Update: How I Became a Better Portrait Photographer

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A couple weeks ago, I posted about my problems as an amateur portrait photographer and how Maria and I decided to try using CreativeLive so I could learn a few portrait posing basics. Well, I’ve now watched the class, taken many of the lessons to heart and Maria and I did a follow-up photoshoot so you can see my progress. So let’s get right into it!

The CreativeLive Class

As I mentioned last time, the class I decided to take was Posing 101: Essentials, taught by New York photographer Lindsay Adler. Let me just say, this class was fantastic. Lindsay is an amazing instructor. She is very knowledgable, very relatable, and demonstrates her concepts clearly and simply. And the class really did cover the essentials. As I expected, the course included the expected (and very helpful content) about flattering poses for various subjects.

But there was a lot of surprising discussion on a variety of topics that I hadn’t thought about. Like how your lens choice can affect the appearance of your subject (hint: it can make a huge difference). And how to communicate with your subject (hint: act confident even if you have no clue what you’re doing). Plus whole bunch of other truly helpful tips and insights.

These are things that seem obvious when you hear them, but are not quite so obvious at the moment when you are looking through that lens. Take it from me, the number of times that I’ve been unintentionally negative during a photoshoot probably caused about 90% of the tension that Maria and I had whenever I tried to take her photos.

So, long story short, the Posing 101: Essentials from CreativeLive was a dramatically insightful experience for me. I’ll probably watch it a bunch more times, in addition to watching other classes. Not that I intend to become a professional photographer, but just to make my photography for the blog that much better.

Alright, now that I’ve talked about why I loved the CreativeLive class so much, let’s see how the second photoshoot turned out.

After: The Results

Earlier this week, on a relatively warmer and clearer late afternoon here in the early spring of Michigan, I grabbed my camera and Maria and I headed outside to shoot some photos. Before taking the photos, I put a bit more time into looking for some inspiration and thinking about how I would like Maria to pose for me.

On top of that little bit of preparation, I felt like I had a much better eye of what to look for when looking through the lens. Both for good things and for bad things. A few times I stopped so I could fix something out of place, like Maria’s hair or shirt (it was pretty windy), which is a bit more than I used to pay attention to.

A few other times, as Maria moved around, I told her to hold a certain pose because I really liked the tilt of her head or the position of her hand. Not all of them worked out, but some did.

If you read the blog often, you’ve probably noticed that Maria has a few “tried and true” poses that she naturally gravitates toward. We were both surprised to discover that my prompting actually brought out a few new poses that Maria really liked.

I think everyone will agree that this new round of photos is a significant improvement over the photos I shot of Maria just a few short weeks ago:

The improvements went far beyond the images captured by the camera. The biggest difference was just how much fun we had. During our previous photoshoots, I would hesitate a lot, feel unsure of myself, and then that would translate through my body language into Maria’s posture and poses. It’s no wonder we never enjoyed ourselves; we both fed off of my negativity and doubt. This time, though, I was much more confident and sure of myself and I projected that in my body language. I caught myself slipping into old habits a couple times and I stopped myself to redirect my energy into a positive, confident shooting. All of that confidence came from watching Posing 101: Essentials on CreativeLive.

I think the results here speak for themselves. Compared to my first set of photos (and I know the lighting is different, along with the setting), these photos are miles better. They were fun to shoot and you can see those results just by looking at Maria.

Give CreativeLive a Try with 20% Off

Given how happy I am with the outcome of the Posing 101: Essentials class from CreativeLive, I know for sure I’ll be going back for more. Heck, even Maria is watching the posing class now so she can pick up some pointers. If it works for an early amateur like me, I think it will help you, too.

CreativeLive is offering a 20% discount to the first 1,000 people who sign up for their first photography class. Use discount code ISHARE20. The code can be applied to any photography class, offering you the ability to brush up your skills in any area of photography that you need (1 coupon per user, offer expires May 31, 2017). Check out the courses here to get started!