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Workshop Schedule Los Angeles The Professsional Portrait The Exceptional Portrait: from Concept to Execution
Online Portfolio Development
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The Professional Portrait Special Four Day Program! October 23-25, 2009 Just Announced! May Four Day Program Schedule: October Schedule: Tuition is $885 for the three days Class size is strictly limited to twelve participants. This workshop will focus on creating portraits for publication, as well as other commissioned imagery. We will cover how to handle lighting, locations, studio, getting good poses and expressions, and the general area of creating high quality portraiture appropriate to the paid, professional market. At the heart of the process is creating with intent - which is a specific and teachable process of making images based on both client needs and your personal vision. This is not an esoteric concept, but one at the heart of every good photograph (even if it exists by chance). Mark's approach to lighting is about using uncomplicated setups and minimal equipment to get good results without having to make a large investment or load yourself down with gear. Good lighting can be surprisingly simple. The real work is done with your eyes and your mind; setting up a stand or two is easy once you know what you want to do. In this workshop you will learn to visualize, manipulate, and create light on location. We will cover will emphasize using single sources and combining them with existing lighting, as well as how to handle more complicated setups. The experience will be intense and highly challenging; please be prepared to be pushed past your normal comfort level. Past students have accurately described the experience as being very much like a Photo Boot Camp. Topics include Credible, Interesting, and Flattering light; the four traditional lighting patterns; light as a function of size, direction and distance; fill light, scouting and composing a location portrait; exposure and the histogram; a great technique for getting great poses out of your subject; the basic tenants of running a successful photography business; the tight portrait; the environmental portrait; working with natural light; tungsten lighting; strobe lighting; and creating outstanding portraits with just one light. This workshop is for photographers using digital SLR cameras (any camera where you can actually see through the lens, rather than a monitor, is appropriate). You should also have access to a computer between classes to access your images (laptops are preferable, but not necessary). Using a digital workflow will enable us to quickly and easily adjust and perfect our set-ups, shoot without film costs, and see our work almost instantly. Students should know how to use their cameras and have a good basic knowledge of photography (that means you know the difference between f/2 and f/22, why you would choose one over the other, and how to use your camera in manual mode). Previous lighting experience is useful, but not necessary. Participants will be asked to submit images to be admitted to the class. It is no difficult task to put together a collection of strong student work for nearly any workshop. It is a different matter entirely to showcase the work of an entire class. To help illustrate the transition that is possible in only three days, please visit the April 2008 Participant Gallery to see all three assignments from all twelve participants. Admission to The Professional Portrait is by instructor approval only, please contact us to be approved the workshop before using the links below. Payment does not require a PayPal account. REGISTER FOR MAY: REGISTER FOR OCTOBER: If you have having any issues using the PayPal links, please contact us to make alternate arrangements. Payment is not refundable unless the class is cancelled. Should the class be cancelled for any reason, our liability is limited to a full refund of all fees paid to us.
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The Exceptional Portrait Saturday, May 2, 2009 Tuition is only $225, which includes lunch. APA, ASMP, PPA, WPPI, Students, Photo Assistants, Lightsource Listeners, Halper Alumni, and other members of professional associations are eligible for a discounted price of $195. This group is limited to 45 participants. For another perspective on this workshop, you can visit this blog to read about one participant's experience the last time this class was offered. For this one day workshop, Mark will open up his process for getting to know and understand his subjects, share his thought processes, and conceptualize and execute a photo session while taking you through it all on a step by step basis. We begin the morning by examining the process of intent - a specific and teachable process of making images based on both client needs and your personal vision. This is not an esoteric concept, but one at the heart of creating a great photograph. As we progress, you'll get to see Mark actually problem solve the shoot from arrival to finished portrait. Mark will interview his subject and you'll get to see how he gets into their head to understand who they are. Mark will do demonstrations using a range of techniques and styles. You'll also participate in an exercise designed to guide you towards talking with your subjects to get a deeper understanding of who they are, and learn to apply that understanding to your portraits. The emphasis is on understanding, and using that insight to realize your vision. This isn't a few "tips and tricks" that are good for a few weeks until you tire of them, but a way of understanding and working with photography that you can build on in virtually any direction you want to go. This is an excellent companion workshop to "The Professional Portrait". No matter what level you shoot at, you'll find that there's plenty here for you to learn. In our experience, most working professionals often find great value in re-evaluating their approach based on this new perspective. There are no requirements to register for this class, but a working knowledge of photography is highly suggested to get the full benefit of the experience. REGISTER FOR MAY (Regular Price): REGISTER FOR MAY (Discounted Price): If you have having any issues using the PayPal links, please contact us to make alternate arrangements. Payment is not refundable unless the class is cancelled. Should the class be cancelled for any reason, our liability is limited to a full refund of all fees paid to us.
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Portfolio Development This workshop takes advantage of easy to use Adobe web conferencing technology that not only allows us to share our computer screens, but more importantly uses webcams to facilitate a visual connection. All you need is a webcam, a high speed connection, and a phone (the call is to a Minnesota area code). This format keeps the intimacy and sense of connection that is normally part of workshops that meet in the same room. Tuition is $475 for ten sessions, or $275 for five sessions. This class is limited to no more than ten students! This online photography workshop focuses on individual portfolio development. Each workshop participant will choose one area in which they wish to focus their attention for a minimum of five weeks. By concentrating your effort in one area you'll be able to refine your skills and benefit from ongoing feedback. The goal of the class is to build a marketable body of work aimed at a particular market. For example, past participants have chosen environmental portraits for magazines, high personality studio portraits, product photography for catalogs, and actor's headshots as their focus. Each participant has the opportunity to work on what they consider most important to their career and get honest and constructive feedback appropriate to clients they are interested in pursuing. The critique if usually accompanied by a discussion, topics have included what to charge, the state of the profession, retouching, lighting, and a review of Mark's current projects. To be eligible for this workshop, you must have intermediate to advanced skills. If you have not been in one of Mark's workshops, you will also go through an orientation to Mark's process that will help you better integrate into this ongoing online workshop in photography which will be counted as your first class. Admission is by Mark's personal approval only. Please contact us to discuss joining the online workshop. You can go to this page to sign up once you have been approved.
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The Exceptional Portrait This workshop is currently available to organizations and groups on an "on request" basis on location, as are variations of the workshops described above. Mark has created a new workshop to take on the road. Planned as an intense two day weekend, we've stuffed it with more than two days worth of material and still left time for hands-on shooting. We've taken the one day Exceptional Portrait Workshop and expanded it to include much of what we cover in The Professional Portrait to provide you with an unforgettable experience. You won't need expensive strobe equipment, or even an on camera flash, you'll be able to do an amazing amount with a simple continuous light source (think $15 home depot work light). Strobes and other professional equipment are welcome, but not at all necessary - great light isn't about the cost of the equipment and in this workshop we'll really focus on expending brain power instead of money on our images. Day One Highlights After a quick introductions, we'll jump right into the process of intent - a step-by-step approach to making an image that based in your personal vision that reflects what you find beautiful, interesting, and/or compelling about the subject of your photograph. The Process of Intent empowers you to consistently create outstanding images, without having to rely on chance and luck. Following that will be a lighting demonstration designed to bring you back to the heart of working with light. All good light has some consistent qualities, which we will discuss, and then we'll move into thinking about light as a function of direction, distance and size (not a function of soft boxes and other accessories you really don't need and often don't even want to own). We'll also look at the use of a fill light, and how to do a surprisingly simple beauty light with just a white surface. The presentation will culminate with Mark doing a professional level shoot of our model, putting to practical use the process of intent within the confines of actual client needs. Now it's your turn to shoot! Bring your camera and anything else you like, but you'll find you don't need much to do an outstanding tight portrait when you take the time to think about why you are creating the photo, who your client is, and know something about your subject. You'll probably want dinner about now, so we'll bring it in for you. During that time, Mark will make the rounds to give you feedback on what you've done. You aren't finished yet! This is where we get that extra bit in, and the feedback you get during dinner is what you'll need to make the jump we want you to make by tomorrow. It's time for the evening shoot. Day Two Highlights Coffee and Breakfast. Ready to go? Good! Now is when you really get to see intent at work. Working with a new subject, Mark will go through his intensive and deeply personal interview process in front of the class. Taking what he learns from it, he will conceive and execute from scratch two to three different portraits using different lighting techniques, and he'll do it all using only what's at hand. We can't tell you what to expect, because there's no way to tell where the interview will go, and that's the point. That's right, it's your turn again. You do your interview. You plan your image. You take your photo, and Mark's right there to help you through it. At the end of the day we'll wrap up with some of Mark's thoughts on photography and running a successful business as a creative professional. In the course of the class we'll also cover some of the basics of digital photography, including using your histogram for exposure, we'll talk about background choices, we'll look at bounced light, we'll talk about and demonstrate both professional strobe and tungsten lighting, and we'll keep the general focus on working with a single light source. (Breakfast and lunch will be served both days, and dinner will be served on the first day. Vegetarian options will be available, and we always work to only serve you food that we'd also like to eat. Please plan on an additional $80-$90 for catering costs. As you might have guessed, we'll be shooting each other to keep costs down and make it practical to hold the class. What you may not realize is that you can learn just as much from being on the other side of the camera, even if you find it less comfortable than looking through the viewfinder. Most of your subjects will feel the same way and the insight is very valuable. The details are subject to improvement, if we find a better way to structure the class.) You don't need to submit work to register for this class, but you are responsible for knowing how to use you digital camera in manual mode and for understanding the basics of photography, such as f-stop and shutter speed. You will need a DLSR, a tripod (even if you don't normally use them), and a laptop is very highly suggested. Notes: Professional photographer Mark Robert Halper is available to lead professional photography workshops throughout the United States, including his home areas of Orange County and Los Angeles, California. Topics can also include lighting, as well as a myriad of other subjects having to do with people and portrait photography.
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Los Angeles Photographer Mark Robert Halper also works as a photographer in Orange County and throughout California. Find out more about Mark's Fine Art Photography, corporate headshots, music photography, annual report photography, photography workshops, and Mark's Innovative Family Portraits and other photography business. Mark now also offers hotel and corporate art photography, and other resources. There is also a photography internship available from Los Angeles Photographer Mark Robert Halper.
