Not long ago, I had the pleasure of participating in a training proposed by the website Moncoursphoto.fr, and the experience having been good, I wanted to share it with you!
Indeed, one can learn a lot of things on the internet (I’m not going to say otherwise :P), but sometimes you might need to see things a little bit in practiceand that’s what you’re offering My Photo Coursethrough trainings of all levels (from the basics of exhibition to studio photography and composition). In short, there’s something for everyone!
So I took the train to Paris to participate in the training Photo in natural lightThis is a field that interests me particularly and that I already practice: ideal to consolidate my bases and improve myself.
Friendly photographers
Rendezvous on a Sunday afternoon in February a little cold but with a light ideal for the portrait: a lightly veiled sun. We start with all of us present in a nice atmosphere, and we can say that the levels are diversified and range from the young beginner girl in photography to the seasoned thirty-something with a D700 😛 and of course Fabien, our very experienced teacher. nice and open, photographer professional (but very pedagoguewe will come back to this later) specializing in portrait (good timing :D), accompanied by Alexandra, co-founder of the site.
Anyway, the afternoon starts with a little technical briefing to make sure that everyone is up to date on the basic concepts of photography (especially the famous triangle in the exhibition), and also to show us the interest of an reflector when working in natural light (this thing is magicyou have to see it to believe it ! :D) Fabien points out that beyond the way of managing the light and the model (an already difficult exercise), he will also try to show us the “details that kill”and can easily ruin a picture.
Come on, just a little hint to quibble: Fabien made us shoot in mode… manual. In itself it’s a bright spot to pay more attention to the light, but I think the aperture priority mode would have been sufficient and would have allowed us to focus more on the model rather than on the light changes. Anyway, it’s really just to nitpick, because it was awesome! 😛
Practice, lots of practice
During the afternoon, we will work on the full-length portrait, American style (= cut at mid-thigh) and tight. We start by working all together around the same model (we took turns in this role), under the wise advice of Fabien, who we guide when the light changes, when the model gets bored and is not told enough what to do.
We really did a lot of shooting, changing places, poses, models, and I think the most important part of this training is a real apprenticeship of the how to guide a model. Because it’s really complex. As far as I’m concerned, managing the light is fine, but getting what you want from a model while keeping a natural pose and casual is a whole other set of sleeves. And then you feel all theexperience of Fabien, who for the occasion managed to find the right balance between guiding us and letting us do it.
This is especially noticeable when, late in the afternoon, when he left us in binomial photographer/model and vice versa, giving free rein to our imagination and what we had just learned. Probably the most informative in the end, and for several reasons:
- be the only deciding what to do with his model is pushing to be more imaginative
- model oneself is very informative also (and not easy at all!)
- Fabien was passing between the groups, without commenting too much but simply focusing our attention on these small deadly details (too numerous and subjective to mention). Finally rather big details, because they can really change a photo at allI could see that ! (and from now on I’ll be very careful about it)
Demonstration and debriefing
Finally, Fabien showed us how him works, which is obviously intriguing you have every day the opportunity to see a pro working for you? 😉
But above all, we met in a café (courtesy of MonCoursPhoto.fr) to debrief the 5 best photos of each (which we have chosen on the display of the device, we do as we can :P). Very instructive for everyone: Fabien was able to draw our attention to what was good and poorer in our pictures, even telling us what we could or could not have done. Each one of us puts a little bit of our own into it, too, in the atmosphere user-friendly that carried all the training.
As far as I’m concerned, I’ve realized 3 portraits that I’m satisfied with over the course of the day, which is not bad at all! (one of them was the subject of a video on the digital development of a portrait) In short, it was a good day in Paris, of which I keep a fond memoryand if you feel the need for a training “in real life”, I can only advise you too much those of MonCoursPhoto.fr! I encourage you to consult their training program, and to look for the one(s) that are made for you! 😉 Note that MyPhotoCourses.com now offers its services to Marseille and Bordeaux !
(P.S.: The links to MyPhotoCourses in this article are affiliates…which means I get a small commission if you participate in a training course. This will help me to finance the running costs of the site and to continue to offer you as much content each week, thanks to you 😉.)
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