Series
09:16 130How to Work With a Print Lab
13:39 131Proofing Your Prints
10:11 132Bad Vs. Good Prints
03:32 133Find Confidence to Print
10:50 134Why Critique?
06:55 135Critiquing Your Own Portfolio
10:39 136Critique of Brooke's Series
16:18 137Critique of Student Series
40:07 138Yours is a Story Worth Telling
02:09Lesson Info
Shoot: Black Backdrop for Accessories
And I think that this is looking pretty much how I want it to look, but we're going to add a couple of things here to this scenario. And this is where things get complicated. Now, if I were just making a dress out of fabric, then I could be like, "Okay, strike a pose." And then she'll be like, you know like whatever you would normally do, obviously, and then we could be done. I could just take the fabric and, like I said, photograph the fabric in different ways. But I want to make this an artistic picture, as I have embarrassingly claimed. And so we're going to do this in several pieces. And I'm going to explain why we're doing this in so many pieces, okay? So one of the reasons is because we've got this fabric and it, it could go with the rest of the scene. The candles and the veil that we're going to bring in, but I want you to imagine that we've got this fabric here and I'm gonna put this over your head eventually. And if we've got the fabric and the dress all moving all over the pl...
ace, what if I don't like the veil in one shot, but I do like the dress underneath in another shot? I would rather have the pieces of the dress separately, the veil separately, and then try to get it all together. If it works all together, great. If it doesn't, I want each individual piece to be able to add in later. So, I'm going to do this separately. And the first thing I want to do is get our main pose. Which is going to be really simple, cause I just need you to hold some candles and just stare out the window. So it's going to be really easy. So I'll have you just, the candles are all broken and weird. I'm going to have you hold those candles. Perfect. Oh my god, they're so weird. Okay. Just try to hold them together, if you can. You can hold it higher up, if you want, also. Yeah. Okay. And I'm not even lighting them yet, because we're going to try not to catch everything on fire at the moment, so we're going to keep them unlit first. And you can come straight onto me. Good. And then just direct your gaze out the window. Perfect. And I'm going to have you close your eyes even, as long as you don't get dizzy closing your eyes. Some people do and it's really hard to stand still closing your eyes. Great! Got it. Okay. So we've got our main shot, and this is going to be the shot that everything gets built off of. Now, I'm going to add the veil just to see if we can get everything going at once. So this is going to be weird, cause it's like really gross and heavy and odd, but here you go. Aww, you're married. Okay. So this is going to be the next shot that I'm going to get and I'm just letting this fabric come off to the side. And we're gonna just poof that down there. Okay. There we go. And let's have you take your arms out of this, and that way we won't catch anything on fire. Yeah, I like this. Okay, does anyone have a lighter? Thank you. And I'm gonna light these candles and your job is don't catch anything on fire. I should have inspected my candles. And we have hair that's like burning now, and now it's going to stink. Yuck. Come on. I have often lit candles later on in Photoshop, so if that's what you need to do, then that's what you need to do. But I think that is, it's really nice to have it practically done in camera one, because then you don't have to fake anything, but also because it's going to add a little glow to our subject. (laughs) These poor candles. Yeah, that's right. Just get rid of that dinky one and that's perfect. Oh, that's good. Yeah. Okay. We've got this. So let's do one more shot here looking out the window, and can you bring them any closer without catching yourself on fire? Perfect. Okay. Good. Yeah, I like how this is looking. Okay. Fantastic. So we've got, oh, they kind of went apart, yeah. I'm gonna, hold on, let me just kinda (laughs) There we go. Good? Okay. (laughs) These poor candles. Can you hold them a little bit lower for me? Yeah, that's it. That's exactly right. And I'm just focusing on the hands right now. Perfect. Okay. So I'm going to probably use this as my main shot. Just looking at it, seeing how it's going. So let's blow those candles out. Okay, I'm gonna do it. She was like, "I'm not responsible." Yeah, there we go. Okay. I'm gonna take them from you, but now we need to get all of these extra shots. This is gonna be our room. Thank you. (laughs) And so what I want you to do is just take this veil and if you can, just flick it out that way a little bit. You can take one little step over to the side. There we go. That way it doesn't go off onto the white or anything like that because this is transparent. So, we cannot afford to have this on a white or busy background or anything like that. It's okay if I switch my distance a little bit to accommodate this because my focus isn't shifting and the background will not change in this picture, so this will all stay the same. So I can move back to get that fabric. I'm just going to refocus. And whenever you're ready, I'm ready to capture the fabric. Perfect. Good. And let's do one more. Grand! I like it. Okay, well you know what? I love how it's falling behind you. Would you take another step over that way? Yep. I can't use left and right, because I just don't understand things, but perfect. Okay, I love how that was falling on you. So now let's go ahead and remove the veil and in fact, you can even remove the fabric, if you can do that in a decent way. (laughs) Oh, I'll come unclip you as well. Oh good, the clip was the easy part. Okay. I'm like holding it up in case you need a, okay good. So now if you wouldn't mind just assisting me for a second here, I'm going to have you just take this and fling it up that way and bring it back to your body a little bit. So there you go. I usually hold it from a corner, just so that there's more fabric moving outward. Okay. Yep, go that way with it to start. And I'll let you know when. Okay, perfect. Yep, got it. And just keep going. Good. And I'm just going to get a bunch of images here. That was a good one. Okay. Okay, and now out toward me. Oh, that was really good though. Okay. Oh, these are nice. And I actually think the reason is because the fabric is quite heavy, so it's falling really, really well without any wrinkles. And then out to that side, so if you would step a little bit over toward the window. Good. Yep. And it's important that you get it from all angles like this so that the lighting remains consistent. You have to make sure to really move from one side to the next and cover all the ground that you think you're going to need to cover. Great. Okay, we definitely got that. That looks really awesome. So we've got the veil, let's just go through a little check list. We've got the veil, we've got the fabric, we've got our subject, the candles were lit. I think we have everything that we need, so let's move on to our miniature scene.
Class Materials
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.
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.
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.