Better portraits with any camera
Contact us to schedule this workshop in your city
If you want to take better pictures of people (including yourself) without expensive cameras, this one day workshop is for you. No knowledge of photography is required, nor any camera other than a smartphone, just an interest in photographing people well.
The arrival of digital photography and smartphones put amazing cameras in our pockets, always ready to capture and instantly share anything we choose. Technology has made photography fast, convenient, and much cheaper, but there’s one thing that hasn’t changed: every camera is only as good as the skill of the person using it.
Investing a tiny fraction of the cost of your smartphone into improving your photography skills will give you a lifetime of pleasure, empowering you to make consistently powerful images under any conditions.
Above all, portraits depend on attention and light. The first requires close observation of the environment, composition, behavior, emotions, and the masks people often wear. It’s not difficult to produce a predictable portrait of a clownish face or a forced smile. It’s much more challenging to capture authentic, spontaneous moments. We all want to be seen, but we also fear how we’ll be seen. Portraits that thrill the photographer and satisfy the subject aren’t just about flattery and beauty, but also storytelling, surprise, and authentic moments.
Secondly, lighting is the big magic behind every good photo. It dictates the mood, adds visual impact, and underscores personalities and place. Light grabs our attention; shadows delay it. You’ll learn simple tricks for lighting the human face for flattering, dramatic, and comic looks, even looks suitable for Halloween.
We’ll also practice environmental portraiture, not only looking for effective ways to convey a sense of place, but implying a conversation between your subjects and their surroundings.
You’ll work with available light in a variety of common situations both outdoors and indoors, and specifically learn how to shoot in the most challenging lighting conditions, finding natural ways to shape and soften light and use simple, inexpensive tricks to change even ugly light into magic.
We’ll train your eye to find the right light, how to position yourself (and your subject) to achieve dynamic, beautiful compositions, how to avoid common pitfalls, effective methods of shooting unobserved, and how to help your subject (even yourself) take their mind off the camera, drop their guard, and give you a chance to capture authentic, spontaneous moments. We’ll even stage moments deliberately, and learn how to transform the fictional quality of a staged photo into a surprising, much more subtle truth.
You’ll go beyond simply recording someone’s likeness and create iconic images by juxtaposing foreground and background elements and using visual motifs. Most importantly, you’ll learn how to trigger our very human obsession with uncovering meaning, intentions, and stories by implying events that might have happened outside the time and space of the frame.
The majority of class time will be allocated to shooting outdoors with live feedback as well as for the introduction of new concepts, studying example images, review, and discussion.
About your teacher
Photographer and filmmaker Brian Dilg has 50 years of photography background and nearly four decades of teaching experience, and is a widely collected fine art and recovering commercial photographer and retoucher. He’s written two books on photography, and was the founding chair of the photography department and a photography and filmmaking instructor at New York Film Academy. His work has appeared in the New York Times and the Village Voice, on book covers by Simon and Schuster and Hyperion, and in ads by Nike, Revlon, Victoria’s Secret, and Polo Ralph Lauren. His work as director, writer, cinematographer, and editor has appeared in well over 100 films.
Enrollment is limited to 12 people, with a minimum of four students. If weather conditions prove unsuitable on the day of the workshop or less than four students are registered 24 hours before the course begins, registered students will be offered the chance to accept a rescheduled workshop date or receive a full tuition refund.
This workshop will be taught in English. A bilingual assistant will be on-site who can provide limited (not real-time) translation into Lithuanian, though a working knowledge of English is still required.
Register at least 48 hours before the start of the course and save €20!
Waitlist
If you go to register but find that the course is already full, please contact us directly and ask to be put on the waitlist. We also suggest that you keep an eye on the Workshops page to see when future classes are schedule. You may also ask to be notified of future workshops via email.
Cancellation Policy
We understand that plans can change and extenuating circumstances may arise. Our cancellation policy is designed to be fair to participants while allowing us enough time to offer a cancelled slot to other participants. If you have registered and paid in full but are unable to attend the workshop, here are your options, given that you notify us within the time spans listed:
≥ 4 days before the workshop: 100% refund, or you may choose to transfer your registration fee to another workshop of equivalent value.
3-4 days before the workshop: 50% refund, or you may choose to transfer your registration fee to another workshop of equivalent value.
< 48 hours before the workshop: no refund
Optionally, you may transfer your place to someone else at no additional charge. You must notify us of the change yourself and have your replacement contact us with their contact details at least 24 hours before the workshop begins.
If you simply do not show up for a workshop without notifying us at least 48 hours ahead of time, no refunds will be given.
