Currently no classes scheduled

Creating Painterly Photographs

Photos as poems, prayers, and promises

In this class I share ideas, techniques, lenses, and editing tools you can use to make your photographs look more painterly.

“When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice.”
Robert Frank

The class will combine ideas and demonstrations and in-class still life photography with time to work on applying those ideas during class. I will share photography techniques, lenses, alternative techniques, and editing tools you can use to create your painterly artistic vision.

Class meets two Saturdays in XXX. Classes will meet at my house in Plymouth, MN.

No classes scheduled at this time

Skill Level: Advanced beginner to intermediate. You should understand how to use your camera technically, understand depth of field, and composition. Some experience with Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop is recommended.

Equipment/software needed: Participants need to bring a digital camera and laptop computer with Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop installed to class (you can download free 30 day trials of the software at Adobe.com).  Participants will also be asked to bring raw digital photographs to work on in class. There will be a photography assignment for students to complete between the first and second class.

Cost: $125.00

Class size limited to 6 people.

For more information contact me:

The story of the photos on this page—

Top Photo:

I was on a photo outing with 3 other photographers. We visited an owl center in hopes of photographing owls up close. The cluttered backgrounds and low light of the owl center made it a disappointing photo shoot for me. I decided to simply put my camera down and wait for the others to finish. I happened to glance at a windowsill and see the late afternoon light illumine a lovely geranium plant. At that moment I saw the shot I wanted to make—low light, shallow depth of field with the flowers mostly in focus and everything else soft and dreamy. I shot the photo at 1/125 sec at f / 8.0, ISO 2000, 105 mm (Canon EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM).

Bottom Photo:

I gave myself a photo assignment of emulating a painting that I admire, in a photograph. I chose Mary Cassatt’s painting “Louise Nursing Her Child.” As I cast about for models for the painting I thought of a friend for whom I had made infant and family photos. I showed her a photo of the painting and she came up with clothing from her closet that worked perfectly. We met at my daughter’s house because I love the light and wall colors. I placed the model with the window behind her and shot from the side. In post-processing I lightened the center a bit and added texture layers to the photograph to create the look I wanted.