From the Personal to the Universal: The Tools to Create Intimate Portraits

“The most difficult thing for me is a portrait. You have to try and put your camera between the skin of a person and his shirt.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

In this day of iPhones, Instagram, and selfie culture, images of people are constantly part of our life in more ways than they have ever been. However, capturing a powerful portrait goes well beyond the quick press of a button.

Acclaimed portrait photographer and teacher, Rania Matar, reveals the key elements that make powerful portraits during this engaging two-presentation webinar. Rania delves into the process of working with people from approaching potential subjects, establishing trust, and developing a relationship. In this all-important process, one learns to pay attention to detail, postures, expressions, and the use of the environment, while working through the process and all the details of creating a great portrait. Rania also discusses the use of framing, natural light, location, background, body language, the significance of the gaze or not, as well as paying close attention to the relationship of the photographer to the subject throughout the entire process.

Rania shares her tools, her process, and reviews the many different aspects of portraiture — close-up portraits, environmental portraits, documentary portraits, collaborative portraits, self-portraits, group portraits, and conceptual portraits. She also discusses editing your work, putting a portfolio together, portfolio reviews, and important resources for photographers.

This two-session online program with Rania offers community, connection, and reveals important new ways of working with people and making intimate and creative portraits.