Photographic Portraiture I
ART-40689
Photographic Portraiture 1: Transform Your Passion into Portraits
5 Weeks | Hybrid (Live Online with In-Person classes)
Prerequisite: Photo I: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO (ART-40629) and Digital Photography Workflow (ART-40705).
Note: The first and last classes of this course meet on ZOOM rather than at UCC. Your instructor will reach out with details.
Unleash your creativity and elevate your skills with Photographic Portraiture 1, a hybrid course blending live online classes, in-person sessions, and exciting field trips. Whether you're just starting out or seeking to refine your craft, this class will teach you how to capture meaningful, dramatic portraits in both natural and studio environments.
Course Details
Our hands-on, critique-driven format emphasizes technical mastery, creative expression, and practical application. Guided by an experienced instructor, you'll explore advanced lighting techniques, posing strategies, and environmental portraiture while learning how to create dynamic, captivating images. Plus, the unique combination of in-class instruction and real-world field trips ensures you’ll gain confidence and competence as a portrait photographer.
In this course, you'll also tackle the essential post-production skills necessary for professional-quality portraits. From image design and capture to editing in Adobe Lightroom Classic and image exports, we cover every step of the workflow to help you deliver polished results. Whether you’re photographing friends, family, or professional models, you’ll leave this course ready to take on a portrait session with poise.
During this course you'll have the opportunity to spend a full day in a studio environment with professional models and equipment. This course concludes with a final portfolio critique day that includes a review of your 15 best portraits from the class, an exploration of lighting techniques such as black gel and canvas muslin backgrounds, and valuable feedback from both peers and your instructor.
This course is your gateway to mastering the art of portrait photography—don’t miss this opportunity to transform your passion into unforgettable images!
What You'll Learn
- Learn Lighting Techniques: Gain expertise in balancing ambient light with artificial lighting to achieve well-exposed and creative portraits.
- Become Proficient with Lighting Equipment: Learn how to effectively use strobes, speedlights, and continuous lighting to enhance your portrait sessions.
- Apply Composition Rules: Demonstrate advanced knowledge of composition principles to improve framing, subject positioning, and overall portrait aesthetics.
- Explore Background Control: Understand how to manipulate backgrounds through lighting and materials to create striking visual effects.
- Develop Skills in Working with Models: Cultivate the ability to direct and communicate with models, achieving natural and engaging poses.
- Build a Professional Workflow: Create a streamlined and efficient digital workflow, from capturing the portrait to post-processing and client delivery.
- Refine Posing and Cropping Techniques: Master the art of posing subjects and cropping images to enhance their presence in the final composition.
- Build a Portfolio: Curate a diverse and cohesive portfolio showcasing your portraiture skills and understanding of different lighting setups.
- Environmental Challenges: Gain the knowledge to overcome environmental and situational challenges when shooting portraits in various locations.
Course Information
Materials/Software/Hardware: Fully adjustable DSLR camera or prosumer camera. Creative Cloud Photography Plan required (or full Adobe Creative Cloud plan). Lightroom Classic needed (not Lightroom Creative Cloud). Tripod recommended.
Students must have a camera with a hot shoe capable of supporting a flash. If you have a camera that is not Canon, Sony, or Nikon please contact unex-digital@ucsd.edu to ensure your camera will work for this course.
Flexible Enrollment: This is an Elective course for Photography: Images and Techniques professional certificate but is open to all students with the required prerequisites or skill level.
Academic Calendar: The Academic Calendar shows the open enrollment dates and term start dates for each quarter. Courses do not necessarily start on the first day of the term.