Classes

Knowing how to retouch your portrait work in a methodical way is the secret that most pros use to dominate their local markets. Learn the process that Miguel uses to retouch his work using Photoshop techniques that you’ll use for your entire career!

Design a fresh and fashionable senior portrait session with Kia Bondurant. From outfit and location planning to on trend posing, Kia will demonstrate how she photographs her senior portrait sessions specifically for the products she sells.

You will see examples of the latest clothing trends that high school seniors will be bringing to their portrait sessions with demonstration on how to pose, light and set design for a session. Detailed product suggestions will also be shared that apply to the specific images created.

You will come away inspired and equipped to design and shoot your upcoming senior sessions for fun and profit!

A few years ago, I overheard a colleague describe photographers who don’t use external lighting when shooting outdoors as “lazy amateurs with bad cameras.” While it’s true that I’m lazy, it’s only because I don’t want to haul around a roller cart of lighting equipment down a sandy beach or prop up a parabolic on a windy day. Instead, I want to work unencumbered and take in as much of the raw, natural light and scenery for my clients.

Let’s get this out of the way: a successful naturally lit shoot seldom happens by dumb luck. Rather, the more you understand your topography, the lighting, and how both change throughout a session, the better your result will be. I use several apps on my phone to help with this, and I’ll demonstrate each. (No, I won’t have you crowd around and stare at my 5.6” screen. I have a much better solution for us!)

In this hands-on class, I’m going to teach you the five critical technical details I study before every shoot:
• General morphology of the location
• Sun’s altitude and azimuth during the shoot
• Sun’s sunset azimuth for the time of year and location
• Radar’s reflectivity, velocity, and lightning strikes
• Artificial and true horizon locations
Using a small army of Rent-A-Humans™ and a super-secret walkable location nearby (weather dependent), we’re split into breakout groups. Under my guided focus, you’ll get to immediately practice what you’ve learned.

So you can shoot a headshot, right? What about 10? What about 100 in two hours? In this live demonstration, learn how to light, pose, edit, and deliver headshots on the fly to any sized group of people. Everything you need to know for headshot jobs of any size so you can create awesome images and get them where they need to go, fast!

Learn how to tell a story that captures the senses. In this class you will learn how to tell a story on the plate. We will not only talk through composition and gear selection but will deep dive into piecing together all the elements to create that mouth-watering image. This class will give you the opportunity to not only make a great foodie image but will also let you experiment and learn WHY and HOW to use foods, props, plating, and textures to elevate your images.

No hero’s story is complete without a sidekick or wingman! Similarly, as a second photographer, you have a surprising influence on the entire day, from getting ready to the last dance. But fear not! This class will teach you the skills you need to become the ultimate assistant. From anticipating the lead photographer’s needs to capturing important shots they may have overlooked, you’ll learn how to seamlessly work together as a team. We’ll cover everything from communication techniques and essential gear to protecting yourself and more. By the end of this class, you’ll be ready to take on any second shooting assignment with confidence and become an invaluable asset to any photography team.

Couples boudoir is HOT and on the rise! This class will give you the knowledge you need to offer couples boudoir to your clients. We will briefly discuss the different reasons for couples sessions (it’s not always what you think!), boundaries, review how to prepare yourself and the couple for a session, how to guide couples in their interactions and poses from mild to wild and everything in between! You will have the opportunity to get images for your portfolio so you can show your future clients!

As a photographer or videographer, it’s never been more important for you to have a presence on YouTube. It’s the 2nd largest search engine and if you’re not on it, you’ll lose in the long run! Learn the process that Miguel used to grow his YouTube channel to over 130,000 subscribers, tips that you can use to get started today!

“Be motivated by the fear of being average” is one of the most inspirational quotes I’ve ever read as a creative. For years, we try and run our creative and business sides around what everyone else is doing. How does everyone edit? How does everyone light? How does everyone market themselves?

All we are doing is conforming to being an average photographer. If we do things like everyone else, we will NEVER stand out in this industry.

After years of being an average photographer, I made a conscious decision to not conform to what everyone else is doing and I started using light in a way that allowed me to stand out. I am not an OCF photographer. I am not a natural light photographer. I am a creative light photographer.

What does being a creative light photographer mean? It means that I have learned very specific techniques to have in my arsenal for all kinds of lighting situations. If you’re interested in using OCF AND Natural in a way that not many people do, you need to sign up for this class.

STOP BEING LIKE EVERYONE ELSE and start getting creative!

In this course, I will teach you how to use unconventional lighting techniques with OCF and Natural light as well as other techniques I use at my weddings that help me stand out and reach my ideal clients.

Do you want clients to hire you because of your work or because of your prices? if you want your work to stand out and clients to hire you no matter how much you charge, this is the class to be in!

I will be demonstrating how to achieve dynamic water shots using 2 or 3 flashes. I will show you how to protect your equipment for these type of sessions as well as using entry level equipment to do so. We will keep the water simple; a water hose with a hand held sprayer on it and an assistant to turn it off and on. We will play with different positioning of the lighting to showcase different looks and results.

This class is all about video and how to make it work for you as a photographer. With the modern world moving further into a video based content format, it’s critical to stay up to speed; especially as a photographer trying to market themselves. So this class is designed to help kickstart your video experience, helping you jump from brand-spankin new to comfortable video shooter quickly!

At the end of our session, you’ll be leaving with the ability to shoot cinematic video to use behind the scenes during your photo shoots or even for clients as a new service in your business! We will focus on the “technical talk” behind video settings and how to balance them for the right results, lighting video work and developing a story and direction for every video you make. It’s a lot more to learn than it sounds like, but what’s better than skipping a lot of trial and error to learn this stuff?!

For gear, all you need is a camera that has the ability to film video. Whether that’s at 720p quality or 4K, a camera is a camera! What will set you apart is learning the SKILLS behind filming high quality content.

An additional tool that is EXTREMELY valuable is an ND Filter! It’s how we adjust lighting in uncontrolled environments and limited setting ranges. It is recommended to bring one, not not specifically necessary to learn.

(Obviously, make sure your camera has whatever lenses and batteries and all you’d normally be using; nothing special required here.)

What if you could photograph every day of the week?
In this class i will share how i’ve found high-end real estate photography and video a VERY lucrative business, and a way to have a weekday work routine after 25 years spending most of my weekends out of the house!

Topics Covered:
– How to get your first clients?
– How to photograph houses everyday?
– What High End realtors are looking for
– How to use your client relationship skills to get better clients
– Instagram Videos that SELL HOUSES!
– What if you don’t have to do any editing?
Plus a lot more!

Come along on a wedding day. I’ll share with you my approach, how to tackle obstacles, show you behind the scenes, and give you the tools to make more money! I mean, what more could you ask for? 🙂

Get ready to electrify your wedding receptions with our dynamic lighting class!
Unleash your creativity and master the art of illuminating unforgettable moments using 1 to 3 lights. Discover the secrets of adding a touch of magic with mesmerizing streaking effects through the technique of shutter drag (No, we’re not actually going streaking, we charge extra for that!)
Join us for an energetic experience and take your wedding lighting skills to new heights!

As wedding photographers working in saturated markets, we must always find ways to stand out and create unique images that can help separate us from our competition. One of the many ways we can look to do this is through creating Bokeh Panoramas. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to shoot with a 28mm f/0.6 lens? Well, with this technique, we can emulate exactly that. The Bokeh Panorama technique essentially produces a wide-angle environmental portrait with a shallow depth of field. The result is a final image that simply cannot be created in a single exposure.

We will start with a more in-depth discussion of Bokeh Panorama’s. This will include the technique that I use, a review of images I have created using this technique, and important factors to consider before even deciding to create one as well as the actual process of putting all of the images together using Photoshop. Once we cover the basics of the workflow, I will go through the actual process with an engagement couple.

Be prepared to transition somewhere outside of the meetup room for this portion of the Live Demonstration (preferably outside somewhere close to the meetup room). After executing the Bokeh Panorama, we will return to the room to put the final image together.

Although from a gear perspective, a bokeh panorama can be created many ways, I have always used an 85mm f/1.8 (or f/1.4) and have always created these images using natural light only (no OCF).

For those photographers shooting everything from Boudoir with BDSM props to more explicit and sexually charged Erotica or Kink/BDSM imagery, we will discuss everything you need to know to start exploring the spicier stuff!! We will talk briefly about the development of this genre and how it relates to boudoir and how it is NOT boudoir as well as a quick discussion about the legalities. We will review setting your boundaries, storytelling with erotica, building rapport, and talking about sexual themes without shame. I will share my process of working with erotica clients from inquiry to image review and how I guide each client through the experience for a safe and exhilarating experience.