What we're doing here and how the room runs
Welcome. I'm Ashley, and before we touch a single camera setting I want to spend one lesson just telling you what this class actually is, because I think people show up to a "photography fundamentals" class with a lot of different pictures in their head about what that means, and I'd rather get us all lined up now than have someone disappointed in week three.
Here's the short version. This is not a class about gear. This is a class about photographing people so they look like themselves, comfortably, using whatever camera you already own. If you've got a DSLR you bought used off a classifieds listing, great, that's basically how I started. If you've got a phone, also great, most of what we're covering — light, posing, backgrounds, timing — applies exactly the same whether you're spending three dollars or three thousand on the equipment. The equipment is not the hard part. I say that a lot in this class and I'll probably say it again next week.
What we're actually covering
Over the next several weeks we're going to work through, in order:
- Reading light — mostly natural, window and outdoor. I am a natural light person through and through and that's what I'm best equipped to teach you.
- Posing and directing a person — which is really just people management. If you've ever gotten a carload of kids to sit still for a car ride, you already have more of this skill than you think.
- Backgrounds and composition — checking your edges, not just your subject's face. This trips up more beginners than bad expressions ever do.
- Basic camera settings — enough to get you off "auto" and feeling like you're driving instead of being driven.
- A little bit of simple editing — cropping, exposure, nothing fancy. I want to be upfront that heavy retouching is not my area. If you're hoping to learn how to smooth skin and reshape jawlines in software, that's a whole separate skill set I haven't sat down and learned myself, so I won't pretend to teach it.
We are not doing studio flash or multi-light setups in this class. Partly because of time, partly because, honestly, that kind of lighting system has always felt like more than I wanted to run, and I'd rather teach you the thing I actually know cold than fake my way through something I don't.
How the room runs
I run this class the way I run a potluck signup: everybody has a job, nobody's just standing around watching. Most weeks I'll pair you off quickly with a partner, and you'll trade off being the photographer and being the subject. That's on purpose. Being on the other side of the camera teaches you things about posing that you can't learn any other way — you'll feel exactly what makes you nervous or awkward in front of a lens, and that's going to make you a better director once you're back behind it.
I'll demo new techniques on a real volunteer from the group before you try them yourselves, and I'll narrate out loud what I'm doing and why, because I'd rather over-explain than leave you guessing. If your ten-minute practice shot has a garbage can lid growing out of someone's head in the background — and this happens to everyone, myself included, more times than I'd like to admit — I will tell you kindly and then hand you a fix. That's the whole job.
One system only works if people actually use it
Quick aside, because I think it's useful context for how I think about all of this. At home right now I have three teenagers and a shared family calendar that, on paper, solves every scheduling problem we have. In practice, nobody puts anything on it, so it solves nothing. It's a perfectly good system being run by people who won't buy in.
Camera settings are the same. You can learn the "correct" way to set exposure or focus, but if you don't actually understand why you're doing it, you'll abandon it the first time something goes sideways and go back to auto out of panic. So my whole approach in this class is to explain the why behind everything, thoroughly, even more thoroughly than you probably want, because a system you understand is the only system you'll actually keep using.
One opinion I'll plant early
If you already own a nicer lens, you don't need to buy a nicer one to take a nicer picture. Everybody wants that soft blurry background right out of the gate, and they'll spend hundreds of dollars chasing it before they've even nailed focus and exposure with what they've got. Get comfortable with your current gear first. We'll get you there this class, and then if you still want to spend money, spend it with your eyes open.
Before next time: just bring the camera you actually own — DSLR, mirrorless, phone, whatever it is — and don't worry about learning any settings yet. We'll get there together.