STREET PHOTOGRAPHY MASTER CLASS
How to incorporate storytelling & eye pleasing composition in that split second
RM108 80% Disc. RM538
From: Adam Tan
RE: Street Photography Master Class
Photography is Adam’s mean of exploring the world. He has a gifted ability to discern the special, the significance out of the ordinary with his unique sight and capture it through his masterful skill and narrative idea.
When asked about his love of photography, he said:
“The art of photography goes beyond technique and equipment. It arises from the heart and it touches the feeling and emotion, it arouse senses and recognized beauty. We must come to grip that we are artists, with high passion for art, a love in creating and a zeal to elevate our artistic level with inventive ideas and vivid imagination”.
"How to incorporate storytelling & eye-pleasing composition in that split second”
Street photography is about making photograph in public places. To capture the random incidents, the candid moments, or anything that’s pleasing to the eyes and fascinating to you—with an attempt to instil an emotion, convey a message, or interpret a story with what our eyes see and what our hearts visualise.
Some would say it’s challenging, as it requires patience, quick and intuitive responses and the failing rate can be high. And it’s not easy to make the composition pleasing to the eyes, and certainly not easy to incorporate the narrative component to the images in that split second.
“Well, it took me quite a long time to figure it out”
As a matter of fact, it does require something more. That’s what this Master Class is all about, I felt compelled to guide those who wish to acquire a deeper understanding in this area.
I’d immersed in this genre of photography for more than 14 years now, and I’d earned many honours in photo competitions in Street photography category. One of my most unforgettable moments and greatest honours was winning the National Geographic Photography Contest in 2013.
And I’m extremely glad to see many of my students participated in contests and earned awards and mentions from all over the world time and again.
“The formula of what constitutes a good picture & the developing of the seeing eye”
In this master class I will teach you first the very foundation of photography: understanding the clue, or so-called formula of what constitutes a good photograph, and how to develop our seeing eye in photography.
And we will progress to explore Street Photography in detail.
On a step-by-step basis, I’ll teach you which gears to use, how to do the camera setting correctly in different situations, how to find the right elements and integrate them in the chosen frame of the camera.
“The various creative approaches & how to avoid common mistakes”
And I’ll teach you the various creative approaches to Street photography: what’s suitable for colour photography, what’s suitable for B&W and etc.. How to deal with different weather condition, whether it’s rainy or sunny and still produce good results; whether it’s flat lighting, or lowlight. I will guide you on how we could fully utilise each and every situation.
What you will find in the class is a complete guide of all I know about Street photography: from the technical aspects to the artistry aspects, what kind of preparation we should make, how to deal with different circumstances, what are the common mistakes we make and how to rectify them, how to make good and artistic composition, and how to seek out the storytelling, the narrative component.
“The Editing in Colour & B&W”
There are post-processing lessons, in both Color & B&W.
My tutorial is about simplify the complex, training in the habit of seeing & observation, with many inspiring & creative lessons and assignments for you to work on. It is designed to make learning fun and engaging.
At the end of the course, I believe you will find you have acquired a clear understanding and creative mindset, and able to produce aesthetically pleasing and good storytelling street images—more than you could ever imagine.
- The advantage of this online course is every lesson is specially designed with on-the-locations demonstration videos and supported by more than 600 pieces of Images & Illustrations, to make learning fun & visually stimulating.
- We also provide images for the hands-on on Photoshop Lightroom editing lessons.
- We create a community group for the students to continue interacting with us and each other.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Everybody buys the cameras they want for a reason. Some care about the price, some care about the weight, some prefer certain brand or look.
It really doesn’t matter. All digital cameras work quite the same. Even if they look different, the features are basically the same. If you already had a camera, you could continue to use it for the course.
In the tutorial we will guide you how to use the DSLR & Mirrorless cameras. We will show you the access to all the important settings with demonstration, even illustration to ensure you will not miss a thing.
Not to worry about this. It is very much up to you. The pace is completely set by you yourself. You could read back the same lesson over & over if you wish to do revision.
What we wish to emphasise most is after every lesson, try to follow up with a hands on assignment before the next one. To put yourself into practise will definitely help you to improve. Our goal is to ensure you will eventually achieve what you want, disregard the span of time you spend.
The main different is probably we care about the creatively, the artistic aspect of photography art.
What we want from you at the end of the course is not only acquired the knowledge on how to handle a camera, but a creative mindset in seeing the aesthetic & storytelling. Means able to make good images.
And for the technical aspect, I simplifying the complex in theoretical & technical aspect of photography, and make technical aspect in photography a breeze and a pleasure to learn and use.
My teaching is a combination of art & technical studies designed to make learning fun & engaging. And I designed many exercises on different topics to help you with your hands on, the practical training. As I believe theoretical knowledge needs to be supported by practical knowledge.
Our goal is to make sure that you have the best learning experience possible. If this course isn’t for you, then email us within 7 days of the date you purchase your subscription, and we’ll offer a full refund.
Course Curriculum
Lesson 1: The Training of a Seeing Eye
- What constitutes a good picture?
- Develop a clear mindset in the Clue of making a good picture.
- What constitutes a good background?
- Pointers on searching out good backgrounds in different environments to make the images more impactful and pleasing to the eyes - c/w demonstration & illustration.
The assignment: Training the habit of seeing.
Lesson 2: Essential Gear for Street Photography
- How to pack my bag for my needs in Street photography
- Is DSLR too huge?
- Do I need to opt for a smaller & light-weight camera?
- Which lenses are most fitting?
- Understand the importance of lenses in different approaches.
Lesson 3: Understanding the 3 Effective Compositions & more
- What are the three essential & indispensable elements in an image?
- A thorough study in composition through the application of Compositional Balance to create visually pleasing images.
- What are the reasons that make the images less appealing even if the composition is right?
- Elaboration, demonstration & illustrations.
The assignment:
- The training of awareness in observation for essential subjects.
- The practice of applying compositional balance.
Lesson 4: What is storytelling? How to do it effectively?
- Storytelling or the narrative component is probably the hardest part in Street photography. And yet it’s the most essential part.
- An in-depth explanation in the two most important narrative components in Street photography.
- Guidance on how to search for relevant subjects to create connection within the frame on the chaotic streets.
- Elaboration, demonstration & illustrations.
The assignment: The training on how to detect relevant subjects & integrate them within the frame.
Lesson 5: Understanding 4 In-depth Composition Techniques via Compositional Balance
- Explanation on the four composition technique via compositional balance in greater detail, and to utilize them effectively to support the narrative and enrich the storytelling in the images
- Elaboration, demonstration & illustrations.
The assignment: The training on seeking the relevant subject to incorporate into the chosen frame with the 4 composition techniques.
Lesson 6: Further Exploration in Storytelling
- Further exploration in storytelling from a more delicate angle.
- Understand what is the difference between a good and mediocre image.
- Elaboration, demonstration & illustrations.
The assignment: The training on how to detect possible narrative components meticulously.
Lesson 7: Creative and Effective Use of Light Source
- Understand light source, or ambient light, is one of the most essential elements in photography, and a breakdown study of every light source.
- An understanding in various types of light source from a more delicate angle.
- How to explore & utilize different light source creatively & effectively with the support of camera setting to achieve greater result.
- Elaboration, demonstration & illustrations.
The assignment: The training of observation of light source during different time of the day and utilize them creatively.
Lesson 8: Common Mistakes & Creative Pointers
- Understand the common mistakes made by most photographers, and the various techniques in rectifying them.
- Common mistakes are committed due to habit and unmindful perception. Explanation and illustration, in greater details, on the difference between the affected & rectified images in various perspectives.
- Tips to improve stereotype composition technique with new, creative ideas to enrich the narrative component.
- Elaboration, demonstration & illustrations.
The assignment: The training in developing and strengthening a conscious mindset while making composition.
Lesson 9: How to Keep Moving Subject in Focus?
- This is a challenge almost every street photographer faces. Full explanation from scratch to enable students to understand the basis.
- An in-depth analysis & guidance on both technical aspect and artistry aspect to handle the situation.
- Elaboration, demonstration & illustrations.
The assignment: The training & practice of getting the right camera setting before the shutter is clicked.
Lesson 10: Use Light Effectively & Creatively (II)
Use Light Effectively for punchy, imaginative high contrast approach.
- An explanation and demonstration in greater details in the high contrast approach in street photography. In both technical & artistry aspects.
- Guidance in how to place the central of interest against different background to achieve variable result.
The assignment:The training & developing in observation and awareness.
Lesson 11: A more thorough analysis of Compositional Balance
- A good image requires solid, strong visual weight & highly creative composition.
- Explaining every little nuance and subtlety in composition that helps to fine-tune the image.
- 10 sample images selected to examine and ponder more exhaustively. And how to rectify them with the solution from various perspectives.
- Elaboration, demonstration & illustrations.
The assignment: The training in seeing the subtlety in composition.
Lesson 12: Color or Black & White
- Which type of images are suitable for color? And which for B&W?
- What kind of subjects to look for and how to go about it? Guidance on which approach to take to achieve the desired result in both areas, with a great number of images to make learning easily comprehensible.
- Guidance to train and develop a seeing technique to distinguish what’s relevant for Color and B&W respectively.
- Elaboration, demonstration & illustrations.
The assignment: The training and developing of the seeing eye to distinguish what’s relevant for color & B&W.
Lesson 13 & 14: Photoshop Editing with Lightroom for Color and B&W
- How to utilize the right tools in Lightroom—from overall enhancement to partial touch-up. Guidance on the why and how of what needs to be enhanced.
- Post-processing the “Simplify the Complex”, and effective technique in making the learning fun, with abundance of pictures provided for hands-on practice.
Lesson 15: Conclusion
- A brief summary of what’d been taught.
- Additional narrative components, and guidance in self-training to explore it further through one’s learning attitude.