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Don’t just take a picture, make photos that move people.
Storytelling is a gift to photographers, letting you weave together characters, events, locations and subjects into a work of beauty greater than the sum of its parts. There are as many stories to tell as pictures to take, but there are also tried-and-tested methods you can adopt to help improve your photography and streamline your workflow.
In this beginner-to-pro workshop, award-winning photographer and influencer Finn Beales teaches enthusiasts and aspiring professionals how to master every element of the photographer's process. By following his five-step course – Pitch, Prepare, Shoot, Edit and Deliver – you will develop the same successful, reliable working methods that earn influence and delight audiences, regardless of what genre you're working in. Create intrigue, pull in your audience and tell richer, more rounded stories using your DSLR camera.
Want to craft a shoot from start to finish? All the essentials are covered, from building a story into your creative, shoot preparation, the necessary gear and props, working with mood-boards and call sheets, compositional balance, and directing models, right through to post production, editing and file delivery.
Discover within:
- What equipment you’ll need, when and why;
- The secret to key shots and essential techniques;
- Plot devices to help you craft your narrative;
- Step-by-step DSLR projects to perfect your skills;
- Effortlessly capture events, landscapes, portraits, interiors and experiences;
- How to edit better and be different;
- Extra exercises to improve your smartphone photography.
Compose for impact. Stand out through story.
From the Publisher
Introduction
Today’s world is awash with images, but what makes people stop scrolling or walking by? What makes them remember an image or a photographer’s work? In my mind, it’s the stories they tell. Stories are the real ‘influencers’. The aim of this book is to help you create lasting photographs, the sort Dorothea Lange called ‘second lookers’. using a tried-and-tested approach that puts the story at the heart of everything you do.
We’ll start with the basics, including what equipment you need and the essence of a great photograph. Then we’ll examine the craft of storytelling and how this can be applied to photography. From there, the book follows the process of making a photo story. In each section you will find step-by-step exercises illustrating fundamental techniques and projects to challenge your creativity and broaden your skill set. You’ll also find tips, creative briefs and plenty of real-world examples.
Storytelling 101
Great leaders tell great stories. They know how to spin a good yarn and it’s these tales that capture and direct our attention. Thanks to social media platforms like Instagram, anyone can share their stories quickly, allowing others to live vicariously through their experiences. In this chapter, I’m going to break down the process behind telling stories and look at how we can apply these techniques to photography. By the end, you’ll have learned an easy-to-follow method for creating compelling photo stories from your own experiences and ideas.
Step 1: Pitch
A strong online presence is an essential part of any photographer’s business and it’s necessary to present a polished and professional shop front. However, it’s just as important to deliver a sense of your own personality to prospective clients. Let’s face it, everyone wants to be a photographer these days! You can’t rely on your image making capabilities alone to win contracts; you’ve got to show you’re cool to work with too! In this chapter, we’ll run through building websites, curating an Instagram feed, the art of negotiation and how to handle yourself on client calls – essentially, everything you need to start landing work and getting paid for the images you make.
Step 2: Prep
By failing to prepare, you prepare to fail – Benjamin Franklin
I live by the above quote, and I am meticulous when it comes to shooting preparation, from building mood boards and shot lists right through to considering the psychological properties of colour. A vast amount of planning and prep work is needed ahead of the shoot day. In this chapter, we’ll dig into these different tasks and techniques, which will help you work more efficiently and produce more impactful images
Step 3: Shoot
Shoot day has arrived! All your planning and creative preparation have led to today. In this chapter, I’ll offer tips for working with models and talent, detail the type of lenses and camera settings I use, and provide some tried and-tested lighting strategies. I’ll also run through a range of shooting techniques for you to experiment with.
Step 4: Edit
Welcome to the edit suite! I really love this part of my job, as it’s where I get to actually work with the photographs captured on shoot day and really begin to pull a story together. In this chapter, we’ll run through the basics, like importing images from your card into Lightroom, establishing naming conventions, folder structures and using rating systems. We’ll also touch on colour grading within Lightroom, creating presets and adding film-inspired imperfections. We’ll then finish with a relatively detailed and crucial section on backing up your images.
Step 5: Deliver
Congratulations – you’re nearly there and your wrap party awaits! Long-standing relationships and repeat clients are the goals for a freelancer, so it pays to make every interaction you have with a client as professional as possible. Don’t fall at this final hurdle. Delivering photographs to a client in a timely, efficient manner will stand you in good stead for future work. In this chapter, we’ll look at file types, colour profiles, sharpening images and a slick web based image-delivery system.
Publisher:White Lion Publishing (November 3, 2020)
Language:English
Paperback:176 pages
ISBN-10:0711254702
ISBN-13:978-0711254701
Item Weight:1.2 pounds
Dimensions:6.75 x 0.8 x 9 inches
