American Canyon Fine Art People Photography + Off Camera Lighting + Beer

This Meetup is aimed at photographers of all skill levels that aspire to transcend the “craft” of portrait photography and want to push their work into the realm of Fine Art.

What is Fine Art Photography?

Fine art photographs are made primarily for aesthetics and concept rather than for a practical purpose.

Department of Motor Vehicles driver’s licence photographs are a good example of a portrait done with a practical purpose in mind.

We won’t be doing those kinds of images.

Instead, we will work on our concept and spend as much time as necessary resolving the shot until it matches our pre-visualization. We may shoot an entire session and produce just a few finished images, we will take our time and produce the best images we can.

What will the regular meetings be like?

We hope to build a passionate, local community of Fine Art portrait photographers that uses its collective knowledge and creativity to help us all to improve our concepts, lighting, and over time build a portfolio that you're really proud of. As a regular attendee at this Meetup, you should not only expect to see your portrait photography skills improve and your creativity blossom, but also to develop lasting, collaborative relationships with other photographers, models, Hair and Make Up artists and other professionals.

This group will meet at least a couple times a month in Napa County at the American Canyon Arts Foundation Gallery (3441 Broadway/Hwy 29, American Canyon CA 94503). Every meeting will have at least a practice shoot, so bring your equipment. The meets will include a brief demo or block of instruction and then we will jump right into hands-on shooting.

At the beginning of each Meetup we will critique each other’s work and give suggestions for improvement. We will be doing REAL critiques, not the “nice shot”, “neat!”, “good one” variety, but rather useful, honest feedback on your images aimed to hep you reach your artistic potential.

Post Meetup activities will involve beer at local establishments for those that are so inclined.

We will plan and execute larger scale projects including professional models. Some Meetup sessions will be, by necessity, fee based as we will have to pay the talent. However all “non model” Meetups are free. We will be working with both male and female models. All shooting sessions strictly “G-Rated”.

You’re going to learn a lot!

• Digital Photography Basics - If you have gaps in your basic photography knowledge we will help you fill them. We will have two instructors, so we can split the group up into beginner/advanced during workshops.
• Color Management 
• Off Camera Lighting - Technique and Execution. Light, of course, is the most important element of any photograph. We use small-flash, off-camera lighting extensively for almost all of our work. We are really going to dig in and spend a lot of time here. We will show you how to use your flash to achieve stunning, yet completely natural results that will help you create not just a portrait, but a piece of art.
• Equipment Selection - You don't have to be rich to get into off camera lighting. You can get some amazing results for about $200 (one LumoPro LP160 flash and a Cowboy Studio trigger set)
• Portrait Photography Basics
• Pre-visualization / Developing a Concept
• Location Scouting and Selection 
• Model Selection / Working with Talent
• Wardrobe / Hair and Makeup
• Posing 
• On Location People Photography
• Resolving Your Shot / Matching your Pre-visualization
• Post Processing