Portrait Photography: Essential Skills and Creative Approaches (one week)

Monday to Friday, 10 am - 4 pm, one week

Indicative maximum class size: 12

Most of us wish to be able to take great portraits of our family and friends, as well as be able to capture striking images of people and cultures when travelling.

However, taking pictures of people can be a challenge, even for the most experienced photographer.

This very practical course will therefore help you take your portraits to the next level, control the light to capture the best shot, and gain confidence as a photographer.

Course Description

During the course, you’ll be working with a professional model and learning how to edit your photos with Lightroom and Photoshop to create images with the wow factor.

On this course, you will:

• study the great photographers and dissect their images
• learn about light and its behaviour - direction, intensity and quality
• explore lighting on the move, and how to get the most from natural light and speedlights.
• learn about composition and backgrounds
• explore different approaches, including candid and corporate portraits.

The course will suit photographers at all levels of skill and experience.

You’ll find it helpful to have some knowledge of using your equipment in manual mode.

This is not a purely technical workshop that endlessly discusses gear - instead, it’s a pragmatic, hands-on course in the art and science of portrait photography.

What will I gain?

By the end of the course, you’ll have an appreciation of the challenges and joys of photographing people.

You’ll leave with images for your portfolio, and the technical skills and knowledge to continue taking great portraits.

Level: Beginner

Entry requirement: No portrait experience is required, though being able to work with your camera in manual mode will be useful.

Where you'll learn: You will be based in the School of Art and Design on the City Campus. 

You’ll find full-size photography studios, equipped with backgrounds and Profoto lighting, and comprehensive Mac editing suites with software for photography editing including Adobe Creative Cloud.

You’ll also have access to our library to use outside of your short course; whilst you can’t reserve or take away books, you are welcome to use them as a resource for research and referencing.

Here's what our previous attendees said:

'This course has given me lots of confidence and I look forward to using these skills in the future'

'I thoroughly enjoyed it! I wanted to learn a new skill having previously attended a photography short course at NTU before, and improve my portrait photography. I learnt loads of new skills, new ideas and have a fresh enthusiasm. I enjoyed the opportunity to photography models in a studio setting' BT

'A very enjoyable week. Many thanks to the tutor Paul for his patience. I learnt new skills in an area of photography I had no previous experience in, got an understanding of studios and flash lightling, built confidence to work with models and use lighting in the future.' JT

'I am definitely more confident with the idea of working with models now!'

'Very enjoyable, and the tutor Paul is very knowledgeable. Got new skills and improved my understanding of portraiture, really enjoyed the photography studio work' CH

Tutor profile: Paul Witney has been a professional photographer for over 30 years and teaches on the degree programmes at NTU.

He’s British Institute of Professional Photography qualified to Associate Level, and has worked in such diverse places as Kabul, Afghanistan and Glaciers in Iceland.

He’s had an impressive list of commercial clients including Royal Ordnance, Texaco, Local Councils, British Aerospace, Heckler and Koch, Jane’s Defence review (small arms), Mercedes-Benz UK, Thomas Cook and Nottingham Forest FC.

For eleven years he was also the Head of Photography and Video for a small government organisation.

Need accommodation?

You can book a self-catered, single room with private bathroom on our city campus, right next door to our studios and classrooms: www.ntu.ac.uk/summeraccommodation

Any questions?

Contact the short course team:

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 (0)115 848 2813