Kate Pease Photography: Busath Fresh Classics Portrait Workshop Day 1

When I saw that Drake Busath was doing a workshop, I immediately called Brant and said "Honey! Drake Busath is doing a workshop. I must go!!!" I have been a fan of Busath since I was 7 years old (when I got my very first ever portrait taken, and Drake actually took it.) I have so much respect for their studio's work. Having portraits by Busath is a bit of a family tradition. My sister had her senior portraits, missionary portraits, and bridal portraits by Busath. I had my 7 year old portrait and my bridal portrait by Busath as well. They have quite the lucrative reputation around town and they have taken many famous portraits (there's too many to list). I absolutely love their style: fresh, classic, elegant, and timeless. I would be happy to learn even just a smidgen of their vast wealth of knowledge. Thankfully, Brant obliged. :)

Busath Fresh Classics "Nitty Gritty" Portrait Workshop Review:

*I realized that the more I learn, the more that I don't know.

*Drake taught us such a great method on how to photograph children. I hope I can implement it even a 16th as well as he does.

*Lighting! Lighting! Lighting! Holy cow...I learned SO much about lighting and how absolutely vital good lighting is.

*Posing! One of the hardest things as a photographer. People just automatically stiffen up. Drake taught us his "un-posing" methods.

*We went over cropping and composition, exposure, photoshop, business, sales, etc etc etc

*They had their main re-touch artist show us some amazing things with photoshop

*The thing I probably loved most about the workshop was how hands on it was. Drake arranged actual families and clients for us, threw us in the studio (in front of everyone) and basically said "Ok, here you go. One at a time, light it, pose it, let's see how you do. We'll take your memory cards when you're done and review." Was it uncomfortable? YES! Was it intimidating? ABSOLUTELY! Did my mind draw an absolute blank on everything I've ever learned? YOU BETCHA! But guess what? You don't learn anything unless you feel slight discomfort. And boy oh boy did I learn! Especially because I've never worked in a studio before with soft-boxes, north lights, reflectors, fill lights, hair lights, back lights, main lights, ambient lights, and every other kind of light you can conjure up.

*I learned the science of a good portrait. Have you any idea how much it takes to get a good portrait? Drake would show us slides of photos, tell us how he set it up and I'd think "Ok! I get it! Easy Peasey!" But when he put us with the actual clients, it was then I realized truly how much goes into taking a good portrait.

You have to: (indoors or out)

-Light your subject: main light, fill light, accent light

-Pose your subjects: Put them in place, (either standing or with furniture) pose them, make sure everyone's faces, eyes, and bodies are at a flattering angle, make sure that there's no awkward hands, feet, or body language, make sure the flow of the subjects looks good, make sure the pose isn't stagnant, make sure there's good spacing between everyone and they look nice.
-Have everyone feel comfortable and relaxed while keeping the children's attention

-Have everyone is looking at you all at the same time with good expressions on their faces without having them move from when you posed them.

-Take your meter reading to set your manual adjustments

-Work your manual adjustments on your camera: exposure (shutter speed, ISO, aperture)/composition/white balance/camera angle/focal length and make sure it's spot on.

-Take the photo

-....And do it all again. haha

I could go on for centuries about how great the workshop was and how much I learned. Instead, I'll show some images.

Day One:

Drake teaching us a thing or two

Delaney

Ok I have to be honest here. None of these images I am going to show you over the course of 3 days have been edited whatsoever. (They're straight out of the camera). To be honest, I just dont have time to edit them at the moment, but I want to show you! Plus, like they need it right? Not a bit!