Shadow, Emotion, Mood, Storytelling; all of these are foundational elements of a dramatic portrait. For photographers aching to improve their grasp on the tools of dramatic portraiture, knowing where, and how to start, can puzzle even the most sophisticated of artists.
PRO EDU partnered with Chris Knight, one of the best in the portraiture industry, to provide you with the highest quality educational experience possible. Chris shares his approach to using light, shadow, and mood to tell the stories of his subjects. This tutorial focuses on the methods to understand and craft light, and is perfect for photographers looking to take their portrait work to new levels.
In this tutorial you will learn:
About Advanced Lighting For Dramatic Portraits
Step-By-Step Lighting Diagrams
About Character Development For Your Subjects
The History Of Photography
How Chris Directs His Talent
How Chris Poses Talent
The Do's and Dont's of Posing Subjects
How to Shape & Control Light
Chris's Art of Storytelling
How to Dodge & Burn
How to Color & Tone
How to Cleanup Skin
Few things move viewers like the emotion and mood of a well-executed dramatic portrait. Chris takes you step-by-step in this all-inclusive walkthrough of his advanced portrait workflow. The story-telling centrality of his method lies in the understanding that crafting light should help to fulfill the narrative, not the other way around.
By the end of this tutorial you will be able to make an informed and intelligent approach to your lighting setup, light your sets with intent and purpose, focusing on direction, angle, and falloff as well as capture images rich in story, with cinematic lighting and styling.
This 13 hour tutorial uses Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. Several actions are included: Frequency Separation (Pratik Naik’s Action), Sharpening, Noise, and Output. Raw practice images are also included.
For the final phase of this series on Dramatic Portraiture, explore the them of Caravaggio's Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence. Listen as photographer, Chris Knight, gives a brief history of the painting, Caravaggio and the influence of the work. Examine light, composition, and meaning b...
With a prepared set, jump right into the creation of this dynamic, modern retelling of a Caravaggio classic. Follow photographer, Chris Knight, as he identifies his key, fill, and rim lighting setup. Work through posing of subjects and the intentional direction of lighting to achieve the Caravagg...
Hear photographer, Chris Knight, focus on the elements of importance and what he is looking for when selecting captures for retouching in Photoshop. With selects in hand, process them with ease in Lightroom's Develop module for optimum file fidelity and workflow within Photoshop. Create a process...
Before beginning the cleanup, toning, and final color of this image, follow photographer, Chris Knight as he creates a basic composite to blend some of the best elements from the Nativity Scene shoot. Watch as he assemble pre-isolated elements create a well balanced composition using Photoshop's ...
With compositing complete, proceed to the cleanup and final toning of the Nativity Scene image. Clean up skin, use frequency separation for balanced texture, and liquefy facial structure to better closely resemble the likenesses of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.
Move the Nativity Scene towards the final stages of retouching, using Photoshop for targeted and global adjustments. Using a variety of steps, push the image into the final, finished look. Apply dodge and burn, curves, color fill, and vignetting to hone the final color and contrast of the image. ...
Congratulations! You have successfully completed Dramatic Portraiture with photographer, Chris Knight. We really want to see your work in our online community. We encourage you to practice these techniques and reflect on the philosophy presented within this training. But most importantly, we want...
