Take a deeper dive into portrait photography with this hands-on, six-week workshop series designed to help you create beautiful, polished portraits with confidence!

Each week, you’ll photograph professional models while gaining practical experience with a variety of lighting techniques and equipment, including continuous lighting, speedlights and studio strobes. You’ll learn how to shape and control light, pose and direct your subjects, and make creative decisions that elevate your portraits. The series also covers introductory post-production using Adobe Lightroom, giving you the tools to take your images  look great. By the end of the six weeks, you’ll have a stronger understanding of the entire portrait-making process—and a conceptual approach you can use to create beautiful portraits on your own.

About the Instructor

Tim Babiak is a full-time photographer and an instructor at PCU for over fourteen years. Tim serves on the Boards of Directors of the Texas Professional Photographers Association and the Austin Professional Photographers Association. He is also a two-time recipient of the Photographer of the Year award from the Austin Professional Photographers Association and a two-time Bronze Medalist in PPA’s International Print Competition. Tim is a Master Photographer, Photographic Craftsman and Certified Professional Photographer (CPP) via the Professional Photographers of America and is the only photographer in the greater Austin area trained and approved by the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) to judge their image competitions.

CLASS TIME: 6:30PM - 9:30PM 

Week 1, AUGUST 31

• Lens selection
• Nailing exposure and white balance
• Using continuous lights for portraiture
• Quality of light
• Light placement
• Understanding lighting ratios and how to measure them
• Using umbrellas and soft boxes
• Reflector selection and placement
• Introduction to posing
• Importing your images into Lightroom
• Using the Lightroom Develop module

Week 2, SEPTEMBER 14

• Wardrobe
• Understanding your speedlight
• Using your speedlight on-camera
• Equipment considerations for using your speedlight off-camera
• Triggering and metering the off camera speedlight
• One-, two- and three-speedlight set up for portraits
• Understanding lighting ratios and how to measure them

Week 3, SEPTEMBER 28

• The overall approach
• Adding the hair light
• Using off-camera flash for more advanced techniques
• Posing – adding variety
• Standing and floor posing

Week 3, OCTOBER 12

• Working with high key and low key
• Lighting the white background with a beauty portrait
• Understanding the clamshell lighting pattern
• Lighting the black background for a dramatic portrait
• Understanding Rembrandt and split lighting

Week 5, OCTOBER  26

• Hands on student sessions
• Students are assigned to small groups to work through mini assignments with instructor assistance
• Students will select model wardrobe, set lights then guide their own sessions
• Instructor will review result and suggest improvements

Week 6, NOVEMBER 9

• Creative options – extending the concepts
• Using v-flats as modifiers and reflectors
• Special lighting set ups
• The ethereal angelic portrait
• The Old Hollywood portrait
• Simple modern fashion hard lighting
• Creating color shifts and lens flare

Prior Models

Each week we will be joined by a different professional model and you will have time to photograph the model. Your enrollment includes photo release for promotional/portfolio use so you'll not only learn about portraiture but you'll also have the opportunity to add to your portfolio. 

Required Equipment

• Camera
• Memory cards
• Laptop with Adobe LR