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Portrait Photography: Creative Tips & Ideas for Great Images (Udemy.com)

Tips, tricks & Ideas for stunning portraits using natural light & flash. Live sessions with models, families & children

Created by: Bernie Raffe AMPA

Last updated November 2018

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What you will learn

  • Learn how to improve your portrait photos
  • Learn how to add drama to portraits for more creativity
  • Learn how to get great expressions and reactions from your subjects
  • Learn the fundamentals of portrait lighting
  • Discover great tips, tricks and ideas in live photo sessions with models, families and children

How it compares

Against the other 275 rated Udemy courses in Photography on CourseDuck:

  • Rating4.6 out of 5higher than 69% of them
  • Reviews436#103 of 276 by number of reviews
  • Length3.2 hourslonger than 51% of them
  • Last updatedNovember 2018earlier than 78% of them

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Course Description

So, you like taking portraits, that’s great, but how happy are you with the results and could you do better?

In this course you’ll learn many of the tips and tricks that professional photographers use for creating stunning portraits, and  in a varying assortment of environments, both inside and outside.

At the end of the course you’ll be armed with so many ideas, that you’ll no longer need to worry about freezing up, or wondering what to do next with your subjects.

·         Learn the fundamentals of portrait lighting and lighting patterns
·         Discover new ways of taking photos of individuals on location in live sessions
·         Learn my relaxed methods for taking photos of families and children in live sessions
·         Laugh at my 17 tips for getting great expressions from families and children
·         Learn how I pose people to make them look relaxed
·         Watch and learn from my live maternity sessions with an 8 month pregnant mum-to-be.
·         Discover some specialist ideas for amazing portraits

Content and Overview 

Suitable for beginners, intermediates and even advanced photographers, you’l learn  the fundamentals of portrait photography along with many tips and ideas for adding drama and creativity to your portraits.

Rather than just using paid models, this course also has live sessions with friends, and families with their children. Some of these are typical location sessions where we just walk around in parks taking photos.

This is an extremely varied course demonstrating both natural light and off-camera flash portraits, with some specialist ideas that you can easily replicate, plus many tips on composition

You’ll see how I interact with people to make them feel more comfortable, which in turn helps to get better expressions.

All videos on this course are downloadable

On completing this course you’ll have the knowledge, know how and confidence to tackle many portrait scenarios.


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Instructor Details

Bernie Raffe AMPA

** Voted by students as one of Udemy's outstanding instructors of 2014 **

Bernie is a professional photographer based in the UK, and has been passionate about photography ever since his parents bought him his first camera when he was just 11 years old (a Kodak Brownie 127)!

He's qualified as a photographer to 'Associate' level with both the MPA (Master Photographers Association), and the SWPP (Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers) in the UK.

Bernie loves sharing his passion for photography, and students really enjoy his fun teaching style which has earned him over 100 five star reviews. These entertaining and informative films will demonstrate, without blinding you with science, how you can be a better photographer, taking more creative and dramatic photos that will wow your friends and family.

He is in demand as a speaker to other professionals and to beginner and keen amateurs at camera clubs... he's also an occasional guest speaker on cruise ships.

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Reviews

4.6

436 ratings on Udemy

Select a bar to show only those reviews.Select the bar again to show every rating.

By Patru Marian Miritoiu on 12/3/2025

Ca incepator in fotografie, inveti multe din acest curs, dar spre final esti depasit de acele potrete facute in studio. Cursul nu este destinat doar incepatorilor, deci probabil cei care au ceva experienta, apreciaza partea de creativitate din ultimele lectii. Multumesc Bernie Raffe! Mai am un curs in lista mea, si probabil o sa cumpar si celelalte cursuri.

By Kristine Lang on 1/6/2023

My favorite part is the different shootings that are shown. I have learned a lot: possible settings, dealing with people, many examples and tips. The course is well structured and covers all the important areas of portrait photography. I like Bernie's way of teaching and his way with people, I laughed a lot and I completed the course with a lot of motivation. Thank you very much!

By Emmanouil Katis on 10/7/2020

I'm neither a beginner nor a professional, I enjoyed the course from the first to the last section Bernie. I particularly enjoyed that you are taking it easy and don't seem to take yourself too seriously which shows to me personally that you are very comfortable with what you do. The fact that you were admitting and showing your mistakes made me feel very comfortable. Nice one, Moving to your next course soon

By Dianne McIlwain on 9/23/2020

This was a great course for the beginner or intermediate student. I enjoyed the relaxed style of the presenter who gave us a course with a good basic introduction to portraiture and lighting, excellent videos of using both natural light and flash. I'm looking forward to putting his excellent advice into practice. Thanks Bernie!

By Erlin Escobar on 9/10/2020

Great course, it bring back new ideas, lighting styles ,poses styles and So. Specially; knowing that if we make a mistake, there's Not reason to stuck, if we want to be a professional some day; we got to keep "trying". and that what's this course is all about, good looks!!!

By MarioSantoko on 6/17/2019

Well, there might be some portraits basics here, but meeeh, that weren't great images or very creative tips neither, realy. More like some conservative family photos. Got some knowledge there after 3 hours, but not more than I could have watching youtube free tutorials.

By D b on 1/31/2019

This course is very nice. About the course: Engaging the professor show you how different ways of portrait and how to use the light, So after this course You might have a good basic understanding of how to getting started with portrait. You will get some amazing ideas too, for your future pictures.

By Karthik Pillai on 1/18/2019

It was a delightful experience on the basics of lighting and portrait photography. There could have been some key takeaways from each lesson. However, I believe this will come with experience. Kudos to the teacher and hope to receive better editing tutorials too.

By Mark Manders on 1/4/2019

Bernie's a very likable fellow and I enjoyed the course. Some helpful, useful tips. Favorite sections were at the end with the indoor scene setups. Wish he could do a full course of just these types of improvised scenes....very fun

By Peter Leinfellner on 11/30/2018

This is now my 3rd course with Bernie and I'm already a big fan of his open friendly way to communicate with people. And of course he has great tips to get the best of light and shadows for the portraits. What I really like in his courses is the possibility to take great photos with non-expensive equipment. Time to practice now for me :)

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Overall Score : 92 / 100